When navigating our social media platforms in the past three days, you may have noticed a blurred and colourful spot in the place of our usual logo. We hope we didn’t worry you too much, generating alarming thoughts like “Someone has hacked the OpenCitations profile!” or even simple ones like “Do I have a smudge on my screen?”. That blurry image was just meant to spark interest and curiosity and today it has been replaced by an intriguing character accompanying the name “OpenCitations”. It’s not a figment of imagination, but a new image which will characterize us from now on and with which the community will become familiar when thinking about OpenCitations.
We have decided to name this character “Quirin”, a name which collects the four pillars of OpenCitations services: QUality; Integration; Reusablity and INteroperability. However, Quirin is not just a mascot but is an integral part of OpenCitations brand.
Indeed, after two years of synergic work of ideation, consultation and implementation from the University of Bologna Communications office, the University of Bologna Graphic Design Office, and the OpenCitations Team, with the strategic guidance from the International Board for OpenCitations, we are now excited to unveil our new logo, marking an important milestone in the journey of OpenCitations as part of our ongoing rebranding activities (as preannounced in our last blog post).
Why a new logo?
Our previous logo has excellently served us since 2010, and its simple design and colours have become well recognisable from the community. However, over the years OpenCitations has evolved and grown, and it was time for a design that truly reflects who we are today and where we’re headed in the future. The new logo is strongly distinctive and different from any other logo (the similarity of the old OC logo with other brands was one of the main reasons for this change). Its uniqueness has made it possible to officially register it as a trademark within the EUIPO trademark office with the certification number 019045665. The new logo of OpenCitations will be soon available for download, both in its positive and B/W versions, on a dedicated GitHub repository.
Our idea behind this new visual identity was to provide an evolution of the elements of the old logo and keep its iconic colours, thus providing a thoughtful blend of modern design elements and symbolic representations that speak to the essence of OpenCitations.
Here’s a breakdown of the key elements:
Letter O: The letter “O” is the first letter of “Open,” and for OpenCitations, “open” is a core value and ultimate goal. It represents our commitment to openness, transparency, and accessibility in the world of scholarly citations. The circle evokes a sense of continuity and inclusivity, key aspects of our mission to make citation data freely available to everyone.
Letter C: The letter “C” stands for “Citations,” reflecting our core mission to provide open citation data. Together, the letters O and C form a visual summary of our work: making citations open and accessible to researchers, institutions, and the public.
Eye: The inclusion of an eye adds a unique “human” element to the design, making the logo more than just a symbol—it’s a distinctive mascot for OpenCitations. The eye represents the curiosity and exploration that drives research, capturing the essence of a questioning mind. It’s not only about vision but also about seeking knowledge and discovering new perspectives in scholarly work.
Citation Markups: The angular brackets, often associated with the <cite> HTML element used to mark-up citations, provide a nod to the technological foundations of OpenCitations. These brackets symbolize the semantic web technologies that we embrace, reinforcing our commitment to advancing research in the digital age.
This new logo is more than just a fresh design—it’s a representation of who we are as an organization. It embodies the values that have always guided us: openness, curiosity, and innovation, as well as the involvement in our team of young and volcanic researchers.
We believe that this new logo will help us better express the uniqueness and peculiarity of OpenCitations and inspire others to join us on our exciting journey, both in terms of community engagement and support.
Also, this new logo release is just the first step of a whole revolution in the visual identity of OpenCitations, which will affect its main virtual showcase (but will say no more for now)…Stay tuned in the next few weeks for new, user-friendly, updates!
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Chiara Di Giambattista (February 14, 2025). Announcing the new OpenCitations Logo: a fresh look to reflect our vision. OpenCitations blog. Retrieved March 28, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/13bgz