Many may already know that I love Twitter. As a designer coming across a few Twitter accounts every day and talking to users on Twitter every day, I love finding creative and memorable avatars. An avatar is a picture that identifies a user’s online image or as dictionary.com says it, an avatar is:
“an embodiment or personification” or “a graphical image that represents a person”
Many people use pictures of themselves, which seems to be the most obvious and easy way to show users who you are. That’s no fun for me.
For me, avatars show a sense of who a person is or their brand. Perhaps it is their business, their personality, something memorable or a combination of all. Being a design freak, I love to find creative solutions packed into a 48×48 square. Many times, I’m compelled to chat more to a person that I feel I know by their avatar, be it familiarity with their business or just a good vibe I get from it. I’ve scoured the list of my followers as well as found a few other Twitter avatars that I find to be pretty rad.
Avatars I Love
My Avatar Progression
The worst avatar of all time
What would a best-of list be without the worst-of? In my opinion, you need to show a worst avatar to really show how the best shine. Without further ado, here’s the worst avatar I’ve seen on twitter (I call it the thinking amoeba):
If you spot some avatars that boast more radness, drop it in a comment here and I’ll be sure to update the list.
Lightning bolt one isn’t linked!
@Alan Hogan – I know! I can’t remember who owns the lightning bolt! Arghhh!
Cool list, I feel inspired!
I love the following :
veerlie’s avatar – http://twitter.com/vpieters
david lanham – http://twitter.com/dlanham
Dan Cederholm – http://twitter.com/simplebits
cheers ! :)
I am rather partial to my own (http://twitter.com/binarymoon/). Unfortunately I can’t take credit for it as it was designed by one of the artists at the day job.
Hey Rogie,
what about Tim Luckey’s (http://www.twitter.com/luckeyme)?
Nice post Rogie.. Nice to seem I’m on the list :)
I’m not in the list :/ But I don’t have that good avatars anyway :P Cool collection
Obviously…
http://twitter.com/rogieking/
:)
Great post…
I looked up my twitterdeck and here are some that i liked.
http://twitter.com/bopyestrum
http://twitter.com/hellomuller
http://twitter.com/penflare
“You like me, you really like me!”
Chuckmallot’s avatar looks like Dave Simon. http://twitter.com/webdav
Thanks for including mine.
FYI: My avatar says “Taki,” the first half of “Takimoto,” last name from the Japanese side of my family. My dad was adopted, which is how I got “Smith” as a last name. :)
Woo! Conquistadors Rule!
Call me egotistical, but I kinda like our web design firm’s avatar.
These are pretty darn cool, too:
@burek
@lukethetexican
@laughingsquid
Let me go ahead and make those clickable so you guys can check them out more easily.
http://twitter.com/burek
http://twitter.com/lukethetexican
http://twitter.com/laughingsquid
Nice inspiring list. Some others that i liked are:
http://twitter.com/dconstruct
http://twitter.com/dache
http://twitter.com/carsonified
http://twitter.com/Malarkey
and mine :)
http://twitter.com/parmgrewal
My avatar’s awesomeness is totally Anton Peck’s fault. ;-) He found a few pics of me as inspiration and he created a caricature that everyone mentions actually looks like me. I loved it so much that I don’t only use it on Twitter, but all over my website.
@Lea – Didn’t Anton have a really cool avatar for himself? I know he’s got a ton of great work. Yeah, your avatar is rad.
Oh geesh … I’m blushing ;)
Gee, thanks :)
Another one worth checking out:
@createvolution
hey, thanks for including me!
teh love back
Great avatars. I’ve seen some of them before and they definitely caught my eye. Sometimes I think I’m more interested in viewing a Twitter page if the avatar is something like the ones on this list. And now I must change mine. Thanx lol :)
Thanks so much for the mention!
I am doubly honoured, as Laurent Baumann (also featured), is using an icon I created :P http://www.flickr.com/photos/vonpout/3229004097/
Great article :)
Glad you love my avatar! I made the 48×48 version specifically for twitter.
Mine made it ! Thank you :)
Thank you.
Please update my link.
really sweet list of avatars here actually man!
oh and thanks for including mine :D
@N-Two – Your link is updated!
@Eva – I know exactly what you are saying. I love the personal touch of having a portrait as your avatar, but if everyone is doing it, you tend to get lost in a sea of faces. These illustrated avatars really draw you in.
@Nathan Smith – Awesome. I’ll bet your dad has some really cool stories. I love the consistency of your avatar – you haven’t changed it since I first met you online years ago.
@Jesse Dodds – Your avatar made it just because of the sheer brilliance of the icon design work. You are talented at your craft, that’s for sure.
Thanks for the props; totally digging your new avatar you previewed to me too! Now I gotta make a new and cooler one with all this great inspiration.
@All I added a section to this post to show the progression of my avatars.
I doodled my avatar years ago, and it’s hardly changed since then. I think having something simple that stands out really helps. I know that if I spot an interesting avatar in someone’s profile, I will usually check them out!
was that bad one a real one? goshhhhhh :o
The “Worst” avatar would be quite handsome IMHO if MS Paint wouldn’t leave that 1px white column on the left. They desperately need to update their selection tool!
Surely the worst possible avatar is the default Twitter one?
Even one that is poorly designed shows more thought and effort than not bothering at all.
Thank you Rogie for including my avatar.
Actually a great list.
Bty, I love the following:
http://twitter.com/jeresig
http://twitter.com/natalie
http://twitter.com/cameronmoll
Thanks for including me. Much appreciated.
Nice collection – mine needs up dating!
Illustrated avatars are nice, but there are some really good photographic avatars out there too. I personally prefer the photograph for myself over a drawing, which is why I have my current avatar.
thank you for featuring mine :) looks great up there with the others
Nice. I enjoy the illustrated faces. Would be interesting to see them segregated in to types.
Also this: http://twitter.com/jasonrobb ;)
Thanks for the highlight! I like your new one! That is an awesome style. I loved your last one as well. Stellar post as always.
-Chad
Yey! One of my buddies is up there! @cdharrison
How fun! :D I love this list!
Well I’ve just changes mine ;)
http://twitter.com/home
humble as i can, i do like my own
twitter.com/screaminlunatic
Thank you for featuring my brand Rogie :^)
I’ve gotta make one. Need to experiment and this is awesomely cool. I see it as a form of inspiration for sure.
I’m partial to mine:
http://twitter.com/pengwynn
Sorry, gave you the wrong link :) … here’s mine
http://twitter.com/shiradivi
Kinda satisfied with mine…
http://www.twitter.com/EPavletic
Thanks Rogie for adding mine! Now I feel bad for changing it :P
There are some really nice avatars. Thanks for sharing. I don’t visit twitter often so it’s a nice overview.
This is a great display of twitter avatars. I never thought of it that way :D
My twitter avatar is just a photo of me.
I love the last one by the way. Pfft as if. The guy changed it though. Such a shame
Great avatars. However, it’s more important that avatars make a personal statement and beauty is in the eye of beholder.
I’m kind of partial to mine (kellskitchen), even though it may not be the same quality as the ones you showcased.