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 worksMonochrome text on dark background is typography displayed in one light color over black or near-black fields, sometimes with tiny symbols in the same hue. In buddy icons, this keeps the focus on legibility and strong contrast while minimizing extra visual clutter.
![Four identical black square with green borders display white text reading 'How Can I Just 'LET IT GO?' I [wont]' and a single green heart icon in the bottom-right corner of each](/image/9f3305f9e2154d9c67fd694c8eca06cd92f3916b713bbd744d1aebfc4529c19e){kind=small}
