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 worksRetro 8 Bit is a game-inspired visual style in buddy icons, using chunky pixels and text blocks with crisp, limited palettes. Repetition of short phrases, stars, and sprite-like character heads are reliable details to scan for this style quickly.
![Four identical pixel-art with yellow borders display text 'michelle &+ andrew [012708]' on black backgrounds, each containing a distinct small symbol in the bottom-right corner](/image/77ec31d70755de3a38bffac487df540ab0513935e5fd7a3ffa8c3353029b8970){kind=small}
