Smashing Community Icon Set: Comment and Win!

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Ready for this? Here’s how it works: you tell us what icons you need, and then we design them together with SoftFacade (which recently created the beautiful Smashing Retro Icon Set) and release them for free. And to make it a bit more interesting, we’ll smash six commenters and forum participants with original nerdy gifts.

To participate, just suggest an idea for a great useful icon set in the comments to this post or in this forum thread. Details are below.

How do I participate?

Participating is very easy: just let us know what icon set you would like us to design (and, if possible, what specific icons the set should contain) in the comments to this post or in this forum thread. The set may contain at most eight icons.

On the 20th of March, we’ll select the most popular ideas and requests and publish a poll in our magazine, inviting our readers to vote on their favorite theme. Once it’s done, the creative minds behind SoftFacade will carefully design the set and submit drafts of its work in progress to the forum, documenting the design process. Hence, you can observe how the set is created and, if there is something you would like to change, communicate with the designers directly. You can keep track of updates on Twitter @smashingmag and @softfacade.

Awards

A total of six commenters and active participants in the forum will be awarded Mac Dock Icon Throw Pillows (see images below). The winners will be picked randomly and announced in the forum and on Twitter after the theme of the icon set has been chosen.

Finally, we’ll release the set as a free download, which you can freely use for personal and commercial use.

Smashing Magazine Is All About Our Readers

At Smashing Magazine, our readers have always been our highest priority. We respect our readers; we listen to them; we are always open to their suggestions; and we always appreciate constructive criticism. This is why we created a number of ways to interact with our readers:

  • We created a friendly Smashing Forum to make it possible for our community to exchange ideas and help each other in problem solving.
  • We are using Twitter to share useful resources and knowledge with, and get feedback from, our readers (e.g. deciding which article should appear next), and we now have almost 20,000 followers.
  • We are preparing the Smashing Book, in which our readers can decide what topics will be included.

And now we would like you to decide what icon set we should design and release next, especially for you. We hope to get great feedback from you, and we would like to thank SoftFacade for its cooperation in this event! Please spread the word, too; we would like the design community to decide what would be most useful and interesting for designers out there!

So, what icon set is it going to be, folks?

(al)

The Smashing Editorial loves high-quality content and cares about little details. We also believe that content and design are crafts worth sharpening.

  1. 1

    a la taraska!

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  2. 2

    Do me a slick web 2.0 icon set with huge icons for use on portfolios, please. :o

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  3. 3

    Ok, as much as I dislike Apple those pillows are fukken awesome.

    That’s all. :3

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  4. 4

    A cool Firefox icon will be awesome :)

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  5. 5

    wheeee! I was thinking a new adobe set would be cool… or maybe a folder set

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  6. 6

    My blog has the following major sections and I would love to iconify them: life, philosophy, technology, food & nutrition, and political science.

    Thanks. :D

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  7. 7

    I think a yahoo messenger icon pillow will look awsome :) !

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  8. 8

    Since we are about to start March Madness, how about some sports or (gulp) gambling icons?

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  9. 9

    A good set of account icons would be great. There’s a lot of good free icon sets out there (including many folders, adobe, browser icons), but it seems as though a lot of the new 2.0 style icons are more geared toward desktops, rss, and social networking.
    I think account icons would be something not so commonly found. Good examples would be: log in/ log out, edit my info, etc.
    The ebooks suggestion below is also great.

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  10. 10

    Smashing Community Icon Set submission.
    I’ve never been able to find icons specific to eBooks. And so suggest icons for eBooks/eLibrary
    - library icon(s)
    - eBook File icon
    - eBook Device icon (generic, kindle, eReader, other?)
    - favorite eBooks icon
    - eBook Maker (printing/Gutenberg press) icon

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  11. 11

    awesome…. Thanks Smashing Magazine…

    :)

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  12. 12

    I have a few Icons in Mind:

    First, a Picasa icon set on a face of some-sort. Their are 5 different colors in their logo so it might be challenging.

    Second, I would love to see a blackberry icon for blackberry messenger. This kind of icon would drive traffic to your site like crazy because its a Google search gem.

    Third, and lastly: a calender icon that will impress. There are many calender icons out there but they are pretty bland. Is it possible to make something sexy?

    I don’t want the prizes as much as I want those three icons! If you do them, that is prize enough!

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  13. 13

    A usauabilty set, u know for indicating to users: internal links, external links.

