Do you develop software or publish an e-zine? Broadcast a podcast or draw a cartoon about gaming? Do you design fonts or have you seen a design related event or contest on the web? A great tutorial on graphic design or CSS? Some geeky fun? If any of these things (and more) have caught your eye, then we’d like your help! If you’ve run across content on the web that you think other Iconfactory visitors might enjoy, then drop us a line at our new address for posting Industry news. You’ll find it in the sidebar on our Links Archive page located here. We’re always on the look out for the latest and greatest, so don’t be afraid to point us toward cool, newsworthy stuff.
The Breakroom
Hot off the Press
October 5, 2006
The Day of the Dead
October 3, 2006
Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is an ancient Mexican celebration that was started by the Aztecs over 3,000 years ago. Although the Spaniards would try and eradicate the rituals, they only partially subdued it. Over the centuries, this festive holiday of bright colors, macabre imagery and specially prepared foods has honored the dead and symbolized death and rebirth to peoples in Mexico and parts of the United States. It is celebrated from October 31st through November 2nd and as such has become greatly associated with Halloween.
Artist David Lanham has drawn inspiration from Día de los Muertos to create his latest freeware icon set for your desktop. This brightly colored collection of skulls, hard drives, folders and more are a perfect kick start to our month long celebration of all things spooky. Día de los Muertos is available today for your Mac, PC or as a handy Pixadex iContainer. Enjoy!
Halloween Is Coming!
October 2, 2006
Any long time visitor to the Iconfactory knows that this is positively our most favorite time of year. The air is crisp, the leaves are changing and All Hallow’s Eve approaches! That’s right gang, its almost time for the annual spooky transformation of the factory from friendly pixel playground to the frightening bastion of undead GUI goodness.
If you were paying attention during the week of teaser animations back at the end of July, then you probably spotted a clue to let you know that we have been planning this year’s makeover for quite some time. We’re sure the results will provide an October to remember with all new creepy icons, desktop pictures and a few treats thrown in for good measure. So be here next week when the site is raised from the grave yet again, to the delight of Halloween lovers everywhere. Now, back to the lab, time grows short!
Mission: Impossible!
September 26, 2006
“Good morning, Mr. Phelps.” It’s one of the most recognized lines of dialogue in TV history – the opening phrase of each weekly episode of Mission: Impossible. This much-loved television series featured the adventures of the “Impossible Missions Force”, a select group of covert agents using every trick in the book to prove the show’s title wrong! It ran from 1966 to 1973, spawning a revival series in the 80’s and three feature films to date! It’s an enduring favorite, and proof that television fare can be intelligent as well as exciting. Resident artist Dave Brasgalla, like many others, watched and loved the show growing up, and now he’s created an Aqua-style icon tribute to Bruce Geller’s innovative creation!
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to download these ultra-cool desktop icons – and once you’ve selected your team, send them to Dave’s personal site, Pixelhuset, to retrieve the matching desktop. As always, should you or any member of your I.M. force be caught or IP-logged, Dave will disavow any knowledge of your actions.
Update: In what might be a strange cosmic coincidence, the first season of the original Mission: Impossible! television show will be released December 5th on DVD, and is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com. Go get it!
Bending Adobe’s Ear
September 18, 2006
For those of you not familiar with the story so far, here is a quick recap. Back on August 23rd we wrote a post of our Top 5 Adobe Illustrator Pet Peeves. Things in Illustrator that either bugged us or were slowing us down in our day-to-day icon making lives. That post was met with a flurry of feedback from frustrated Illustrator users the world over who wrote and shared their thoughts and frustrations as well as offered helpful tips and tricks to work around some of the difficulties we were having.
We are pleased to announce that our posts made an amazing journey from the factory floor all the way to the screen of Philip Guindi, the Product Manager for Adobe Illustrator itself. Mr. Guindi wrote to thank us for providing constructive feedback and to let us know that our concerns have indeed been heard. In particular, Adobe is working hard to improve several areas we mentioned (including forgetful clipping masks), but in particular the ability to make selecting objects and points “easier.” To this we have only one word… hallelujah! Who ever said a stick works better than a carrot anyway?
From our dialog with Mr. Guindi and the Senior Product Manager for Photoshop, John Nack, it seems quite clear that Adobe is committed to making the CS3 versions of Illustrator and Photoshop, upgrades that will matter. We love new features as much as the next guy, and we’re sure there will be many in CS3, but we’d much rather have the existing feature sets be the best they can be. This not only helps save us time and money, but also allows us to crank out icons for clients and fans quickly and effectively.
So from all of the workers, to those at Adobe, our pixel hats go off to you for taking the time to actually listen to your users. We’re looking forward to seeing how our new found friend, Adobe Illustrator, matures and grows in the days and weeks ahead. Kudos!
Announcing A New Stock Icon Family – Renaissance
September 14, 2006
The Iconfactory is pleased to announce that an all-new style or “Family” of icons is now available at stockicons.com – Renaissance. This brings the total number of unique styles of icons for designers and developers to 19. With a total of 65 individual collections to choose from, this represents largest, most diverse royalty-free offerings available anywhere.
Renaissance is one of stockicons.com’s most versatile families to date. The style’s design utilizes a range of neutral colors, punctuated by signature red accents for instant recognizably. The new family is marked by crisp, clean lines and a balance between realism and illustration that makes it ideal for a broad range of projects.
The Renaissance family is being launched with the Basic collection of 80 metaphors as well as its Database Add-on expansion of an additional 52 metaphors covering such specialized concepts as tables, scripts, records, and many others. Renaissance and Renaissance Database are being offered both in standard bitmap format as well as scaleable vector EPS formats.
Renaissance Basic is available today for $349.00. Renaissance Database is available for $179.00.
Baby Spaceships Warp In!
September 12, 2006
What do you get when you combine the sleek, futuristic lines of science fiction’s greatest spacecraft with the adorable cuteness of infants? Why Baby Spaceships of course! Iconfactory artist Talos Tsui has adapted the ‘Super Deformed’ style, popular in Japan, to some of the most popular fantasy vessels of television and the movies. The result is a set of ultra-cute desktop icons that are sure to bring a smile to any fan’s face. Baby Spaceships is available today for the Mac, PC or as a searchable Pixadex iContainer. They grow up fast, so don’t delay… grab them before they learn to fly and leave the orbital platform forever!
Why the Internet Rocks
September 10, 2006
Every now and then you stumble across something on the Internet that reminds you just how cool it really is. Tonight we came across something that took us right back to our childhoods and we suspect that it will do the same for you.
YouTube plays host to all manner of videos from singing Hoffs to Hypno-Kittys, but we can’t remember the last time we saw the 123 Counting Ball sequence from Sesame Street. Oh, how we loved that ball! Although the alternate ending with the ball being ground to powder is our favorite, this video with its distinct music and intricate set-up put a grin on our faces from ear to ear.
A little more searching revealed other childhood favorites such as the Alligator King, LadyBug Picnic, the surreal journey of the Lost Kid and the classic Pinball Counting Song. A veritable cornucopia of counting that is as fresh in our brains today as it was 25 years ago. We just wanted to share this small discovery with you and hope it makes your day, as it did ours. Enjoy!
