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 worksText Blocks buddy icons make framed or blocky typography a core feature, with words placed in boxed shapes, big labels, or stacked slogans beside the image content. The lettering itself becomes a structure, especially when repeated captions, declarations, or short emotional phrases occupy strong areas of the icon.
![Blue background displays 'Tennessee' text above two identical pixel art icons with 'WINK' repeated twice, a smiley face ':]', and pink star-like shapes.](/image/81d73596db7fd03720494fc435ac52aab0082b501aeca28c3a405c989f8d04c0){kind=small}
