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27 May 2005

MetaChat Favicon, Part 3, or maybe 4. Come inside.
I tried my hand at making a favicon. taz is right, it's hard to wrangle pixels when the image is only 16 x 16. I thought I had it tough when I used to make 32 x 32 icons! Check out my attempt. What's wrong with it? Are the ears too diagonal? Does the pancake look like a bird turd? Can you even tell its a rabbit? Anyone else care to try? I found that #A08E50 and #996600 are pretty good colors to use when trying to recreate a pancake.
posted by iconomy 27 May | 14:09
i toyed with the idea of putting the ears through the pancake, but i don't know if it would read any better
posted by ethylene 27 May | 14:13
it's maybe too cartoony...how about just an outline?
posted by amberglow 27 May | 14:34
basically, I've found that making favicons is a miserable thing. The only one I've ever done that I really liked was for viewropa, and I haven't had the least bit of success beyond that one. From what I see, most other sites have had about as much success as I have (if you don't count viewropa heh).

It's an excellent and compelling challenge, though. Everything has to be stripped down to the barest possible representation, so bunny plus pancake is probably impossible. (Just try doing a pancake, alone, in 16 x 16!)
posted by taz 27 May | 14:41
That actually looks like a bunny with a pancake to me, but that interpretation probably requires a contextual knowledge of pancakes atop of bunnies.
posted by loquacious 27 May | 14:45
i also thought of making a stack of bunny shaped pancakes, but personally still wouldn't mind a stylized mc or one of taz's pattern swatches
posted by ethylene 27 May | 14:53
Doesn't work for me. If I look at it for a few seconds it resolves, but for a favicon you want something that people can get the message if they only scan past it for a split second.
posted by matildaben 27 May | 15:02
Actually, looking at the favicons that end up on my linkbar, Google looks good (okay, it's a "G" - how hard is that?), and everything else looks like poop, including "Gmail", and especially TypePad.
posted by taz 27 May | 15:07
Aside from not necessarily universally resolving to "bunny w/pancake", it's a much clearer, crisper image than we normally see with favicons. I would like to see us have something with that much clarity.
posted by taz 27 May | 15:22
it never occurred to me that people might not recognize blort's. it's a toilet. what mystifies me is the .ico file is 32 x 32 but it still works.
posted by quonsar 27 May | 15:27
Good work. Would it be clearer without a pancake or is that defeating the purpose entirely?
posted by dodgygeezer 27 May | 15:28
I think it would be clearer? I forgot to add that I took the playboy-ish bunny that someone else (taz?) had made already, and just slightly altered it.

I still like the M and the MC the best, to tell the truth.
posted by iconomy 27 May | 15:36
Ach. I'm going to end up sounding like a total curmudgeon, but I don't see a toilet there now-way-no-how, dodgy. It's one of those things where you already have to know what you're supposed to be seeing in order to see it.
posted by taz 27 May | 15:52
I saw a toilet, but I think it was because I knew I was supposed to.

*unreads quonsar's post*
*looks at blort's favicon again*
*this time, does not see a toilet*

Wow. The power of suggestion is an amazing thing!
posted by iconomy 27 May | 15:55
And iconomy, I would love to see any idea you have just completely disregarding anything that has been done or suggested, or anything.

The thing is that we don't need a bunny to be our favicon, though we could choose that, and we don't have to have a pancake or a vibrating broom - those are just ideas that have made us laugh and represent certain milestones/memories in our history, but the map is not the territory? or vice-versa or something?

I would actually be happier with a not-bunny, not-pancake, possibly more abstract, very visually compelling and super-clear, crisp image.
posted by taz 27 May | 16:10
Sorry! Don't see a toilet no-way, etc., quonsar! D'oh, and so forth.
posted by taz 27 May | 16:14
how about just a checkerboard?

