They are struggling to raise enough money for a proper memorial, can you please help?.
A second gross of icons…just like the first. They are mostly listed in the order in which I found them. If you’ve come across any icons in your travels, please send ’em to me.
superfluousbanter.org
Great example of how you can take just a portion of a logo and make it work as an icon. The megaphone is
perfect and emphasizes the site name.
sizes: 16
Surfin' Safari
A compass that matches the adventurous blog title. Unfortunately, I think it doesn’t quite work
as an image this small. I do like the fact that the face of the compass reflects the color scheme of the site.
sizes: 16
waxy.org
This one is really interesting. At first I thought it was just a square of the color from the site
masthead. Then I realized it’s actually the image of an old TV from the site masthead. On its own, I don’t
think it works; the monochome color and small icon size leave the image just a little too blurry. When viewed
with the site, however, it works out great!
sizes: 16
whatdoiknow.org
Another icon that on its own is hard to know what it is, but when viewed with the site, it’s instantly
recognizable. The icon is a snippet of the letter “W” using the unique script font. I like it!
sizes: 16
ok-cancel.com
The letter “O” taken from the site logo/name. Nice and simple, although the graphic gets
a little jagged around the edges from being reduced. Nice job of using a transparent background.
sizes: 16
positioniseverything.net
Perfect icon for a site that focuses on CSS browser bugs. Great little icon in both sizes provided;
almost wish it was used somewhere in the site itself.
sizes: 16, 32
k10k.net
This icon reflects the pixel art nature of the entire site. Matches the lettering used in the site name/logo
in the masthead as well as everything that is drawn with pixels here.
sizes: 16
pixelsurgeon.com
Nice translation of the site logo. The colors are inversed and it works out well. But, I guess if you’re
going to be called pixelsurgeon, you’d better do a good job! :)
sizes: 16
typographi.com
Perfect icon for a site about typography. I like how the larger letter goes right up to the right edge and,
because it’s white, appears to flow into its surroundings. The dark background and dark color used for
the smaller letter really make the larger letter stand out. Very nice.
sizes: 16
pokemoncenter-online.com
I can’t read anything on the site but, thanks to my son, I sure know what it’s about! The
pokeball is the perfect icon for a site about Pokémon. The graphics are a little rough from being
shrunk to this size, but not bad at all.
sizes: 32
jayallen.org
A very nice portrait icon and I like the color thrown in instead of leaving it black & white. Amazing how some
can be so clear at such a small size where others end up just a blur. This is one of the better ones!
sizes: 16
makikoitoh.com
This is the site that inspired me to create this gallery. Great little cat icon that goes with the site tag line,
not really the rest of the site design. Such a simple picture but a lot of character shows up in this cat!
sizes: 16
textism.com
Another typography site. The icon reflects the color scheme from the site and picks up the common abbreviation
for ”text.“ Unfortunately, the letters are just a little bit blurry after being reduced to this size.
I wish they were a bit crisper.
sizes: 16
wired.com
The immediately recognizable logo for Wired. Plain & simple.
sizes: 16
typepad.com
Typepad’s logo makes a perfect icon. Not much else to say…
sizes: 16
xplane.com
Another icon that’s a good translation of the site logo, just smaller.
sizes: 16
joshuadavis.com
Looks like a simple little bullet point graphic; it’s very small too. I have no idea where it came from;
I don’t see anything like it on the site. Who knows where it came from & why it’s so small,
but it works. With the small size, this is one I’d really like to see use a transparent background.
sizes: 16
slayeroffice.com
Just the letter “s” using the font from the site logo and picks up the site’s dominant color. Very
nice.
sizes: 16
orgdot.com
I like the idea for this, playing off of the site’s name, but I think the font is too fancy to be shrunk down
to something this size. I really can’t tell that it’s the letters “org”.
sizes: 16
magurno.com
First letter of the site owner’s name. I’m not sure why the letter uses the color red, but the
background is a nice gradient using the site’s main colors of yellow and orange.
sizes: 16
sly2bandofthieves.com
If you’ve played the game, you recognize the icon as Sly’s calling card. Even looks good at 16px.
