They are struggling to raise enough money for a proper memorial, can you please help?.
A sixth gross of icons listed in the order in which I found them. If you’ve come across any icons in your travels, please send ’em to me.
atfirstsight.org
sizes: 32
bookcrossing.com
sizes: 16, 32
bloorwestvillage.com
sizes: 16
verity.com
sizes: 16, 32
q-bee.de
sizes: 32
programwitch.com
sizes: 16
aim.pp.ru
sizes: 16
d2.co.za
sizes: 16
zentanglement.com
sizes: 16
flankenlauf.com
A nice company logo that becomes a nice favicon. I like the fact that the corners are rounded within the icon
and logo, with good use of transparent background. The higher color versions also have a nice shadow effect
on the icon as well.
sizes: 16, 32, 48
desktopsidebar.com
A good translation of the site logo into a favicon. I really like they way they have cropped the “DS”
for the logo; looks really good. For some reason, though, the color scheme completely changes
from the one used on the site. The site has a great color palette, using tans and browns, but the favicon
uses blues. I think keeping the colors consistent would have been nicer.
sizes: 16
blinkerthestar.com
I guess using a star is an obvious choice for this site’s favicon. At first I thought the colors were
off, but then I realized that they are really the inverse of what’s used on the site. The other change
is probably shifting to just 16 colors. They only provide a 16 color 64 pixel icon; it would have been nice
to use a higher color depth and used more of the site’s great colors in the icon as well.
sizes: 64
collegehumor.com
Another great example of good cropping. A close up of the site’s evil looking mascot, focusing on the
comic book-like facial features. A really nice, strong image.
sizes: 16
alienmedia.net
Looks like this could be a flying saucer, fitting right in with the “alien” theme. It’s a nice
image, and I like the fact that they include so many variations of the icon. The image itself, however,
doesn’t really fit in with the site design, which is really nice. Maybe it’s a recent redesign…
sizes: 16, 32, 48
axentric.com
Proof that you really can accentuate alignment in a small space like this; the bottom left alignment of the letters
looks really great. The choice of green is interesting. Most of the site is in light blue, with green heading text.
It makes the favicon stand out. The dark green border around the icon is also a nice touch.
sizes: 16
boxofjack.com
A good, straightforward favicon. The color is great, nice rounded corners and the lowercase letter works really well.
Looks like the site has redeisgned since I grabbed the icon.
sizes: 16, 32
roundersquartet.com
I may not be a big fan of barbershop quartet music, but they have a good favicon. The icon is nice and I like the
alignment of the “R” within the circle. I think it would be even better if they either used the
grey background that the site uses and/or one of the other colors they use for their logo (maybe the blue?). As it
is, the yellow color tends to get washed out against the white background a bit.
sizes: 16
9rules.com
These guys do great stuff…really nice design. The 9rules icon, despite the many colors and complexity,
really shrinks down to 16px well. The look is great and immediately recognizable. Very nice!
sizes: 16
brownglasses.com
A good, eye–catching favicon due to the bright background color. I like the way the letter is kept small
so that there’s lots of background color to stand out.
sizes: 16
brownglasses.com
An updated favicon for the site, with a bit more technical feel. Another nice, simple favicon with more emphasis
on the letter itself rather than the background color. The color and font aren’t used anywhere on the site,
so it doesn’t quite fit in. Easy to recognize, though, and I like the 3D effect.
sizes: 16
sonesta.com
This company’s logo is just too complicated to shrink down to 16px. It is still legible, but looks awfully
fuzzy. The icon is also 16x17px, so I’m sure there’s a level of skewing going on because of the odd
size. Allowing for its full size (below), helps it a little bit.
sizes: 16x17
skyscraperpage.com
This is a really cool site, with incredibly detailed pixel graphic versions of the world’s skyscrapers. The
favicon is a natural representation, using some of the colors from the site. It even has some nice details despite
the 16 color limitation. Nice one!