(or a coffee cup, or something?)
posted by amberglow 27 May | 16:20
ooo-a microscopic knifebutt? ; >
posted by amberglow 27 May | 16:22
I'm thinking maybe an orange carrot diagonally from lower right (stem) to upper left (root)?
posted by matildaben 27 May | 16:28
This is a good article on how to create one, and I really like the graphic examples that they give - very crisp. I'm blown away by the Jeffrey Zeldman favicon. That someone did that in 16 pixels is really amazing. His is the one of a guy in a bluish hat and red shirt.

More decent examples here and here.
posted by iconomy 27 May | 16:40
iconomy's favicon: it wasn't clear to me what it was supposed to be until I read the thread.

Blort's favicon: I see a toilet with a bunch of ..er.. shit around it and on top of it.

Also: favicon's will work at 32x32 BUT you have to make sure it looks good when it scales.

matildaben: I like the idea of a carrot.

FYI: I've been messing around with favicon's the last few days. I've been using IconArt, a freeware program. Very simple to use.
posted by deborah 27 May | 16:44
like this?
posted by amberglow 27 May | 17:01
ok, i've taken my first stab at it, trying to get it to read as both mc and a bunny head. it's been a fun little puzzle as i haven't tried this kind of thing before. i'm not sure what space i have to put it up on so i'm just going to mail it to iconomy and taz, if that's ok. color choice suggestions are welcome.
posted by ethylene 27 May | 17:06
or to whoever is on (are they still on? does everyone keep as a weird mutable schedule as me?)
posted by ethylene 27 May | 17:07
mail us anything, sweetie.

also, on the other stuff... You guys, if at all possible, please reduce down to 16 pixels tall first, and have a look. I did everything that I could think of with the idea of a carrot, some time ago, and there was nothing that worked. Nothing. zero. zip. zilch.

Which is not to say that you can't make it work, but just show me!
posted by taz 27 May | 17:16
it doesn't read great, but now i'm just fascinated with playing pixel by pixel.
posted by ethylene 27 May | 17:24
carrot
posted by kmellis 27 May | 18:03
kmellis groks my idea, but i for some reason had it slanted in the other axis, and maybe tone down the green a little bit in size and/or intensity in relation to the orange.
posted by matildaben 27 May | 18:06
BTW, my carrot isn't mine. I image googled "carrot" and selected one that I thought would reduce well. Just for example's sake.
posted by kmellis 27 May | 18:19
Okay, got to messing around a bit and here are my contributions to the conundrum.

The are, in order and in case you don't recognize them, a carrot, a plate of pancakes and a bunny.
posted by deborah 27 May | 19:57
that carrot's great (it has an afro!) : >
posted by amberglow 27 May | 20:21
deborah, I rather like your third icon.
posted by dodgygeezer 28 May | 02:19
Online Favicon maker
posted by dhruva 28 May | 02:49
Another idea - this - it's a finger shadow puppet of a rabbit...remember making them? I always gave mine a fang and made it attack things.
posted by iconomy 29 May | 00:13
i love that one, iconomy
posted by amberglow 29 May | 00:42
I love iconomy's last one too, and dhruva, thanks so much for the favicon maker link! All this metachat favicon creativity has really made me want to create one for our site, but I've been inhibited by the wee problem of having zero design talent. Thanks again!
posted by melissa may 29 May | 01:54
you're welcome, Mel. That's how i made a favicon for my blog: google image search + favicon maker.
posted by dhruva 29 May | 03:50
Thanks from me too, dhruva! I played with it all day yesterday, and made the rabbit finger puppet favicon with it. It's so much fun.
posted by iconomy 29 May | 09:42
iconomy - that looks like a winner to me
posted by dodgygeezer 29 May | 10:16
I like it, too, iconomy.
posted by deborah 29 May | 16:38
big third here
we could even animate it so it's a hand doing the "yak yak yak" and that italian interrogative gesture

*realizes she should have gone the favicon maker route, damns her old school pixel pushing ways*
posted by ethylene 29 May | 19:24
that was "i third it" to an "i second it" but in actuality it looks like i ate it
posted by ethylene 29 May | 22:09
Another vote for iconomy. Sorry, afro carrot.
posted by matildaben 30 May | 23:24
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