Wikipedia It is today one of the places of mandatory reference for those who seek information and knowledge on almost any subject. Its logo is recognized worldwide by almost any user who has browsed the web for any reason beyond mere entertainment.
But it is also true that the experience of using the web has evolved little by little and not all the ways of consuming this information are through visual media.
The integration of Artificial Intelligence systems, audio assistants and accessibility interfaces for the use of devices and navigation for people with disabilities have opened the use of the Internet to many more users.
It is under such a situation that the team behind Wikipedia came to the conclusion that they needed an equivalent to their visual graphic identity for those contents that are consumed in audio format.
So now the site has just released a new sound that will function as a logo, but through audio.
Wikipedia and its new audio logo: the history that this sound seeks to enclose
True to their roots, the guys behind Wikipedia have documented the entire process to publicize its audio logo, under a publication with the name of “The sound of all human knowledge”, which would be precisely the noise that seeks to encompass that piece of identity.
The four-second audio clip, they describe, was generated from the community. Since the Wikimedia Foundation organized a contest to find this “audio logo” for those projects where visual logos are not an option.
That was how more than 3,000 participants from all over the planet signed up for the call, which were reviewed until they found the proposal for Thaddeus Osborne:
In the barely 4-second audio we find a series of sounds that are familiar to those who investigate under the rules of Wikipedia, with sounds from books, keyboards and other elements that precisely encompass the core of how knowledge is built on the platform.
Interestingly Osborne is not a musical composer, but a nuclear scientist. But even so, his idea was the most attractive, he ended up being chosen by the committee and now he will receive USD $2,500 for creating the sound that will represent the platform from now on.
It should be noted that Wikimedia will produce a final version of the audio logo in a recording studio, so the final result may vary a bit. In June of this 2023, in theory, the final version will be presented to the community.