sizes: 16
aintitcool.com
A nice cartoon–style portrait icon. I’m amazed that these are done with only 16 colors, they look
really nice. I also like the cropping done for the 16px version, leaving the full image for the 32px icon. If
the entire face were used for the 16px version, it would have lost all detail. This way, there’s a bit if
intrigue about the rest of the face. :)
sizes: 16, 32
apples-to-oranges.com
A nice leaf icon that could be from an apple or an orange. :) The leaf is relatively simple, but has nice detail with
3 shades of grey working here, which pick up the page background color well. Having said that, however, I love
the green and orange colors used throughout the site. It would be interesting to see what could have been done
with those colors in the favicon.
sizes: 16
brightcorner.com
A nice logo that looks good as a favicon. I like the colors and the way the logo shows hints of the 3D cube,
without being a full cube drawing.
sizes: 16
xmradio.com
XM Radio’s standard logo is ok, but not great, as a favicon. The logo has too many intricate details and
thin lines to survive the transition well. I’m sure it goes against all branding theory, but I think the
logo would have survived better if the image were cropped somewhat.
sizes: 16
accuweather.com
Perfect, albiet obvious, icon for a weather service. The image of the sun is nice with good detail. I don’t
quite get the dark line along the left and top edges. Seems to be an extra detail that doesn’t enhance the
image in any way.
sizes: 16
cudenver.com
I’m not sure how, but this logo seems to translate well as a favicon. From the original, I would have
expected that there was too much detail. I guess it works, however, because the image really centers around
the 2 shades of green, which can be represented well in the small icon size.
sizes: 16
fuer-freun.de
It took me a second to recognize this image; a winking smiley face on it’s side. I think it works ok as an
icon, although the fact that it took me a second to recognize it probably isn’t good. I also don’t
think the shadow effect adds to the image; if anything it blurs the image a bit.
sizes: 16
tgtsoft.com
sizes: 16
pricegrabber.com
sizes: 16
remotecentral.com
A nice icon for a site dedicated to remote controls. On its own, the smaller version would work, but the letters
and details get blurred beyond recognition. Because of this, though, I’m really glad a larger version was
included.
sizes: 16, 32
wagamama.com
A simple star image done well with nice, strong colors. What’s interesting is that the left and top edges
of the icon image are transparent. From what I can tell, that was done so that the star image itself could
be centered within the black square. Nice approach.
sizes: 16, 32
eps.com.au
sizes: 16
stonebrew.com
I love the beer and I love the labels on their bottles. The icon, not so much. The company’s logo is an
intricate image of a gargoyle. That definitely wouldn’t work in the small space of an icon, so the image
is cropped. The result, however, is not recognizable as part of the original. I’m not sure what the
answer would be to clear up the image. I wonder if the gargoyle would be recognizable in a larger, 32px version?
sizes: 16
northspace.com
A nice portrait favicon at 32px. I like the color theme used and the image croping
keeps it interesting. The colors don’t match the current site design, however,
but it still works.
sizes: 32
trumba.com
A lesson in keeping your page templates together. The main page links explicity to an icon
(included below for reference); all others use the default favicon from the root
directory. In my opinion, the default favicon is much better. It does a great job of pulling together the site’s
icon with the orange color from the site design. I like the orange border on the
icon along with the light orange background color used. On the other hand, the linked favicon is
rather washed out and drops all of the orange references.
sizes: 16,32
theubergeeks.net
A good letter favicon that used the site color scheme, I think, but they have recently redesigned.
The size is 1px off, so the browser does a bit of stretching to make it fit. The original size
is below.
sizes: 15
theubergeeks.net
The current favicon for the site is picking up colors from the redesign. I’m not quite
sure what the image is suppsed to represent, but I like the way it looks. Somtimes just color
is enough. Still using the odd 15px size, though.
sizes: 15
ana-ivanovic.com
I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but I think this is a really great portrait icon. Maybe
it’s because the image is inverted (white on color); maybe because the cropping job is so
good; maybe because it’s still very clear at all sizes. Whatever the reason, I think this
favicon is one of the better ones in the portrait category.
sizes: 16,32
28mm.org
I’m not quite sure what this symbol has to do with the site; perhaps it was more prominent
before the site retired. The color matches some of the pages, so maybe that’s it.