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  14. 14

    I’d like to see sea based icons. They are quite rare, I must say, so I have much trouble to find sea creatures, like seahorse, shells, tridents & anchors anywhere. So, I’ll go by that.
    There sure are a bunch of social icon sets out there and we don’t need another one.
    Although, what I’d really like to see is one Tweety [from Sylvester & Tweety] twitter icon.

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  15. 15

    Phillip Mackenzie

    March 18th, 2009 10:54 am

    I’m desperate for high-quality, customizable icons…like a photo album that has a photo on the front of it that you can replace with your own; or a folder with a spot to put your own logo on it, etc.

    These would have to be in PSD format, but I think adding a few of those in with the set would be…smashing!

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  16. 16

    An Adobe set would definitely be really cool. What about ammunition?

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  17. 17

    customizable social grunge icons maybe?

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  18. 18

    I’d also like to have a nice web 2.0 icon set with huge icons for use on portfolios ;)

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  19. 19

    dagobert renouf

    March 18th, 2009 10:59 am

    Hi guys,

    MAKE A TUBE BOX,
    I need it for the website I’m working on and I can only find square box, we sell wall decalls so we send it in smashing tubes, so do a TUBE set guys :D to put awesome icons on our shipping infos page !

    Smashing magazine is all about the details right ? MAKE ME PROUD.

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  20. 20

    e-commerce icon set would be great.
    basket, product, category, attributes, brand, order, shipping, bank, credit card, paypal, etc…

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  21. 21

    How about a nice set of icons for Tumblr (Text, Photo, Link, etc…) that could be used in a custom theme.

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  22. 22

    We would like to see some huge icons too for use in portfolio’s or in footers. Even some room plants would be nice !

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  23. 23

    Cool ! all are very great … i want it !!!

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  24. 24

    Something I’ve searched for but not found is a nice ‘forum’ icon set. Which involves threads/stickies/popular/updated/new/fav/etc….

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  25. 25

    A set of TINY icons for a web portal, icons like writeNewArticle.gif or deleteComment.gif. Using them as link enhancer.

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  26. 26

    Jeremy Gallant

    March 18th, 2009 11:09 am

    An extreme sports icon set would be super cool. Skate boards, bmx bicycle parts. that would be sweet!

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  27. 27

    I would like to see a set of icons for folders that organize my different design work. Examples: Freelance, Full-Time job, Web, Print, Fun, Test Projects, Finished Work, Current Work, or Upcoming Work.

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  28. 28

    Hi, I need icons to indicate that certain post contains a video as well.

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  29. 29

    A Underwater (some like splash in the water) social icons!

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  30. 30

    Jonathan MOREL

    March 18th, 2009 11:15 am

    Good idea. I agree Avanak. E-commerce icons would be appreciated here :D
    Thanks SM !

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  31. 31

    A set for different media types which could be used for tumbelogs/microblogging/lifestreams: text, photo, link, video, quote, chat, audio, status. That makes 8, and I’m out of ideas anyway.

    But free icons are great, so I’m cool with whatever comes out of this.

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  32. 32

    A LIFEATREAMING icon would be nice.
    Since Lifestreaming is the next big thing, it would be good to start with new icons.

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  33. 33

    These pillows are every obsessed apple fans (such as myself) ultimate home furnishing accessories!!!

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  34. 34

    I would go for health related icons.

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  35. 35

    Nice - SE7ENize.com

    March 18th, 2009 11:19 am

    I want cute icon set for blogger that contains
    1. Comment bubble
    2. Email icon
    3. Feed icon
    4. User icon
    5. Delicious icon
    6. twiiter icon
    7. Pencil/Pen icon
    8. Star/Heart icon
    9. Folder icon
    10. Paper icon
    plus..cat icon, simply because I love cats! :P

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  36. 36

    Hello! Samsung T260 icons would be nice. Also different pen/pencil icons would be useful. Good luck everyone! Matt in Chicago.

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  37. 37

    Would love an Art Deco style icon set! Could conatin Art Deco versions of RSS, folder, Twitter, etc icons.

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  38. 38

    I would love to see some high-res FOOD icons: coffee mugs, sandwiches, sodas, steaks, popcorn, etc.

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  39. 39

    What about a Fashion Icon Set?