Great game, too, by the way.
sizes: 16
oblivio.com
Wow, this one is a mess. The black background with a brown shape and some white outlining just end up
being very messy in 16px. I had no idea what the shape was until I saw the 32px version; it just looked like a
scribble.
sizes: 16
oblivio.com
A complete turnaround! I must have caught an early version of the icon before. This version
is very clean and looks great. It’s a 32px icon that shrinks well. A very nice icon this time around.
sizes: 32
stylegala.com
This nice script “S” is used for the site name in the masthead and repeated in the page background.
The letter ends up a little fuzzy when reduced to this size, but it’s still very recognizable. Creates
nice repetition with the rest of the site.
sizes: 16
typofonderie.com
I really like this icon; the bright white against the dark color look great. The letters are the initials for the
company, Porchez Typofonderie, or at least I assume they are the initials since I don’t know french. The
larger icon sizes are much better and cleaner than the 16px but it survives the shrinking well. The varying letter
sizes and direction are eye catching.
sizes: 16, 32, 48
rosswhite.com
Reasonable letter “R” with a fancy border around it. Looks good but I”d like it
better if it used the blue color from the site design rather than its green–ish color.
sizes: 16
satsig.net
I only know from reading something on the site that the blue dots are supposed to represent satellites orbiting
the letter “S”. Uh-huh. :) Even without knowing what it is, it’s a nice icon. And when you see
the animated site logo/name, you can see it’s a transformed version of the logo. Not bad!
sizes: 32
canada-gardens.com
At first I thought this was a leaf picture suffering from fuzziness after being reduced to 16px. But
then I saw the graphic on the site header and they’re a perfect match. I think it might look a
tad bit better if it used the single color red just like the header graphic, though.
sizes: 16
thebluejaysgarden.com
This one turned out really nice. I’m amazed at how clearly the blue jay’s picture is, even at this
small size. Nice job.
sizes: 16
lawrencejoseph.org
I can’t tell why there’s a toy giraffe here, but I’m sure that there’s a story behind it! :-) It’s
a pretty good picture although I don’t know that I would have recognized it as a giraffe without a little
help from the creator.
sizes: 16
laughatliberals.com
Sometimes simple creations work out quite well. This one has a good sense of humor, which you’d expect from
a humor–based site like this. I’m glad they didn’t try to use the elephat from the site header;
that wouldn’t have come out nearly as good as this. Simple elephant and the initials for the site. Simple and good.
sizes: 16
silverorange.com
This is a difficult one to make work at 16px, but I think the folks at silverorange did a good job. The colors
are a little tough to see because the orange slice is relatively small. Given the company name, though,
it’s easy to figure out what the icon is. I wish they had included a 32px version, I’m sure
it would look even better. I like the entire family of icons from silverorange.
sizes: 16
labs.silverorange.com
I think this one is pretty cool. What better symbol for a lab than an atomic image. It's made much more
interesting by zooming in and cropping it; a good lesson that you don't have to show the entire image all
the time. The colors tie in with the entire silverorange family of icons.
sizes: 16
stuff.silverorange.com
This site is where the folks at silverorange evaluate all sorts of products, hense the “thumbs up.”
Good image to use and, again, the orange and silver colors tie it in with the rest of the silverorange icons. This
one is also cropped nicely to make the image larger and yet keep enough of it so it’s easily recognizable.
sizes: 16
yahoo.com
This one isn’t terribly surprising. Yahoo typically shortens their logo/name to just the “Y!”.