Having said that, however, I love this favicon. It’s just a typographic symbol, but it’s
such a strong image, made even more so by the white image on a colored background.
sizes: 16
skinnybuzzard.com
I like the colors used in this icon, they work very well together. The site itself is nothing
but black and white to show off its photography (which is amazing). So even though the icon
doesn’t get its colors from the site, it tends to stand out from the site just like
the photos.
sizes: 16
brittenpears.org
I really like this logo and it’s integrated well throughout the site. I like the strong
color and the right alignment. It translates pretty well to a favicon, but I think it would
have been much better with a little manual cleanup after the graphic was converted. The white
stroke is almost lost at the small size. Overall, though, a very nice icon.
sizes: 16
thepass.org
A simple icon that gets the point across, for a company that helps first time
drivers pass their driving test. Might have been nice to make the green light
much brighter than the others to further the analogy to the company’s purpose.
There’s also a little bit of a problem with the background transparancy;
not everything is transparant, some of the background is still white. To see
what I’m talking about, look closely when you hover over this icon.
Overall a nice job capturing the purpose of the site in something that is very
recognizable.
sizes: 16
droos.de
This site features an artist's work and, I belive, the favicon comes from one of
the artist's pieces. Given the complexity of some of the images, this was a great
choice for a favicon. Also a good choice to keep this a black and white image.
Adding color would have reduced the impact. I only wish an actual ICO format
had been used instead of a GIF image. That would have allowed larger images;
I’d love to see what could be done with a 32px size.
sizes: 16
famfamfam.com
I love this icon. The site is so simple, the dominating theme is the color scheme
used for its heading text. The same colors are used in the icon. Perfect. Kind
of what you’d expect from someone that makes icons.
sizes: 16
sudoku.com
If you’ve played a sudoku game, then this icon makes a lot of sense to you.
I like the fact that they simplified a standard sudoku board to make this icon.
If they had tried to replicate a full board, it would have been messy. I was
surprised to see the numbers show up in the larger versions. I’m not
quite sure why the black border disappears on the largest version. But, overall,
a good job.
sizes: 16, 32, 48
c82.net
A great icon picking up an image/icon that is used throughout the site. Translated
very cleanly into a 16px size. The main logo on the site has a slightly colored
version of the icon. Might have been interesting to see that version used for
larger icon sizes, but maybe not. Maybe it’s best just the way it is.
sizes: 16
caedes.net
Simple treatment of the letter C, with grey-on-grey tones, taking a cue from the
site’s background color. The C itself doesn’t show up anywhere on the
site, but it works.
sizes: 16
3bambous.com
A nice translation of the site’s logo, picking up the bamboo theme and colors from
the site. The background color of the icon is the same off-white as is used on the
site as well. The letter is almost too detailed for the icon, but ends up looking good.
sizes: 16
facebook.com
Portrait icon using the logo and color scheme of the site. Nice icon and fits the simple
design of the site. Would have been nice to see aditional sizes.
sizes: 16
foreignpolicy.com
A decent miniturization of the site/magazine logo. The black at the bottom of the icon
make sure it looks like the logo. The letters, however, are a little messy in this reduced
size. The icon is 1 pixel wider than it should be, so there’s also a little additional
distorting of the letters.
sizes: 17x16
myfavatar.com
I really like this icon. It takes the site’s color scheme and turns them into
an interesting icon. I’m glad that they used a transparent background and provided
the multiple icon sizes. Nicely done. When looking at the site, however, their logo
has a really unique letter “v”. It’s a much more identifying mark
than the favicon and might have made a more unique favicon.
sizes: 16, 32, 48
bigcheesesites.com
A natural choice for this site, a slice of cheese! Although, if I didn’t know the
name of the site, I don’t know that I would recognize this as cheese. Maybe a little
less uniformity in the holes, or additional visual clues (like a wedge shape) would help.
