Identicon Generator

An identicon is a picture derived from a name, used where somebody has not uploaded a photograph. The whole point is that it never changes: people learn to recognise an account by its blob, and an avatar that varies between page loads is worse than none at all. Everything here — the pattern and the colour — comes from the text and nothing else, and the check makes the icon a second time to prove it.

Names, one per line

An email address, a username, anything. Up to forty.

Grid

Size in pixels

How big the image is drawn.

Your icons will appear here.

What this generator does

Hashes the text, uses it to decide which cells of half the grid are filled, mirrors that half to make the other, and colours it in a shade taken from the same hash.

How to use this tool

Paste the names, email addresses or usernames, one per line.
Choose the grid size and how large to draw them.
Copy the images out as scalable graphics.
The same text always gives the same icon, so you can generate them again later.

Understanding the controls

Names: One per line, up to forty at a time. Anything works — an email address, a username, an account number.
Grid: Five, seven or nine squares across. Larger grids carry more of the hash and so collide less, at the cost of looking busier.
Size in pixels: How large the image is drawn. The graphic is scalable, so this is only the size it appears at here.

Common use cases

Default avatars for accounts with no photograph
Placeholder pictures for a mock-up or a design
Distinguishing rows in a list at a glance
Icons for a team or a set of test accounts
Anywhere a picture should follow from a name rather than be chosen

How this generator works

Three promises are checked rather than assumed. The icon is made a second time from the text alone and must come out identical. Every cell is compared against its mirror across the middle. And the colour's contrast against the background is measured the way accessibility guidance defines it — a lightness that suits blue leaves yellow nearly invisible, so rather than guessing a range that works for every hue, the colour is darkened a step at a time until it genuinely meets the contrast it needs.

Randomness and fairness

Nothing is random. Every part of the picture comes from a hash of the text, so the same text always gives the same icon on any device.

For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.

Limitations and good to know

Different text can occasionally produce a similar-looking icon, particularly on the five-by-five grid. A larger grid collides less but is not proof against it.
The hash is a fast one, not a cryptographic one — an icon says nothing about the security of the text behind it.
One colour per icon, on a fixed light background.
Not a substitute for a real profile picture where one is available.

Privacy and your data

Icons are drawn in your browser. No names or addresses are transmitted or stored.