The exclamation gets a little tough to read when it gets this small; dropping the shadow effect would have
increased legibility. The shadow could have been used in a 32px version, if they had included one.
sizes: 16
irelan.net
A single letter “i” with a color background that matches the color used in the site masthead. Nice
and simple, but I like the way it ties in so well with the site colors.
sizes: 16
maxdesign.com.au
Maybe this one just reminds me too much of my Austrailian Shepherd, but I like it. Again, I’m surprised at how well
the image can look at 16px. The dog is even smaller to make room for the circle, which is an essential part of
Max Design’s branding. Nice job.
sizes: 16, 32
jeremyflint.com
I’m really glad that Jeremy included multiple sizes for this icon. The image is the neon sign from the site’s
masthead. The sign probably wouldn’t have survived the shrinking to 16px and it looks like Jeremy did some
manipulation of the image to retain the key components with a red square instead of the writing from the
original sign. The larger icons, though, are nice to have to see full versions of the image.
sizes: 16, 32
wubbleyew.com
To me, this looks like an evil eye, but I’m not 100% sure. It’s a little fuzzy and doesn’t match anything
on the site, so it’s tough to confirm. Makes me feel spooky… ;-)
sizes: 16
pollenation.net
Really nice drawing of a bee, taken from the site logo. The larger icon size is nice to see as well. Well done.
sizes: 16, 32
wvmountainhome.com
Good thing there was a larger version provided, because I had no idea what this was until I saw the big version.
Turns out to be a play on the site name; a map of West Virginia in black against a reddish–brown mountain.
The state image isn’t recongizable at the 16px size and almost disappears due to the lack of contrast with the
mountain color. It’s a nice play on words, but a bit too much to handle in just 16px.
sizes: 16, 60x54
pontiac.com
This one surprised me. The Pontiac logo is pretty recognizable, at least to those of us in the US, but both
of these icons are pretty hard to recongize. The shape is right, but it’s still pretty fuzzy overall. Even
the 32px version isn’t clear; the image is just too tall and skinny to make it work.
sizes: 16, 32
saturn.com
Saturn’s logo works very well as an icon regardless of size. The bright color makes it stand out and the
white lines within the logo are easy to see at both sizes.
sizes: 16, 32
saab.com
Saab’s logo is recognizable but not legible at all at this size. Having the logo repeated on the site itself
helps reinforce the similarity, otherwise it’s just a red blob inside of a blue circle.
sizes: 16
jaguarusa.com
Jaguar’s logo is almost too detailed for a small icon, but not quite. I think it ends up working, I think,
because the background is so dark.
sizes: 16
lincoln.com
Lincoln’s logo just makes it into this icon size and is still recognizable. I like that they kept
the background transparent.
sizes: 16
msn.com
There’s that butterfly…that thing is everywhere. You can see why they decided to use it as a logo;
it’s still recongizable at very small sizes. The colors are bright and eye–catching. Nice use
of a transparent background too.
sizes: 16
surfmind.com
An asterisk is a common symbol on this site and the icon is a special version of an asterisk. Fits right in and, yet,
adds some interest over the other symbols.
sizes: 16
nathanpitman.com
A nice, clean icon that gets even better when you view the site. The icon matches the graphic in the logo, which
makes sense. But the site navigation uses several animated circles and you see the circle theme is repeated throughout.
A great icon “hook”. :)
sizes: 16
markboulton.co.uk
Mark uses this arrow graphic in a lot of places on the site, so it makes good sense as a favicon. With such a simple
graphic, a transparent background would be cleaner than the white one provided.
sizes: 16
technorati.com
sizes: 16
movabletype.org
sizes: 16
economist.com
sizes: 16
evolt.org
sizes: 16
usatoday.com
Globe logo from the USA Today newspaper. Provided as a PNG file, rather than an ICO.
sizes: 16
westciv.com
sizes: 16
dlanham.com
sizes: 16
webspiffy.com
sizes: 16, 32
tenyearsofmylife.com
sizes: 16
c71123.com
sizes: 32
twothirty.com
sizes: 16
cubancouncil.com
sizes: 16
decaffeinated.org
sizes: 16
atomkinder.net
sizes: 16
americanmegatrends.com
sizes: 16, 32
ordinary-life.net
sizes: 16, 32, 48
gurrydesign.com
Yes…it’s what you think it is… And it’s not a Hersey’s Kiss! :) Created
with a sense of humor, obviously, this favicon definitely doesn’t fit in with the rest of the site design,
which is a good thing.
