Icon-makers!

[petronia]

I need fonts that look crisp when tiny, and I need them yesterday. O_O (And the Photoshop trick associated therewith - Gaussian-blurring the background slightly underneath, right?) Send me? Please?

ARGH USER INTERFACE WHO HAS FORMAL TRAINING IN STUFF LIKE THIS?

EDIT -- Oh, thanks, guys. m(_ _)m Looking into it now.

Comments

[shatteredskins.livejournal.com]

For the blurring effect: Duplicate the image layer, setting the top layer to about 60-70% opacity. Blur the layer underneath until you've got it looking nice. You can do a lot of things using this system, it's fun. ^_^

I'd tell you of crisp tiny fonts, but I have none myself. >.

[helvetius.livejournal.com]

I use 04B11 fonts myself, but here's a page (http://www.techgfx.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=MostPopular) which you might find useful. (They've got even smaller fonts available.)

Not very sure about the Photoshop blurring bit. I use an external glow filter.

[summertea.livejournal.com]

Small fonts: Silkscreen, 04b_24, 04b_21, bm_mini, SG04, and Advocut. The last one needs to be at font size 9px or larger. All else are best at 8px. All need to have anti-alias off. You can find all of them except 04b_24 at dafont.com; you'll need to Google for 04b_24.

.... And I have no idea what you mean by the second thing. Elaborate? o_O;

[rahaeli.livejournal.com]

Silkscreen, Redensek, and Sevenet 7 (not the larger Sevenet) -- though the latter is a pay font, I believe.

You might also want to ask in icon communities.

[angrybabble.livejournal.com]

I usually use sevenet 7, but you'd be surprised at how legible tahoma and verdana can be at small sizes if you turn off the anti-aliasing.

as for the glow/blurring, how I do it is copy the layer, and then Stroke (in edit menu, I think) the underneath layer 2-3 pixels (set at "center"). Then Gaussian Blur that layer and voila! old-school glow, before there was a glow filter! I think of it as more malleable than a glow filter though. Anyhow, modify the color a bit for the glow... if you've got a dark BG and a light font, it's good to use, say, a "glow" color that's a little darker than the BG. if it's a medium/light BG and a dark font you can use a pale glow, though that will stand out (the dark-on-dark is a subtle effect that increases legibility, I think I used it in this icon which is why I posted with it, whereas a light glow will be obvious unless it's a light BG). It works pretty well, I've found. I use it for almost all my icons (I never use the glow filter), so feel free to look at them for examples. I'm no photoshop expert, but I think they're all fairly legible. ^^;