Symbols serve as some of the best tools to overcome language and cultural communication barriers. The aim of the first-ever Wikipedia Iconathon was to create a set of graphic symbols that convey vital concepts to editors and readers of the world’s largest free, collaborative encyclopedia. Wikipedia teamed up with the community & The Noun Project for this effort. Muji supported us with sketch materials. This is a brief update from the design team, as we work on digitalizing the first iteration of icons from the event.

On a rainy saturday morning, the mood at the office was upbeat and determined. Joining Wikimedia Foundation and Noun Project staff were educators, volunteers, civic leaders, typographers, designers and Wikipedia editors. All of whom had come together to collaborate on a set of 20 icons that represented key Wikipedia terms and concepts. 

We began by discussing the core challenges of creating this visual language. First, it needed to work across 330 languages. Second, local concepts or metaphors such as hand gestures, animals, and local humor which people from other regions may not be familiar with had to be avoided. If icons conveyed directionality, they would have to be adapted for different writing directions, such as right-to-left languages like Hebrew or Arabic. Coming up with a universal representation regardless of whether the reader is from Germany, India, or Botswana was critical to preserving cross-cultural understanding.

Next, we formed groups and looked closely at our assignment. The concepts we needed to visualize ranged from being self contained, such as “rapidly changing article,” to systems like anonymous and registered user, administrator, and bots. Unanimously considered most challenging were abstract concepts like “encyclopedia-worthy” and “no original research.”

As the groups got sketching, Wikipedians from the editing community provided context for the symbols as each icon was discussed, answering questions like: Is there more than one context of use? Does it convey status or trigger action? Should it invite inquiry or is it an entry point when a user scans a list? We were committed to getting it right, even if it meant pulling out laptops to look at all the sample interface elements. Getting into the thick of interaction and behavior was unexpected, but it helped align the team on tone, detail and playfulness.

A few hours later, the sketches were collected and pinned to whiteboards. Edward Boatman (co-founder of The Noun project) moderated an intense group discussion.  Experienced editors helped evaluate concepts in the unique Wikipedia way of community-driven decision-making. We identified patterns across sketches and focused on connotations. For example, anonymous users lack a persistent identity, but they are an important part of the community, so a negative undertone was inappropriate.

We hope to expand the audience of participants to work with the remaining concepts and enable more people  to submit their ideas for Wikipedia icons. Given that The Noun Project receives more than 300 icon submissions a day from graphic designers, we’re confident we can leverage their network and their experience to develop engaging icons that are useful for Wikimedia projects.

Currently, we are digitizing a first set of icons that were collaboratively chosen from our sketch stack. The next big ticket item, which we are really getting excited about is about having the community respond to this first set of icons and help us iterate. 

Join the conversation in comments.

Vibha Bamba, Interaction Designer. WMF

Edits: Maryana Pinchuk. WMF 

Photographs: Matthew Rothman, Sofya Polyakov

Event Collateral on Behance