SOME RANDOM DUDE

A few weeks ago, Bitcons and Sanscons hit the milestone of 10,000 downloads combined. I never would have thought so many people would be interested in these icons, but I obviously was wrong. Over 33 percent of my traffic is affiliated with referrals to one of those pages and “Bitcons” is my number one search referral. I definitely do not want to be “the icon guy”, but I still thought it would be good karma to thank you for all the attention by releasing some new versions of the icons. So I have welcomed into the family Bitcons+ and Sanscons+.

A while back, someone suggested that I make a 32×32 pixel version of the icons. I did just that. On top of it, I made a 48×48, 64×64 and a 128×128 pixel version of both Bitcons and Sanscons. All versions retain the same exact look - no extra detail applied. I put some thought into whether each icon should be redesigned for each size. I came to the conclusion that the ultra-pixel look that I loved so much about each set would be gone - making the new icons belong to neither set. I decided to embrace the pixels of each icon and flaunt their pixelated beauty. A few years ago, these new sizes would not be needed as you could manually change the width and height attributes. However, with more and more browsers resampling images and the desire for many to use these icons for CSS image replacement, I felt they could be very helpful.

Each Set Looks Basically the Same. What Gives?

If you are new to each of these icon sets, I would suggest reading the Sanscons project page to get a detailed explanation. To be brief, Sanscons are icons that depend on CSS for their background color in order to make them more flexible. Bitcons is (and most likely will always be) in one color, limiting how many can use it.

Why So Big?

Why not? My thinking was to give each set in as many size variations within reason. Anything past 128×128 pixels just seemed too large and not worth creating. However, I still thought some very interesting uses for certain icons could be applied with the 128×128 set. If anyone thinks that sets at larger sizes would actually prove useful, hit me up (somerandomdude [AT] somerandomdude [DOT] net) and I will make them. The whole reason why I made the icons as they originally were was to have a distinguishable set of icons at a very small size. These sets obviously fly right in the face of that. Nonetheless, their lack of detail and refinement at such large sizes becomes quite interesting - at least from my biased point of view. I admit, this is not a dramatic update, but it definitely gives you another spin on these icons.

What is Next?

Honestly, as for icons, I think this is it for a while. Of course, one never knows, but my desire to make any more icons is just not there. Nonetheless, I really wanted to give something to everyone that may prove to be useful. So to make it short, I may do some more icons eventually, but I would not hold my breath. bitcons, design, iconography, icons, pixel, pixel design, pixel icons sanscons