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  40. 40

    I’d like to see a full developer icon set with about 100+ icons

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  41. 41

    I’d like to see popular free software icons. Could include:
    * GIMP
    * Notepad++
    * Audacity
    * Firefox
    * Inkscape
    * Digsby

    Or, go generic so they can be used across programs:
    * Graphic Software
    * Text Editors
    * Chat Clients
    * Sound
    * Video

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  42. 42

    I like the idea of folder icons for different types of projects. As an artist I have a lot of trouble keeping all my files organized. Maybe some things like photography, vector, pdf, web, graphic etc. I think that would be wicked cool =)

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  43. 43

    I love art and history so maybe some sort of sweet Indiana Jones inspired themed ones: excavation of an artifact (pot) for ‘search’ function, a stack of old library books with candle for ‘archives’, a broken column for ‘help or repair’, maybe an old scroll and pen for a ‘blog or communications’, an aged blueprint possibly for ‘site map’, ancient coins coming out of a purse for ‘purchase’, an old decrepid mine entrance with danger sign for ‘caution’, aged lock for ‘protection’, a shovel, trowel, and paintbrush for ‘tools’, vintage airplane and jeep over an old globe for ‘travel’, nailed up crate with bits of straw poking out for ‘security’, old tent for ‘home or accomodations’, water bottle & exotic fruit for ‘food or rest’, big boulder rolling down hill at you ‘caution’, fedora & whip for ‘accessorizing’, an old sepia tone photo of an explorer/adventurer in front of pyramids in a scrapbook for ‘images’, well you get the picture.

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  44. 44

    A nice Opera icon or Icons vor graphicprogramms and webdevelopment tools

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  45. 45

    WordPress or mini icons will be great :)

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  46. 46

    icons to use on the blog would be great!
    as in Comment bubble, Email, Feed icon, User
    ,Pencil, paper etc :) and the social media ones obviously hehe

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  47. 47

    Do me an Icon for Searchplugins (the browser-thingi in the topper-right). And for Ideas (no excamation mark), Music (no notes), Video-Games (no gamepad), Party (no dancing people) & blogging (no pencil).

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  48. 48

    How about robot icons? Everybody loves robots. What about like, different robot head icons spanning the entire lifetime of how robots appeared in that time period. Know what I mean?

    Man I gotta get off this robot kick.

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  49. 49

    I would love a set of icons that portray career venues or hobbies. (ie architect, accountant, teaching, director, etc)

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  50. 50

    My vote goes for a host of original matching icons for social networking sites and RSS feeds.

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  51. 51

    Productivity icons would be cool. They could be used in most Organization Apps such as ToDo lists and in Web apps….

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  52. 52

    Those mac pillows look good for me, they look soft te he he.

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  53. 53

    Each month of the year (12 total) would be nice for blogging. Could be used in displaying the date for posts. Each month would exemplify the month mood/holiday/or weather. Could be traditional icons or could be larger format with room for the day of the month to be placed overtop.

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  54. 54

    I’d like an icon that represents “collaboration” (such as collaboration on projects or between an agent and a client). thanks! :-D

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  55. 55

    I also concur with the blog/forum type icons. Different sizes would be nice too.
    Those would be awesome.

    Though I’m loathe to admit it, I’d also like some “sexy” smiley icons too. Something along the lines of the GTalk square set, perhaps. I just want a set that doesn’t look like they were made in 1999, or like I probably downloaded a botnet virus along with them.

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  56. 56

    Horror icons! At least a zombie one. Not sure about the rest. :D

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  57. 57

    A nice set of modern or grunge motorcycle or streetbike icons would be nice. There doesn’t seem to be any created as of yet that I have been able to locate.

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  58. 58

    I think a slick “Go Green” icon set would nice. Keep the world clean with some icon inspiration

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  59. 59

    Finally, my dreams can come true! What I need:

    1. Gin & Tonic icon
    2. Coffee related icons, cups, stirrers, lids, coffee bean, hot smoke etc.
    3. Torrent Tracker related: ratio, upload, download, seeders, peers
    4. “Donate” icons
    5. Radio related icons: two-way radios (Motorola) Antenna towers, repeaters.
    6. Brain icon, brains storming icon, ink icon, pen icon, pencil icon etc.

    Thank you in advance

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  60. 60

    I’d like to see some retro browser icons. Opera, IE, FF and chrome in a vintage style.

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  61. 61

    Pet Icon set would be great. Dogs, Cats, Fish, Hampster, bird, etc.

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  62. 62

    I would like to have a slick looking icon set for a dating site with the following icons: register, login, logout, profile, heart, broken heart, search and contact.

