The story of the PostgreSQL logo was shared by Oleg Bartunov, CEO of Postgres Professional, who personally witnessed these events and preserved an archive of correspondence and visual design development for the database system.
Our iconic PostgreSQL logo — our beloved “Slonik” — has come a long way. Soon, it will turn thirty! Over the years, its story has gathered plenty of myths and speculation. As a veteran of the community, I decided it’s time to set the record straight, relying on the memories of those who were there. Who actually came up with it? Why an elephant? How did it end up in a diamond, and how did the Russian word “slonik” become a part of the global IT vocabulary?
This story, worthy of a novel, began back in the late 20th century, in St. Petersburg, on Malaya Morskaya Street — in a small bar where the pioneers of the Russian internet (Runet) used to gather over a beer.
The idea was in the air
It all started long before the image we now know as Slonik came to be. It was 1997. The PostgreSQL community, still very young at the time, was searching for a symbol. Heated debates raged on the mailing lists. Among the many suggestions came one that changed everything: David Yang, a community member, proposed making an elephant the mascot.
Why an elephant? Yang recalled Agatha Christie’s novel Elephants Can Remember. The idea was brilliant in its simplicity — like an elephant, a database should store information reliably and for a long time. And elephants are seen positively in almost every culture.
The idea was well-received but never formally adopted. At the time, PostgreSQL used other, temporary symbols — from the “Powered by Postgres95” logo to a cheetah. Clearly, we lacked a strong visual identity.
The birth of the elephant in Saint Petersburg
Fast-forward to April 1999 in St. Petersburg. The end of the century, the dawn of the Runet. Dmitry Samersov played a key role in this part of the story. As he recalls:
"There was no real IT scene yet. I remember a small bar on Malaya Morskaya where folks gathered for beers. Everyone did what they could."
Dmitry worked at a company called WebPlus and was actively implementing the then-nascent PostgreSQL.
"We had to figure out a lot ourselves. Naturally, I was involved in the PostgreSQL mailing list," he says.
Dmitry also had a small design studio called Kamen. So when a heated discussion about redesigning the postgresql.org site flared up on the mailing list, he decided to contribute. He asked designer Ekaterina Papchinskaya from his studio to sketch a website mockup along with a logo.
This wasn’t a formal order. Dmitry explains:
"It was an open discussion, and this was just a sketch I tossed into the mix. Like, hey, here’s how I think it should look."
So how did the concept of the “elephant in a diamond” come about? The elephant idea was already floating around — but how to visualize it?
"At the time, it was hard to find usable clipart," says Dmitry.
"So grabbing and processing a photo of an elephant was much easier... Most likely, the base was some figurine photographed right on a desk."
Studio Kamen specialized in exactly this kind of creative “trick.”
The diamond shape wasn’t random.
"A realistic elephant didn’t look great on an IT site," Dmitry explains.
"The diamond gave the image a cleaner, more technical look, symbolizing how the natural memory of elephants had been cut and polished into something useful for the community."
One important detail was the intentional asymmetry. Dmitry and Ekaterina wanted to avoid the sterile, symmetrical look of early computer graphics.
"We wanted the elephant to feel alive, not computer-generated... Nothing in nature is truly symmetrical," says Dmitry. That “liveliness” became part of the logo’s philosophy.
Even the color — blue — was chosen carefully, mainly for practical reasons.
"We didn’t want harsh colors... from the palettes available at the time, light blue was the most natural. Closest to nature," Dmitry recalls.
The finished website mockup and logo were uploaded to Dmitry’s personal site, devnull.wplus.net (highlighting the informal nature), and he shared the link on the mailing list. This isn’t just hearsay — his message to pgsql-hackers on April 12, 1999, is preserved. In it, under the thread “RE: [HACKERS] PostgreSQL Webpage,” Dmitry wrote:
"I was committed to show how postgres webpage should looks by my opinion. See http://devnull.wplus.net/pub/postgres/"
So the record is clear: the logo sketch was presented to the community in April 1999.
“There wasn’t any formal handoff at the time,” Dmitry confirms. It was a gift to the community, a way to give back for the openness and support.
It was also when the name that became legend was born. Ekaterina, Dmitry says, “named files however she felt like — usually with Russian words in Latin letters.”
If you check the 1999 web archive of postgresql.org, you’ll see other file names like aser.gif (short for "middle part") and adovesok.gif ("add-on", the bottom part of the logo). In the image directory for the proposed site design were files named slonik.gif and zaglushka.gif.
“The folks who grabbed the file [slonik.gif] didn’t bother renaming it — they just used it as-is,” Dmitry adds.
These accidental Russian filenames quickly caught on in the international PostgreSQL community. Soon, the diamond elephant became a recognizable symbol, and the simple, slightly childlike name Slonik stayed with it forever.
Logo evolution
Dmitry and Ekaterina’s sketch wasn’t used as-is, but, as Dmitry recalls, “certain elements, especially the elephant, were gladly borrowed.”
