One year ago, we introduced “The Pixel Icon Library by HackerNoon” to the community.

This open-source collection of pixelated icons was designed using a 24px grid for perfect alignment and consistency, enriching your web, app, product, page, and even life experience. Inspired by HackerNoon’s retro design vibe, these icons encapsulate the essence of the internet’s golden era.

Since its launch, the Pixel Icon Library has steadily grown, reaching an all-time high of 5,700+ users on Figma and 2,300+ downloads on NPM!

Now, we’ve made over 1,440 pixelated icons available at pixeliconlibrary.com. There, you can browse all icons, learn more about our library and licensing, and download the full bundle.

As designers, we constantly seek ways to streamline our creative process.

At HackerNoon, we originally relied on Font Awesome icons for functionality and aesthetics. While effective, using a pre-existing library limited our ability to evolve our brand identity.

Recognizing this, our founders, Davidand Linh, proposed building an in-house icon library during a product meeting. The first phase focused on replacing Font Awesome icons across HackerNoon. The second? Sharing our custom pixelated icons with the community.

This transition challenged us creatively and technically. Every pixelated icon we designed became a unique expression of HackerNoon’s personality—more than just visual elements, they are now a true reflection of our brand.

Our Pixel Icon Library is open-source and available on multiple platforms:
💚 GitHub Repository
💚 Figma Community
💚 NPM
💚 Official Website

We invite designers, developers, and enthusiasts to explore, contribute, and integrate these icons into their projects. Our icons are free to use with proper accreditation to HackerNoon and the Pixel Icon Library.

Our in-house designer, Devansh Chaudhary, documented the entire process in two in-depth articles:

- On Building HackerNoon's Pixel Icon Library

- From Figma to Functionality: How I Vibe Coded The Pixel Icon Library Website Using Cursor AI

Thanks for being part of our journey. We hope these icons bring as much joy and functionality to your projects as they did to ours!

Stay Creative, Stay Iconic.
The HackerNoon Team