    All icons will be used to make a lot of people happy.

    DISCLAIMER: And a few people sad, disappointed and/or hopeless.

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  63. 63

    A set of “The Good Life” icons: wine, cigars, high end meals, bling, etc. In fact, nobody has a set of good cigar icons out there.

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  64. 64

    This is what I would really, really like:

    1. Lounge (icon somehow representing a lounge)
    2. Tutorials/Screencasts/Videos/Watch&Learn
    3. Scripts/Free
    4. Forums
    5. Information/About
    6. Contact/FAQ
    7. RSS
    8. Search

    They should all have a “lounge” feeling.

    I would really appreciate this!!

    Thanks!

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  65. 65

    I agree with the person who suggested some nice Adobe replacement icons.

    Also, a nice, flat, graphic set to offset all this Web 2.0 shininess that’s everywhere these days. =D

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  66. 66

    I’d like a cool CMS Admin Icon Set – like “New Page”, “Delete Page”, “Hide Page”, “Move up”, “Move Down”, “Admin Panel”, “Show Page” and etc…

    Thanks guys!

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  67. 67

    Just last night I was looking around to see if I could find racing icons or vector art, and I couldn’t find anything. Here is my request:

    Sporty Race Icons

    1. Two checkered race flags with poles crossed, flags blowing outward.
    2. A finish line banner, streamer, or something that represents a finish line.
    3. A race car, or race cars, with trail of color indicating movement
    4. A motocross racer, flying in the air (after jumping of course)
    5. A triathlete type logo (running / swimming / bicycling)
    6. Other individual race focused icons.

    Most important to me is the checkered flags icon. I’m sure this would be widely used, and you would receive many thanks!

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  68. 68

    George McKnight

    March 18th, 2009 12:34 pm

    A good set of ‘Weather Icons’ wouldn’t go a miss, which could be possible given the 8 max requirement. If this isn’t a viable suggestion I may give it a go myself, but would love to see what the experts provide. Cheers, George ‘dod’ McKnight

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  69. 69

    Hi!

    I would love an iconset for a freelancer web, I’m starting as freelancer after 5 years working for a company, and I think that have some icon for: home, portfolio, contact, about me, free for job, busy,… don’t know exactly, but somethink like that could be cool.

    Thanks!!

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  70. 70

    What the web development community needs is a slick icon set to replace the hugely popular FamFamFam silk pack.
    It’s an amazing set, but it could definitely be spruced up with gradients, shadow effects, etc.
    Making all the icons the same size increases appeal. Try to keep colors similar to silk pack, since it has worked very well.

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  71. 71

    Working on a portfolio site and trying to work a “who what where why when how” type of navigation scheme into it.

    Would be neat to have icons for these in some way. Don’t know how yet as I’m still trying to find out how to use these for my navigation in a way that isn’t too vague.

    A shame you can’t make 12 icons or I’d suggest a monthly theme that we could use as “caps” for calendars.

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  72. 72

    Hi,
    I am looking for a Space or space exploration icon theme set.
    Thanks! Cool contest :)
    ~Kyle

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  73. 73

    Icons for popular news sites, ie. cnn, bbc.

    Could be useful for a small news site that links to these.

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  74. 74

    I own indian recipe website. Can you design cool icons for mysite?

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  75. 75

    Set of Date icons for displaying dates on blogs, news etc.

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  76. 76

    Marcel Doornbos

    March 18th, 2009 12:48 pm

    Oooo :O Awesome.. I love those pillows. Are they for sale also?? :)

    marcel

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  77. 77

    Definitely icons for web portfolios that maybe include web design/graphic design/photography – anything and everything an artist would need to showcase their goods.

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  78. 78

    You should make a icon set to be use for warehouse management system. From different size truck for delivery, different box/envelop style/size to the content of a shipment (tv, computer, books, radio, furniture, dishes, bicycle, etc.) JUST SMASH IT DOWN!

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  79. 79

    How about a good set of developer icons. Open file, close file, edit and much more

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  80. 80

    Hi Smashing Magazine..