Created as a 32px icon, it looks much better when reduced to 16px. Overall, a good,
distinctive icon.
sizes: 32
jonester.com
I’m not quite sure what “N30 MRS” stands for, but the sign is placed
prominently on the splash page for the site. The 16px version is just barely legible, but
the 32px version is great. Nice job picking someting unique from the site to use as a favicon.
sizes: 16, 32
29digital.com
Just what you’d expect from a design studio, a great favicon. This favicon takes
the bottom right–hand corner of the firm’s logo, capturing both colors
used throughout the site. The dots are a repeated theme throughout, making a strong
connection to the logo. The larger, 32px version doesn’t bring in more of the
dots, it just makes them larger and clearer. Great icon and only 16 colors!
sizes: 16, 32
axialis.com
A nice logo that translates well into a favicon. For a maker of icon software, however,
I wish they had taken advantage of the icon file format and provided more than just a 16px
version of the icon.
sizes: 16
chromasia.com
David Nightingale’s photography is amazing, simply amazing. The site is full of
things I wish I could do with my camera. The favicon picks up the grey color from the site,
which works well to let the photos take center stage. Other than the letter itself,
though, the icon doesn’t connect to the site much in any way.
sizes: 16, 32
colorcell.uneven.org
An experimental site looking to find the most popular color combinations. Each combination
of 4 colors is represented by a square of colors, or a colorcell. So, naturally, the site’s
favicon is one of those color cells. The one chosen has some nice colors and is done well
with a white border.
sizes: 16
designtaxi.com
The site’s color scheme of yellow–orange on black is picked up nicely in this
favicon along with the plus sign from the logo. The strong color contrast makes this icon
stand out and I really like the way the plus sign is offset into the upper left. Simple and
strong.
sizes: 16
wonkette.com
The favicon is taken from the site masthead, zeroing in on the face. For such a detailed
cartoon, the 16px version really turns out nicely. The cartoon is so nice, though, I wish
they had included larger sizes to let more of the detail come through.
sizes: 16
godsavethequeen.it
I kind of feel like this icon is an optical illusion and I’m just not getting it. Clearly
the color comes from the site’s color scheme, but I just can’t make out the image
itself. The logo has kind of a grungy feel too it, and maybe this is just supposed to be
an abstract shape/grafitti image. Interesting…
sizes: 16, 32
drawn.ca
Besides being a great resource for illustration and inspiration, the site also has a
good favicon. Picking up the first letter and exclamation point from the site logo, the
favicon ends up being unique and easily identifiable. I wish there was a larger verison
available to pick up some of the detail, but it does well at the 16px size.
sizes: 16
30boxes.com
For a site that provides online calendars, “30 Boxes” is a clever name.
With a name like that, the favicon is obvious, “30” in a box! To make it
interesting, align it on the bottom–right of the box. Nicely done!
sizes: 16
haha.nu
Taken straight from the site’s header, the logo makes a great favicon. I love
the deep red color to begin with, but the tone–on–tone color makes it
really interesting. Although the colors don’t have a lot of contrast, I think
it works because the graphic image is so simple and recognizable.
sizes: 16
cingular.com
Cingular’s ubiquitous logo is the obvious choice for their favicon. The simple image
and color are immediately recognizable.
sizes: 16
fedex.com
A good example of what not to do with a favicon: squishing a big logo into a little space.
The result isn’t legible and is fairly distorted. From the look of things, FedEx agreed
and removed this favicon from their site. Unfortunately,
they haven’t replaced it with anything. With their new color schemes (where they
change the color of the “Ex” for each division of the company) they could
do some interesting things. Oh well!
sizes: 16
justin.thisjustin.org
This one is kind of different. It’s a big icon that I actually like more when
displayed as a smaller size. The large size really shows the pixelated approach to this
one, but displayed as a small image, it really looks good. Another interesting
part of this one, it has a transparent border around it instead of filling up the
entire space with color. This was for Justin Low’s portfolio site, but it
looks like the site is no longer available.
sizes: 64
jack.bremer.co.uk
A good black and white portrait icon…although he looks a bit angry! :-)
This was taken with a Logitech greyscale Quickcam; look what you can do with simple
technology! It looks like the site has gone through a recent redesign and looks great.
