Logo Creation Wiki
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If you have made your very own wiki and do not know how to update the wiki logo as the founder, here is a guide to how to upload that image on the top left or also known as a wordmark or "wiki logo".

Skip to step 5 if you already have a logo to upload of the correct dimensions.

Step 1: Image editor[]

Open your best image editor, if you're desperate use Microsoft Paint if you want to do something simple. If you are more ambitious, you should try to learn how to use GIMP. For Mac image editors, also see Free Pixel-Based Editing and Painting Software for Macintosh. GIMP works on a Mac, but compared to on Windows it is a pain.

Set the size to 250 x 65 pixels so it will fit the logo space.

Wiki-wordmark sizer

This is a wide narrow rectangle, so if you're going to put an image in there, try to pick one that looks good in that shape of a space.

Step 2: Size and background[]

Say your wiki was about the PC game Diablo, you could have a logo like this:

Diablo wiki wordmark

If you want a background which looks good, open up another image editor, the same you got open already and make the size the same as the other which is 250 x 65. Make your background then copy it into the 1st editor. If your editor supports layers and transparency, you obviously want to put the background on the lowest visible layer behind everything else.

You don't need to have a background image or any image. Sometimes just transparent or a solid color that goes with your wiki's theme is good. Don't load the logo with too many pictures.

Step 3: Images or icons[]

Time for the images or icons! I would use Google images for the images or icons. Take the example of a Diablo wiki, we would need a image of a demon or other images related to the game. These images should go on a layer above or on top of the background, of course.

A nice touch is having a small image or icon to the left or right of your logo text.

You don't have to have any images if you have cool logo text, but it can really be an identifying symbol for your wiki.

Step 4: Logo text[]

Once you have got your images and background, time for the vital ingredient for logo's the text. For a Diablo wiki, the text could be like Diablo Wiki in the middle. As you can see with the example wordmark, sometimes just text can look cool.

The Diablo example took alot of work, because the "Wiki" was custom done to match the "Diablo" text, but there are lots of cool free fonts out there to make logo text with.

Lots of font sites also have tools where you can preview a short string of text in the font you're interested in and just take a screen shot of the preview and start with that.

Lastly, sometimes you want the logo text to line up with 4 menus that appear to the right of the wordmark. Looking at the wordmark orange sizer graphic...

Wiki-wordmark sizer

...the "Wordmark text baseline" is the line where you want the bottom of your logo text to line up with.

Step 5: Save it locally[]

Now this is the 2nd most important thing of a logo, save it! This means save it as a PNG (.png or Portable Network Graphic) on your local computer somewhere. You can't pick a file already uploaded to your wiki as a wordmark.

Make sure you save it to a place that makes sense and you can remember. Saving your logo to a place with a million billion files will make it harder to find for upload.

You will need to find it on your computer or whatever you are using in the final steps.

Final Steps: Upload in Theme Designer[]

Time to upload it to your wiki! In this step it is safest to use the new Theme Designer tool. Remember, this tool and the permissions to update the wordmark are only available to admins (aka sysops or bureaucrats).

  1. Go to the Theme Designer on your wiki (you must be an admin): Special:ThemeDesigner
  2. Click "Wordmark" on the upper left (looks like a tab).
  3. Click the "Browse..." button on the upper right and select the image you saved in Step 5.
  4. Click the "Upload" button.
  5. Click the "Save, I'm done" button (below Upload on the right side).

That should do it.

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