20 Years!

This page marks a milestone in the life of our hobby turned business. We've been pushing pixels professionally for twenty years!

To celebrate, we've pulled together new products, special offers, and unearthed a slew of historical artifacts. We hope you have fun exploring our last twenty years as we look forward to what's next!

Flare 50% off June 20-21 xScope 50% off June 22-23 iPulse FREE June 24th

How did we get here? Join us on a trip from our humble beginnings in June 1996.

By the numbers

We took a look back at all of the freeware collections, client projects, and special events to try and discover just how many pixels we've pushed in the past 20 years. After much research, intense number crunching, and best-guessing we arrived at a number:

13 billion pixels

Or to put it another way…

Assuming a 4 byte pixel…

Using pixels from a 1996 Apple Macintosh 5400, a straight line of 13 billion pixels would be 3847.1 miles (6191.2 km)…

You're gonna need a bigger display…

How did we track down all those pixels? Check out our methodology.

Pixelpalooza

From 1997 to 2004, we ran an icon design contest called Pixelpalooza. Hundreds of people from around the world contributed their tiny creations for all to see. The winners are shown below — as you scroll from left to right, you'll see how much icon design changed during this seminal period of user interface development.

  • 1997
  • Mounted Icons by Jason Chong

  • Lemur Icons by Wendy Lee

  • Native American by Sonny Del Castillo

  • 1998
  • MacTown by Matthew Kelleigh

  • ik's donut shop by Brian Brasher

  • Polaroid Icons by Andrew Payne

  • WannaBePixelled 98 by Albie Wong

  • Lovely System by Eleonora Galli

  • Cool Blue by Trevor Davison

  • Solar Patrol by Dave Brasgalla

  • MOZCO by Igarashi Susumu

  • Robots by Todd Kennedy

  • 1999
  • Hide's Kitchen by Hide Itoh

  • Rolling Icons by Arnaud Boutle

  • Citrus by Kate England

  • Mad Scientist by Michael Bentley

  • Pixie 99 by Albie Wong

  • Eitri's Icons by Jim & Julie LeDuc

  • eyeCONS by Brian Brasher

  • Mesoamerican Icons by Lee Kauffman

  • Gort's Icons Vol. 4 by Forrest Walter

  • 2000
  • Treasures by Tomoyuki Miyano

  • Sketching Copland by Paul Howells

  • iCopland One by Romain Gauvin

  • Macintosh Garden by Josh Williams

  • Classic X by Andy Runton

  • Sprightly by David Catmull

  • First Snow by John Marstall

  • Galactic Island by Casey Gorsuch

  • Industrial/Office by Ron Watson

  • 2001
  • Laserfight! by Michael C. Murphy

  • Hypochondria by David Croy

  • Boxed In by Mike Apolisn

  • Dress Code by Lutz Winter

  • @reGIS Millennium by Pierre Cavanna

  • X-Folder Icons by Atsushi Doi

  • Gort's Icons: Vol. 5 by Forrest Walter

  • More Birds by Yoshihiro Kondo

  • White Stuff by Silvio Almeida Jr.

  • Life is Good by Charles Chene

  • LustRazor Killer Icons by Tom Riedel

  • Squiver by David Catmull

  • 2002
  • Wood Craft Icons by Toshiyuki Iwasaki

  • Of My Copland Dreams by Eric Demay

  • Ladybug Icons by Shinobu Fukutake

  • Far-Fetched by Mathew Halpern

  • Sunny Aussies by Vanda Hudson

  • Fish 'n' CHyPs by John Marstall

  • Winter Games by Josh Williams

  • Cloths World by D. Picciau, E. Scichilone & M. Gandini

  • Pixel Feng Shui by Gary Gehiere

  • 2003
  • Invading Your Space by David Lanham

  • B'alam-a-rama by Jamie McCanless

  • Penguin Icons by Everaldo Coelho

  • Think Natural by Christophe Bouchard

  • Piou by Anne-Sophie Charpié

  • Comic Icons by Dirceu Veiga

  • My Neighbor Baby by Michelle Chan

  • Chinese New Year Icon Set by SeeWe

  • Smiling Glasses by Ramon G. Teja

  • 2004
  • Moccu Icons by Yenz

  • Arthropoda by Max Fiedler

  • Coffee Break Icons by Dirceu Veiga

  • Underwater by Yegor Gilyov

  • Spring Jam Vol. 1 by Josh Williams

  • Kids Icon Set by Everaldo Coelho & George Brayner

  • Impy by Denise Wilton

  • micropocketpixels by etherbrian

  • Cheese Folders by Saho

Factory Animations

The fourth version of our website had a fun little animation in the upper-left corner. Below are all 72 GIF files that ran from October 1999 to September 2001.

Click on any animation to highlight and play it from the beginning.

Web Standards Redesign

Over the course of six days in 2006, we announced a site redesign which embraced web standards. Select the days below to watch the “videos” of that historic and humorous moment!

More Fun Stuff

The links below are other interesting things from our history. Enjoy!

For the past 20 years we've been crafting award-winning apps, stunning icons, and beautiful user experiences for users and clients around the globe. Discover how Iconfactory can make your app great.

Get in touch

Phone: (336) 299-5251

United States

The Iconfactory
5603 W. Friendly Ave.
Suite B #252
Greensboro, NC 27410

Europe

The Iconfactory
Orvar Odds Vag 10
Stockholm 112 54
Sweden