Thinning ranks

Is it my imagination or are fewer artists publishing OS X icons these days? You used to see maybe a dozen new sets in any given week, but now I barely find that many in a month!

When I started out, Mac icon design appeared to get its biggest boost from The Iconfactory's annual Pixelpalooza contest. To me, it fostered a sense of community. However real or imagined the feeling was, when the factory workers took this year off from that labor-intensive (and thankless?) event it left a gaping hole. Without that burst of spring creativity, fewer people seem to have joined the fray.

Of course, it's also difficult to earn a living and publish freeware at the same time. To some extent, the latter is advertisement for the former. My time tends to cycle between the two. In recent weeks I've been occupied with a web project that leaves little time for pixel play. In the meantime, my list of design ideas keeps growing.

I wonder, too, whether OS X icons have simply lost some of their sparkle and shine. Those glorious 128x128 graphics with open/drop states aren't the next big thing any more. Perhaps the muses have shifted their gaze to Tiger's widgets instead.

Ah well. Speculation. Wandering thoughts. I still enjoy small format graphic design. I'm not publishing as often as I'd like, but I'm still around. Yay me.

Tags: Mac OS X icons, iconist, warrior~poet, warrior poet