![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Icons and individuality
I was thinking of doing that meme that's been going around, where you ask people on your f-list to post pictures of people to represent their mental image of you, but then I thought that since something like 70% of the icons I use on a regular basis (including my default) are of Chloe Sullivan, that's probably the mental picture most people have of me.
And then I saw this interesting post linked on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
metafandom, in which the poster talks about getting confused when different people on her f-list used the same icons, and it reminded me that I wanted to do a poll on people's different icon philosophies, because I am curious.
[Poll #816425]
I've had some conversations in the past with various folks, especially![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bop_radar, about how I never used to really see icons. That was largely due to the fact that I still have dial-up at home, and my desktop computer has a very slow processor, so I often read lj with the graphics turned off, for better speed. But even when I did have the graphics turned on, I was still rather text-centered rather than picture-centered. I would occasionally notice really cool icons, but mostly I didn't notice icons at all, and I remember being very confused about how many interesting discussions would get sidetracked by the discussion of someone's icon.
When I delurked, I wanted an icon that was not particular fannish, that I could use for any type of post and that people would automatically associate with me. The icon I chose was based on this painting by Corot, which is one of my favorites:
For some reason, when I was first making icons and really didn't understand how file size worked , I thought that the image was too big for livejournal specs, so I made it grayscale. (I now think this icon is hideously depressing, but at the time I was very proud of figuring out how to make an icon all by myself).
It wasn't until sometime last year that I decided to switch over to a more fannish default icon. I can't remember when I chose Chloe as my avatar, precisely, but I assume it was around last February or so, when I finally broke down and got a paid account and got more interested in icons because I was learning how to make them.
In all those years of lurking and having only one icon, I somehow never learned there were icon communities on lj, but I think I wouldn't have used them anyway, because it has always been more important to me that my icons are unique than that they be really beautiful. (I have about 80 icons now, and I think 5 of them were made by other people, and a couple of those are gifts). Maybe that's because I'm not as visually attuned as other folks, so for me the "branding" function of icons is more important than "ooh, pretty"?
I do notice the pretty a lot more, now that I'm making them for myself, and I'm more likely these days to check out icon journals and look at other people's icon sets, because I have a lot more appreciation for beautiful icons now that I'm making icons myself. For the most part I just go to look and admire, however. I still prefer a mediocre icon that I made myself, that is unique in some way, to a really gorgeous one made by someone else that might be used by another person. And I'm likely to stop using icons I make myself if I realize that the image source is a populare for other people's icons. I had this as a default icon for a while:
Even though this picture of Allison Mack is definitely my favorite, I stopped using this icon because so many other people use this picture as an icon base. I started worrying that I was inadvertantly stealing someone's favorite icon, since I had no way of knowing who used the picture as a base first--and even if I was the first to use it, I want my icons to be immediately recognizable as mine. They may not be quite as pretty as other people's, but they're mine!
But enough about me. What's your icon philosophy?
And then I saw this interesting post linked on
metafandom, in which the poster talks about getting confused when different people on her f-list used the same icons, and it reminded me that I wanted to do a poll on people's different icon philosophies, because I am curious.[Poll #816425]
I've had some conversations in the past with various folks, especially
bop_radar, about how I never used to really see icons. That was largely due to the fact that I still have dial-up at home, and my desktop computer has a very slow processor, so I often read lj with the graphics turned off, for better speed. But even when I did have the graphics turned on, I was still rather text-centered rather than picture-centered. I would occasionally notice really cool icons, but mostly I didn't notice icons at all, and I remember being very confused about how many interesting discussions would get sidetracked by the discussion of someone's icon.When I delurked, I wanted an icon that was not particular fannish, that I could use for any type of post and that people would automatically associate with me. The icon I chose was based on this painting by Corot, which is one of my favorites:
For some reason, when I was first making icons and really didn't understand how file size worked , I thought that the image was too big for livejournal specs, so I made it grayscale. (I now think this icon is hideously depressing, but at the time I was very proud of figuring out how to make an icon all by myself).
It wasn't until sometime last year that I decided to switch over to a more fannish default icon. I can't remember when I chose Chloe as my avatar, precisely, but I assume it was around last February or so, when I finally broke down and got a paid account and got more interested in icons because I was learning how to make them.
In all those years of lurking and having only one icon, I somehow never learned there were icon communities on lj, but I think I wouldn't have used them anyway, because it has always been more important to me that my icons are unique than that they be really beautiful. (I have about 80 icons now, and I think 5 of them were made by other people, and a couple of those are gifts). Maybe that's because I'm not as visually attuned as other folks, so for me the "branding" function of icons is more important than "ooh, pretty"?
I do notice the pretty a lot more, now that I'm making them for myself, and I'm more likely these days to check out icon journals and look at other people's icon sets, because I have a lot more appreciation for beautiful icons now that I'm making icons myself. For the most part I just go to look and admire, however. I still prefer a mediocre icon that I made myself, that is unique in some way, to a really gorgeous one made by someone else that might be used by another person. And I'm likely to stop using icons I make myself if I realize that the image source is a populare for other people's icons. I had this as a default icon for a while:
Even though this picture of Allison Mack is definitely my favorite, I stopped using this icon because so many other people use this picture as an icon base. I started worrying that I was inadvertantly stealing someone's favorite icon, since I had no way of knowing who used the picture as a base first--and even if I was the first to use it, I want my icons to be immediately recognizable as mine. They may not be quite as pretty as other people's, but they're mine!
But enough about me. What's your icon philosophy?
no subject
A couple of other people have also commented that they change their icon to match their layout, which I confess is something that wouldn't have occurred to me to do, but I'm clearly more on the "icon as avatar" than "icon as art" end of the spectrum. I was interested by what you said about getting sick of icons, though, because I get sick of mine, too, sometimes, but I'd rather get bored with ones I've made and replace them, because most of the ones I have that other people made were gifts, so I don't want to get bored with those. :D
no subject
Yeah, it never occured to me to match until I started using my friends page as my default page. All of a sudden I was staring at the same page every day, and seeing a discord of colours there was just... jarring. But if I really like my layout, as I do now, I won't change it for a while (anywhere from two to six months) and I often don't change the icon unless I'm seriously sick of it.
I'm definitely more of an "icon as art" person. I absolutely refuse to go around with a substandard icon, which is why I deleted so many of mine, in addition to being bored of 'em. I do understand what you mean about icon gifts though. I don't get many--I don't usually ask, and people don't offer 'cause most of my friends aren't into the fandom(s) I icon--but the ones I do have, I keep for ages. And I don't use them as defaults. Ever. I do not want to get sick of them. But I'm a member of a few icon communities, and sometimes I'll go around and gather some icons I really like from there. I don't mind sporting stockish icons that many other people might have, even if they're my default. I only mind what I make, I guess... I hope that made sense.