format: ICO
zonezero.com
sizes: 32
sophie-g.net
So how on earth do you make letters so small and still keep them readable? I could never do it. For a personal
website that uses your name as the domain name, using your name for the icon is a logical choice. The vertical
alignment is really interesting. Ultimately, for me, it’s a little too small and I think a white
background instead of grey would increase readability.
sizes: 16
ouvaton.coop
An entire home page design displayed as an icon? I immediately liked the bright colors of the icon; it stands
out nicely, even on a crowded address bar. But when I went to the site and saw that the icon is the entire
home page in miniature, I liked it even more. The icon is using a full 32b color depth, yet the colors in the icon
don’t match the homepage exactly. Would have been a homerun if the colors matched.
sizes: 16
thesession.org
Well, I’m a sucker for anything Celtic, so I’m probably not the most objective judge of this one. :) The
site focuses on Celtic music, so the Celtic trinity knot is a great icon. The color blends well with the site’s
color scheme as well.
sizes: 16
saltercane.com
Wow. I liked this one a lot as soon as I saw it; then I found out how it ties into the site design and I liked
it even more. First, I really like the deep monochrome color used in the icon; matches the site perfectly.
Go into the site and check out the navigation for seeing the band members; it uses a picture of each
member’s eye! Looks like Chris’ was used for the favicon. Very cool.
sizes: 16
lostintranslation.com
The site has nice orange accents throughout the design as well as orange circles with a white letter as the
main graphic for each section of the site. So, this orange icon is tightly connected with the site design.
I think the letter in the icon, unlike those on the site, is a little thin and the font makes it tough to read.
sizes: 16
inpartnership.net
This one is taken directly from the site logo. I like the logo, but the icon is a little tough to see. Looks like the
icon is actually 25x19 pixels rather than any of the standard sizes. I think the browser skews the icon when it
shrinks it to 16px and that’s what impacts the readability. In its original size, it looks much
better.
sizes: 25x19
thomassondesign.com
Björn Thomasson has a very cool logo for his design site and it makes a good icon. As crisp and clear as the
logo is, though, the icons are a little fuzzy and it looks like the light blue color changed to grey. The icon still
looks good and is very recognizable. I like it!
sizes: 16, 48
mmk.m.se
A miniature version of this local kyak club’s flag. I’m sure it’s immediately recognizable
to members of the club. To me, it just looks like a flag. :) At first, I thought it would have been better to
zoom in on just the flag (leave out the flag pole) and enable the icon to be cleaner. But once I saw the
club’s logo, I saw that the icon is a replica of the flag from the logo. It’s best the way it is.
sizes: 16
buregren.com
This is a great icon! The home page for this personal site uses the same photograph of the site’s subject.
The icon is a great adaptation of the photograph. I really like the way the subject is cropped off on the right
side allowing some background to show through on the left. Very nice composition. And to make it even better,
look at all of the icon sizes provided! Excellent, one of my favorites!
sizes: 16, 24, 32, 48
speleo-berlin.de
I really wasn’t quite sure what this icon was depicting…until I saw the site in English and
found out that the site is for a group of cavers (I think we call them spelunkers here in the States). Ahh! It’s
someone crawling through a cave with one of those lights on their head! I’ll bet the club members
identify with the icon immediately; it’s a nice job.
sizes: 16
thomasmarban.com
I just love it when people take advantage of varying icon sizes to present an image differently. The image for this
icon (is it a self portrait?) comes from the site masthead along with the bright blue background from the site.