The next big step in the logo’s journey came thanks to Daniel Lundin from Sweden. Just 11 days after Dmitry’s email, on April 23, 1999, Daniel wrote to the same mailing list:
“Some time ago I posted a quick sketch of a hand-drawn, high-contrast stylized elephant... I abandoned that idea when I saw Dmitry Samersov’s proposal, which I thought was very well done. [...]
The logo and website design should be professionally redone before the 6.5 release. My clients don’t take PostgreSQL seriously when I point them to our current web pages — which is unfortunate.”
This message shows that Daniel not only saw and appreciated Dmitry and Ekaterina’s work right away, but already understood the importance of a professional visual identity.
Later, I contacted Daniel myself to clarify the details. He confirmed that the final vector version was inspired by the St. Petersburg elephant.
“IIRC used it for inspiration, then sketched up the vectorized one in Illustrator as best I could,” he wrote.
Daniel removed the diamond, made the image vector-based, more contrast-rich, and styled it for the web design trends of the time. That version — which appeared on pgsql.com, a site created to promote and support PostgreSQL commercially — became the elephant we all recognize today.
The name slonik took on a life of its own. When Jan Wieck was developing a logical replication system for PostgreSQL, he saw the file slonik.gif and asked me what it meant. I told him: “Little elephant.” Then he asked, “How do you say ‘many elephants’?” I replied, “Slony.” And that’s how the famous Slony-I replication system got its name. Dmitry Samersov comments on this: “I’ve heard the legend. I think it’s lovely. Great name, very handy.”
Not all smooth sailing. In the summer of 2004, a controversy erupted — PHP introduced a new logo that looked suspiciously like our blue elephant. The community had to decide whether to fight for its symbol or let it go. Josh Berkus conducted an entire analysis, arguing why the elephant was perfect for PostgreSQL: not only does it “remember,” it’s “reliable and loyal.” Thankfully, the community chose to keep the elephant.
At that time, postgresql.org was also undergoing a redesign. I remember a funny anonymous note in the web archive from that year:
“Events. Like, the site’s slowly being rewritten. Date: 2004-01-01 — 2004-12-31. The Postgres site is being rewritten at a leisurely pace. Almost there.”
By late 2004, the revamped site — developed by Alexey Borzov — was launched. The stylized Daniel Lundin elephant became the official logo.
Speaking of the Russian-speaking community, I must mention our early work on PostgreSQL search. The project www.pgsql.ru — a PostgreSQL-specific search engine I announced in January 2004, supported by RFFI and Delta-Soft — actually had roots earlier. Back in 2001, Fyodor Sigaev and I (later co-founders of Postgres Professional) launched the first search engine for PostgreSQL mailing lists. Ivan Panchenko was the main developer. You can still find that early version if you dig through the web archives.
It’s nice to remember how we were already working together for the good of the PostgreSQL community, long before the company even existed.
Interestingly, Dmitry missed most of this drama:
“It passed me by entirely. In 2004 I was launching my company Assist, and PostgreSQL just wasn’t on my radar.”
The logo's final legal chapter
For years, Slonik was firmly established as the PostgreSQL symbol. Even Josh Berkus, then in charge of community PR, misunderstood the logo’s origin. He once claimed Jan Wieck designed the “elephant in a diamond” logo — badly — and that a proper designer was later hired to fix it.
Legally, the rights to the original "Russian Slonik" remained in a gray area. I wanted to fix that. I reached out to Dmitry and asked him to formally transfer the rights to the community. Since the logo had been a private initiative, not the work of a company, the transfer was simple.
Dmitry had no objections. With his signature dry humor, he said:
“If someone asks you to do some weird thing, then you should do that weird thing as carefully and seriously as possible.”
In March 2025, Dmitry Samersov officially transferred the rights to the Slonik design to the PostgreSQL community under a Creative Commons license.
Today, the official PostgreSQL wiki states: “The PostgreSQL elephant logo ‘Slonik’ is a copyrighted design...”
The story has come full circle.
Slonik forever
And so ends this remarkable tale of the PostgreSQL logo — a story that began with an Agatha Christie novel, took visual form thanks to passionate developers and a talented designer in St. Petersburg, passed through the hands of a Swedish developer, narrowly survived a branding clash, and was ultimately gifted to the global community by its original creator.
What does Dmitry Samersov feel, knowing he helped create a symbol known to millions?
“On one hand, it’s nice to know there’s something that will outlive me besides my kids. On the other, it’s funny that of all the things I’ve done, the most lasting impression is from a random logo file named slonik.gif.”
This story is a vivid reminder that great things often emerge not from grand strategy, but from passion, coincidence, and a spirit of collaboration — a spirit that has always been the heart of the PostgreSQL community. And now, when we look at that blue elephant, we know: it’s not just an icon. It’s a piece of history, with roots in St. Petersburg, Agatha Christie, and a whimsically named image file.
