7 ms·

Show HN: Vector icons, but for viral memes

91 points by vincent-lemoign 4y ago

vincent-lemoign 4y ago
An elements of viral social cultural with jokes. Simpler drawn and only one color that you can adapt to your context.
- limaho 4y ago
  They look great, I like the idea a lot. Awesome work!
  - vincent-lemoign 4y ago
    thank you!
TekMol 4y ago
No license statement?
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  Meme culture rejects licenses.
  - Freak_NL 4y ago
    As long as it's not a photo showing them or the loved ones, or a piece of art they created themselves. 'Meme culture' mostly seems to reject licences because it's a bother, not out of idealism.
    - anigbrowl 4y ago
      That's a perfectly valid reason. Requiring a license for everything is pathological. Unlimited license for anything is also problematic, as you point out, but there should be some principle of balance between moral obligation and administrative overhead. We already have corporate entities that claim ownership of particular words or colors, not because they invented them but because they laid claim to them and want to extract rents therefrom. Branding serves a rational commercial function, but when taken to extremes it begins a resemble a form of psychic territorial aggression.
- Diti 4y ago
  I am not a lawyer, but these icons are necessarily public domain works, if we consider they are made out of geometric shapes that are too simple to be copyrighted (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_of_originality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_of_originality). Claiming copyright on these icons would mean they are derivative works, which would mean OP violated the copyright of the original works.
- gnabgib 4y ago
  It's at the bottom of the page: https://www.streamlinehq.com/license-free https://www.streamlinehq.com/license-free Linkware license: "You can use these assets for free in your projects, even in commercial works. All you need to do is add a link back to the Streamline Icons (www.streamlinehq.com) website."
wiradikusuma 4y ago
While in this topic, does anyone know if memes can be legally used in printed/ebooks for free? Heck I don't even mind paying (reasonable fee), but I can't seem to find a "Fonts.com" for memes. Edit: Thanks for the replies, but as I expected the answer is "it depends", so I guess I'll sparingly use it and see how it goes. In case anyone interested, the book is about building mobile apps, https://opinionatedlaunch.com/ https://opinionatedlaunch.com/ (work in progress)
- eimrine 4y ago
  If there is no meme about forbidden memes than this has to be legal. Yellow Smile the first meme was not patented because its creator did not considered how popular it becomes. I think every super popular meme has its similar story.
  - slimsag 4y ago
    Huh? Patents have nothing to do with it, unless you were granted a license to use it then it is copyright infringement by definition. Whether they sue you over it is a different matter.
    - tinus_hn 4y ago
      There is such a thing as a design patent that could cover something like the smiley.
      - slimsag 4y ago
        > design patents do not protect pictures, images, graphic designs, patterns or any other 2-dimensional visual imagery in the abstract. A patented design must be tied to an article of manufacture. In fact, the patent examination manual known as the MPEP requires that each design patent application specify the article of manufacture in the title and claim.
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    It's usually called 'smiley face' in English.
g8oz 4y ago
These are great
Freak_NL 4y ago
Regardless of where you stand on the 'Pepe the Frog is a hate symbol' issue, you might want to reconsider including it. The Wikipedia page¹ is fairly informative. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_the_Frog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_the_Frog
- vincent-lemoign 4y ago
  Thank you for the helping us stay culturally sensitive and mindful. We hadn't known this.
vmoore 4y ago
I might use these. I always wanted to get into making memes instead of just sharing them. These can be easily added to (rasterized) images to remix the original image, which is great. I've also wanted to birth a meme, as in, instead of just rehashing an old joke, I created the joke and it gets shared widely, sort of like some legacy that I contributed to cyberspace. Or maybe I should just use 4chan more and try and get an image trending. That's how it's done right?
- dmonitor 4y ago
  If you make a meme with these, you will probably be bullied. The imperfections of the ms paint lines are part of the charm to the original images.
- yboris 4y ago
  Academic side-note: an excellent book about memes, culture, genetics, evolution, and life is by one of my favorite philosophers: Daniel C. Dennett From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds https://www.amazon.com/Bacteria-Bach-Back-Evolution-Minds/dp/0393242072 https://www.amazon.com/Bacteria-Bach-Back-Evolution-Minds/dp...
ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
No O'RLY? owl? No Willy Wonka "Do Tell"? No Philosoraptor? Apparently, we are now required to add Adele to the mix.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
natalia-a 4y ago
Those are very cool, I wish there'd be a bit more inventory though.
- vincent-lemoign 4y ago
  Yay, thanks for the feedback! Streamline's known for its massive, consistent sets so we're absolutely going to add more soon. Even more so because the love we've received from the community is incredible. Would you want to bookmark that page or (if you're feeling lazy) sign up on our newsletter: https://www.streamlinehq.com/newsletter https://www.streamlinehq.com/newsletter? Thanks again, much appreciated!
bobbylarrybobby 4y ago
I guess this is a good place to plug a project I worked on, https://github.com/rben01/collagen https://github.com/rben01/collagen . It lets you compose raster images and SVG shapes (including text) into another SVG, without re-encoding anything into a raster image. It's all just SVG. (Raster images are included via data: urls.) I bring it up here because it's flip side of TFA. Instead of vectorizing memes, you can just take any old image you have, or a link to an image, and stick it in an SVG with some text on top, without actually having to write the SVG by hand. So an input like [this](https://gist.github.com/rben01/c0f51d8481c3ba8bd0ac108ac0b5ace8 https://gist.github.com/rben01/c0f51d8481c3ba8bd0ac108ac0b5a...) produces an output like [this](https://gist.github.com/rben01/23d01aa2668acc64cf4cffa815cb9756 https://gist.github.com/rben01/23d01aa2668acc64cf4cffa815cb9...) (YMMV whether a linked image works in an SVG; I think in secure contexts it doesn't, but if you just copy paste the SVG into JSFiddle it should work). Much easier than crafting memes by hand.
vincent-lemoign 4y ago
Thanks for your support and questions! We're thrilled to announce that our Vector Meme set is now open source, under the GNU GPL license. Our goal was always to bring some lighthearted fun - not claim property rights over these cool memes. So it's nice & clear now! We're also keeping "Pepe the Frog" - even though it was corrupted by use from the Alt-Right, its original intent as a fun cartoon is still widely recognized. Plus, it's used in many non-political memes too!