    I would like you to design some unique, really elegant art icons :) – for my PC (like My Computer, Documents,.. and If you want icons for file types)

    Thanks Your Crash

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  81. 81

    Extreme sports icon set will be amazing:
    - mountain biking
    - paragliding
    - snowboarding
    - rock climbing

    or some kind of sport equipement icons
    - helmets
    - sport tools

    vintage poster icons (like in SM retro icon set)
    - with blog theme (rss, twitter, comments)
    - software theme (graphic&gallery, text editors, network soft, system)

    Reality icon set
    - city stuffs (park benches, signs, advert. banners, traffic)
    - nature (trees – with RSS marks, plants, stones – with blog/soft marks)

    So, I think, that one of them will be amazing ;-)

    Regards from Czech High school.

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  82. 82

    I got an idea for an article set that I haven’t been able to find yet:
    Sitemap.

    Say I’m creating a Sitemap flow chart to be used as a PDF, what about some icons for that? A home icon, flash page, regular page, forms, gallery, video, etc.

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  83. 83

    A set of customizable icons would be amazing. Fairly high res as well. PSDs would be swell.
    - Photo Gallery/Portfolio (with interchangable photo)
    - Home (house)
    - Contact (telephone)
    - About (person/people)

    - iMac Monitor (with interchangable photo)

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  84. 84

    Majesticskull

    March 18th, 2009 1:26 pm

    A Leather Icon Pack would be cool! Leather and Metal in the style of 80′s rockstars!

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  85. 85

    I would love Garden Shed & Garden tools icons, the sheds would be like a UK garden shed and not a barn

    thanks

    wilco

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  86. 86

    foodie, “green” items

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  87. 87

    I’m always looking for cool “HOME” icons…ooh, and RSS ffed icos.

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  88. 88

    Text editor icons would be nice,
    or some webdesign icons

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  89. 89

    This would be perfect- thanks Smashing!!!

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  90. 90

    Carolin Hüttner

    March 18th, 2009 1:55 pm

    First of all, great idea (as usual) !!! :-)

    Second of all, there are way too many RSS icons out there already, so something new for a change would be awesome!

    I agree a lot with the idea of “icons for different types of projects”

    - links
    - text
    - presentation
    - pdf
    - web
    - original file (high res)
    - official stuff (like e.g. organising/paper work, etc.)

    Also different numbers (for example Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, … during a job), would be awesome!

    Smiles from Germany, Caro

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  91. 91

    Mike Sammartano

    March 18th, 2009 1:59 pm

    I am a science teacher and have been looking for a high quality icon set for my site for ages. It seems most science/nature related icons are really “cliparty” and poorly deisnged. I’d love a nature set with some great astronomy, weather, geology, instruments, atoms, etc icons.

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  92. 92

    Cool!

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  93. 93

    Valter Jakovski

    March 18th, 2009 1:59 pm

    I’d like someone to successfully design icons for a designers portfolio, using only one color (+brightness) and bacground color.:

    - CURRICULUM VITAE
    - PHOTOGRAPHY
    - GRAPHIC DESIGN
    - PRODUCT DESIGN
    - ILLUSTRATION
    - DRAWINGS
    etc.

    text should be optional, i wish that the icon itself would translate the purpose of it.

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  94. 94

    A definitive set of “basic” icons in the size range of 24 to 48 pixels. The FamFamFam Silk icons have started to become ubiquitous, but they are only 16×16 pixels. A basic, reusable set with icons for folder, forward, backward, up, down, user, etc that are in an unobtrusive color scheme would be something I’d grab and use over and over again. I have plenty of seasonal RSS and Twitter icons… I need something I can use everyday on real applications. Silk does this at 16×16, but lost of sites need larger icons.

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  95. 95

    Hmm…. i have been trouble for months and i have tried and looked everywhere but i still haven’t found nice and sexy poker icons…. :) I know gambling is bad… But i usually play poker 2-4 times a week so it would be best if most of those poker rooms had sexy clean icons :D
    Some ideas: cards, chips, cash, girls, gold and so on :)

    :) Good luck to everyone :)

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  96. 96

    it would be great, if somone would have an idea for an icon about “links” , “anchors”…
    there is no Icon for links…. i am searching since weeks

    cheers ascii

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  97. 97

    Web browsers icons set! :)

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  98. 98

    Just black apple will be perfect !!!!

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  99. 99

    A set of general simple (pixel) small icons, not very glossy to use for the navigation menus ( to put in the side of the links such as “My Account” – “Setting” – and these kind of menus that are not the main menus, but they are for sub menus.

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  100. 100

    Hollis Bartlett

    March 18th, 2009 2:37 pm

    I’d love to see a steampunk themed set of icons for standard web pages; home, about, contact, blog, links, photos, facebook, twitter

    0

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