Icons I Love

I like this contact icon from the Smashy the Alien set by Maja Benic because it matches the chunky style of the other icons I like. There are two choices - either use only icons from one desgner or try to mix and match designers who have complimentary styles. I've failed to find any one designer who has all the icons I would want so I mix and match. I'm so fond of Maja Benic's icons though, that they provide the core of my approach.

(I have converted the original .PNG to a .JPG for Squidoo.)

This is one from Smashing Magazine as part of their Delifeed icon set. There are loads of RSS icons but I wanted one with some character and a fairly chunky look. The other thing I wanted was a glossy orange look. This one for me fits the bill.

Every good lens needs to advertise the lenmaster's Twitter feed, so a Twitter bird was a priority. I chose this one from Gopal Raju. It's not the most beautiful, but as I use it without the latest tweet, to be clear I wanted one with a "Follow Me" banner and this was the prettiest I could find that met that requirement. (I just wish I could get a tweet in the middle of a text module, but that's one of the limitations of Twitter.)

I've edited this image to change the banner from Follow Me to Follow KatePhiz, and from red text to blue text to reduce the color palette. Squidoo also isn't great with .PNG files, so I've changed it to a .JPG and filled the backgournd with white text. If you want to use the image please visit Gopal's website and download the orginal .PNG.

Here's an alternative version. In this case the text was best split onto two lines. I also chose a color which goes well with the twig, although that was just a bit too brown.

I keep the file on my compter as a PSD with the text in a separate layer so I can create custom version at will.

One of my favourite icon designers is Maja Benic. This is another icon from her Smashy the Alien set. In that set it's described as Blog but I prefer to think of it as Pencil. As always, the .PNG has been converted here to a .JPG for Squidoo.

It's worth taking a look at Maja's website. Icon design is a tiny part of what she does: she is a Croatian professional web designer. The portfolio of sites she has designed is impressive.

Dry Icons created the Portfolio icon as part of the Praktika set for Smashing Magazine. You'd think that a portfolio icon would be a common part of icon sets but they are actually rather rare. It sort of fits in with the scheme of icons I use but if I can find something with more character, I may swap.

As always, I've converted the .PNG to .JPG for use on Squidoo.

From the same series as Sweet Angel, Questions is by Icons-Land. I've converted this to .JPG from .PNG to host on Squidoo. Again it fits my preferences - chunky with virbrant colors.

It's a very useful icon - I wish there were more general purpose icons like this.

Icons-Land's Sweet Angel is a particular favourite of mine.

Unfortunatley Squidoo doesn't like .PNG files so the transparent background displays as black. It should look like this:



If you wish to use it on a Squdoo lens, you'll either need to edit the image to remove the black background or host it on your own webspace (eg Photobucket) - .PNG images can be included by <img src="..." />; they just cannot be uploaded directly to text modules. As the halo edges are feathered, editing in a white background is something of a chore so if I want to use it, I'll host it off Squidoo.

If you have any extra information or questions about this lens you can contact Kate Phizackerley, the lensmistress, using the contact form I have provided.

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Kate has written many Squidoo lenses. Please visit her full lensography, sample Kate's top lenses, or read her Squidoo Diary to keep up to date with her recent publications.

And if you would like to know more about Kate then please visit her personal lens on Squidoo or Kate's main personal hub and web site. You may also enjoy her blogs News From the Valley of the Kings, Kate Phizackerley on Business" or PT Phiz.