Wikipedia:Design overhaul, 2006

Wikipedia needs your help! What started four years ago as an experiment in Internet co-operation has now grown into one of the most popular and highest rated websites on the Internet. Jimbo Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, was just voted by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Despite its ever-growing success and popularity, the design, interface, and corporate design seen daily by tens of thousands of users and hundreds of thousands of visitors has not undergone any significant update in years. Certain elements, such as the puzzle pieces of the Wikipedia logo, have become synonymous with the project; but others such as the Main Page suffer from design by committee and too many cooks in the kitchen.

What needs to be done

In the simplest of terms, Wikipedia is looking for graphic designers and visual thinkers to submit proposals for an overhaul of Wikipedia’s “corporate design”. The creation of an elegant yet highly usable Main Page using modified Wikipedia mark-up, HTML, and templates, is the main goal of such a redesign; to improve upon the current iteration in style and function.

Wikipedia also needs a new corporate design. The design overhaul would act like the interface used by its users to reflect the serious nature of the project, while also containing a hip style.

Proposal process

There is no deadline for submissions, however it is hoped that a new design can be unveiled at the Wikimania conference, and thus by early August 2006. Images and proposal pages can be submitted on the talk page of this article, or co-ordinated through User:PZFUN. The winner may or may not receive pay, but as the project is entirely funded through donations, the amount would be modest. However, the winner of any such proposal will have their work on one of the most heavily trafficked websites on the Internet and the pride of helping make knowledge more accessible to all, and would be invited to present their design at Wikimania.