Great pixel graphic and love the way you get to see more of it with larger icons.
sizes: 16, 24, 32, 48
e-lusion.com
How on earth can someone draw a recognizable landscape in just 16px? Here’s a great example! When viewed
with the site, which has a complementary landscape image as its main graphic, it really comes together well.
I like the larger versions of the icon with the “rays” from the graphic are brought forward
as well. For some reason, this icon reminds me of chunshek.com… love them both.
sizes: 16, 32, 48
smileycat.com
sizes: 32
ryanbrill.com
sizes: 16
dris.dyndns.org
sizes: 16
once-upon-a-forest.com
sizes: 16
nick.typepad.com
sizes: 32
jonathanmacybiggs.com
sizes: 16, 32
cs.colorado.edu
sizes: 16
ancestry.com
sizes: 16, 32
antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov
sizes: 16
dutchcelt.nl
sizes: 16
designologue.com
sizes: 16, 32, 48
halfproject.com
sizes: 32
sercotransarctic.com
sizes: 16
gnuhaus.com
sizes: 16
birdhouse.com
sizes: 32
megnut.com
sizes: 16
filemagazine.com
sizes: 16, 32
kalsey.com
sizes: 16
kexp.com
sizes: 16
kopfblog.be
sizes: 16
cinnamon.nl
sizes: 16
mountaindew.com
sizes: 16
experts-exchange.com
sizes: 16
pixelhugger.com
sizes: 16, 32
pubcompany.com
sizes: 16
athenaspeaks.com
sizes: 16
blakems.com
sizes: 16, 32
codelifter.com
sizes: 16, 32
cursorarts.com
sizes: 32
dieselsweeties.com
sizes: 16, 32
lisa-jill.com
sizes: 16
quikonnex.com
sizes: 32
webdesignforums.net
sizes: 16
dailykos.com
sizes: 16
mediatemple.net
sizes: 16
extremetech.com
sizes: 16
message.co.uk
sizes: 16, 32, 48
coda.co.za
sizes: 16
sacbee.com
sizes: 32
tomwoolley.com
sizes: 16
shockmedia.com.au
sizes: 30x30
coudal.com
sizes: 16, 32
brothersinart.com
sizes: 16
vh1.com
sizes: 16
aurum3.com
sizes: 32
pga.com
sizes: 16
Ryder Cup (pga.com/rydercup)
sizes: 16
badreligion.com
sizes: 16
dirkhesse.com
sizes: 16
christopherhuffman.com
Normally I’d say that an image like this ended up too blurry when it was shrunk down to 16px, but in this
case I think it works really well. By being blurry, it makes the red shirt stand out even more. The same image is
used on the main page of the site where you can see all of the details. I like the way this one works.
sizes: 16
theletter.co.uk
A nice, simple graphic that is also used on the site as a bullet graphic, so there’s nice repetition. I
like the way the squares look like they are slightly transparent, darkening when they overlap. I think I’d
like it a little better if the icon used the site’s background color rather than introducing a new color.
sizes: 16, 32
indiammug.com
sizes: 16, 32
peamarte.it
sizes: 16
snowsuit.net
sizes: 32
vivified.net
sizes: 16
jigsaw.w3c.org
sizes: 16
fmemoria.com.br
sizes: 16, 32x36
agenzia.co.uk
Normally, I might consider a single color square a pretty lame icon. Not this one! Although this is something
even I could have made, I probably wouldn’t have been smart enough to do it. Take a look at the site,
it’s a very minimal design of blacks and greys on white with bold splashes of red in all the right
places. So, this icon adds one more splash of bright red in the overall presentation. Proof positive that
very simple can also be very brilliant.
sizes: 16
uie.com
sizes: 16
massiveblue.com
sizes: 16
incutio.com
sizes: 32
flickr.com
sizes: 16
shutterbug.nu
sizes: 16
frogmat.com.au
sizes: 16Comments to follow soon…so many icons, so little time.
© 2005 Michael P. Pierce. The creators of each favicon retain all rights and copyrights for their work.