In many ways, defining a process to fit a organizational need, is a design in itself. A design process is not a ‘one size fits all.’ It has to be customized to a project’s unique objectives.
The process we laid out to evolve the brand identity system of the Wikimedia movement is particularly special. It has to encourage high involvement from those that know it best — the community; volunteers, donors and users, in more than 40 countries, and across digital and physical meeting places.
Good process encourages good results. If we want to make a brand to inspire the world to join the Wikimedia movement and set knowledge free, our process should model that kind of global collaboration!
The Process
Phase 0: Planning (completed)
Planning the process that is aligned with the set objectives and goals.
Phase 1: Workshop & Concept Development (in progress)
Gathering insight and aligning on a concept that will be the foundation for the work going forward.
Community involvement: Workshops, generating concepts and feedback on them
Phase 2: Naming Convention
Define a naming convention that is based on the concept, predefined objectives and goals.
Community involvement: testing proposals and directing improvements on naming conventions
Phase 3: Design Development
Develop a design rooted in the concept, the research, and the Movement’s 2030 needs that works as a tool for community goals.
Community involvement: design reviews and responses, testing for alignment with Movement goals, naming challenges, and local cultural contexts
Phase 4: Style guides
Gather the design elements, assets and tools on a digital platform in preparation for everyone in the movement to access and use.
Community involvement: ideation, expansion, and adaptation for local contexts
Where are we now?
Right at the beginning!
We are currently conducting workshops with a broad spectrum of the Wikimedia community. Community members from 40+ nations will be attending our workshop in Oslo, India and online, each one following the same method:
1.Prepping – The prepping phase is about gaining important knowledge about the movement through the sharing of information and collaborative work. In all workshops Wikimedia’s history and values were presented before the participants were divided into groups for the first exercise — the pictogram session.
The Snøhetta Pictogram decks consist of 66 different pictures with assorted visuals. The visuals on the cards are compiled together with SINTEF and their broad connotation gives different meanings for different people.
The group members were asked to collaboratively choose three cards that represent who you are and three cards that do not represent who you are. The images that were chosen by each group varied somewhat, however the reasoning behind the choices were very similar across all eight workshops.
2. Zooming Out – In the zooming out phase of the workshop, the groups were asked to step back from immersion in the details, and instead apply big picture thinking in seeking the unified core. Based on the insights from the prepping phase continued group discussions, the task was to find the one work — the concept that is descriptive of who we are, while also articulating the reasoning behind the group decision.
3. Getting Physical – In Snøhetta we like to say that we think as much with our hands as with our minds. In the final phase of the workshops the groups were asked to do the same — to rapidly make physical or visual prototypes of their concepts. This move towards materializing and visualizing the concepts contributes to how the stories of the concepts are told.
The final prototypes become the vessels through which the concepts can be explained and understood. Each workshop resulted in three conceptual prototypes.
Stay tuned to follow the process and get involved.
— Snøhetta