From the archivist
It started with a game that needed a few authentic AIM icons. Then I had 1,000. Then 10,000. At some point, I had a buddy icon problem.
Read how this happenedYou made it this far
You have scrolled past 1,024 buddy icons, so I have some suspicions. My blog is where the other shiny digressions end up.
Subscribe to Shedletsky.comA language of tiny pictures
A picture barely 50 pixels wide, sitting beside an AIM screen name, could announce a mood, a fandom, an inside joke, or who someone wanted to be that day.
Read the short historyRecovered from the early web
Buddy icons survive in old directories, fan sites, downloadable packs, and web archives. The archive preserves the original files, groups known copies, and records where each one was found.
How the archive worksBlocky 8 Bit Font identifies buddy icons built around chunky pixel-like lettering with hard-edged glyph geometry and retro display proportions. You can often see decorative hearts or simple icons replacing letters, which is a useful way to distinguish these from rounded modern typography.
![Pixelated red text reads "I Love You David! [4-2-08]" on black background with a purple heart symbol above the first line.](/image/22684e6f88fac42dce6bb686b4a7f30faaede925267007f91d9bfdc5a578afa0){kind=small}
![Pixelated text on a light blue background reads "smile it makes ppl wonder wht ur up 2 =]" in four identical arranged in two](/image/59539c486f5546851c81ae8aa0f223158bf30adea5903848c4215de0dc465ffc){kind=small}
