This is a proposal for a new Wikimedia sister project.
WikiSymbols
Status of the proposal
Statusrejected
Reasonno support. Pecopteris (talk) 04:54, 20 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Details of the proposal
Project descriptionThe proposed WikiSymbols is about symbols/icons that can be understood by people from different cultures and different educational backgrounds as well as illiterate people. WikiSymbols enables (intercultural) communication without words. Contributors to the proposed WikiSymbols design symbols for all kinds of words and upload them with different tags so they can be found. Users worldwide can then download them and use them for websites, presentations, ... simply communication without words. The symbols could also be integrated into other wiki projects. The contributors can choose whether their symbol/icon has a public domain licence or a creative common licence. The icon can driectly be downloaded in both cases. In the case of public domain, the creator of the icon/symbol has not to be credited. In the case of creative commons, the creator of the icon has to be credited.
Potential number of languagesMany
Proposed taglineEnabling visual communication
Technical requirements
New features to requireA number of unique features needed:
Interested participants
GabrielVogel (https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:GabrielVogel&redlink=1#/editor/0) User:The brave celery

Scenario

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  • There is no central repository that allows free access to symbols/icons.
  • There is a high demand for icons.

(“Iconfinder.com has 1.3 million unique monthly visitors. [...] I do know that GraphicRiver boasts several millions. [...] iStockPhoto and Shutterstock have been around for at least 2 decades so they have tens-of-millions of monthly users, if not more.” (Scott Lewis, Professional icon designer, Sr. Developer & Head of Content for Iconfinder.com: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-place-online-to-sell-icons)

  • The demand for icons is met by icon online market places that resell icons with high commission rates (30-70%).
  • Wiki Commons has already a lot of icons and contributing designers (over 1 000 registered vector graphics editors).
  • The number of icons on Wiki Commons is insuffiecient though. The quantity of icons is also small compared to icon online market places.
  • While icon online market places are designed like search engines, Wiki Commons symbols/icons are hard to find.