There’s a new self portrait illustration to match the new site; perhaps it’s
time to update the favicon?
sizes: 16
celebratelight.com
Michael Moore says that he selected the colors for this icon because the basis for all
color film and digital sensors is the combination of only 3 colors, red,green and blue.
To him, it made sense for a photography website. I’d agree that it makes sense,
but is probably lost on anyone not familiar with RGB color. It does end up looking
like the corner of a picture frame, though, and has a very subtle 3D effect in the
shading. Some great photos on the site too!
sizes: 16
cssdrive.com
This is a really interesting favicon, and it catches my eye. The letter “c”
surrounded by the teeth of a cog. The cog theme is used throughout the site, but the
logo and colors of the favicon don’t match the site. Maybe they’ve gone
through a redesign and just didn’t update the favicon. A nice favicon that,
despite the detailed image, works well at the small size.
sizes: 16
flameonglass.com
An obvious play on the site name, with a big flame icon. I’d like to see something
that relates to the site more. Perhaps the great monkey in the logo or one of the great
beads that the artist makes. Nice first icon, though.
sizes: 32
etsy.com
An interesting site to sell/buy homemade things. The favicon is taken from the site
header using the color and first letter with the distinctive font. The letter is a
little fuzzy at such a small size, but very recognizable and well done.
sizes: 16
givemeaning.com
The site’s logo translates well as a favicon. Simple image with good colors that
correlate back to the purpose of the site. A very nice one!
sizes: 16
idealbite.com
A sassy site about living green, with a green apple integrated into the logo. Perfect
choice for a favicon, although the bite taken out of the apple tends to wash out
the image at the smaller size.
sizes: 16
dealmine.com
The cartoon miner used as the site’s logo is also used as the favicon. The
32px size is great, not losing any of the detail of the original image. The 16px
size works, but does lose some detail. Might have been a good time to zoom in on
a specific portion of the image rather than try to include the entire thing in 16px.
sizes: 16, 32
comingupforair.net
This is an interesting one. The colors of the site are put together in a pattern of
shapes. I’m glad that a 32px version was included because it shows a detail
that is lost on the 16px size: there are letters in each of the colored sections
representing Coming Up For Air. I like that, although, for the 16px I think I’d
take the letters out and just let the colors stand out more.
sizes: 16, 32
kopeckydesign.com
Sometimes all you need is a color. Used throughout the site, the favicon is just a square
of that common color with a white border around it. For such a simple icon, I was
surprised to see a 32px version included. The larger size is used to create a larger
white border around the color, making it stand out a bit more.
sizes: 16, 32
hydrastudio.com
Great site design with pink standing out against a dark background. The site’s logo
is used as the favicon. The 32px and 62px versions are great. The 16px version, however,
is a little fuzzy to read at the small size. I think either just the pink color, or maybe
just the letter “h” at the smallest size would have been more effective.
sizes: 16, 32, 64
shinybinary.com
Great site design showcasing amazing artwork. The favicon is a simple extension of
the site design, with the dark background and green-ish letter. Crisp and clear, nicely done.
sizes: 16
nefariomonzon.com
A perfect favicon for this site showcasing the author’s work. Although I can’t
place the exact image used for the favicon, it definitely matches the artist’s style.
A simple image that is incredibly effective.
sizes: 16
filene.org
This company does research for credit unions, so it makes sense that the father of
US credit unions in its site name and favicon. The image works well and I like the
way they used the site color as the background for the image; great backdrop for a
black and white image. I only wish they had created a 32px version.
sizes: 16
bhwdesign.com
Looks like the site has gone away, but the favicon is still a very nice one. A nice picture
showing clouds in the sky over the horizon; the detail comes out in the 32px version. All of it with an
overriding blue colors.
sizes: 16, 32
995themountain.com
An example of what not to do for a favicon: take a detailed logo and transform it, as is,
into a smaller size. Even the 32px original is difficult to discern, let alone when it
gets shrunk down to 16px by the browser. Just ends up being messy.
sizes: 32Comments 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.