vincent-lemoign 4y ago

An elements of viral social cultural with jokes. Simpler drawn and only one color that you can adapt to your context.

limaho 4y ago
They look great, I like the idea a lot. Awesome work!
- vincent-lemoign 4y ago
  thank you!

TekMol 4y ago

No license statement?

anigbrowl 4y ago
Meme culture rejects licenses.
- Freak_NL 4y ago
  As long as it's not a photo showing them or the loved ones, or a piece of art they created themselves. 'Meme culture' mostly seems to reject licences because it's a bother, not out of idealism.
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    That's a perfectly valid reason. Requiring a license for everything is pathological. Unlimited license for anything is also problematic, as you point out, but there should be some principle of balance between moral obligation and administrative overhead. We already have corporate entities that claim ownership of particular words or colors, not because they invented them but because they laid claim to them and want to extract rents therefrom. Branding serves a rational commercial function, but when taken to extremes it begins a resemble a form of psychic territorial aggression.
Diti 4y ago
I am not a lawyer, but these icons are necessarily public domain works, if we consider they are made out of geometric shapes that are too simple to be copyrighted (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_of_originality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_of_originality). Claiming copyright on these icons would mean they are derivative works, which would mean OP violated the copyright of the original works.
gnabgib 4y ago
It's at the bottom of the page: https://www.streamlinehq.com/license-free https://www.streamlinehq.com/license-free Linkware license: "You can use these assets for free in your projects, even in commercial works. All you need to do is add a link back to the Streamline Icons (www.streamlinehq.com) website."

wiradikusuma 4y ago

While in this topic, does anyone know if memes can be legally used in printed/ebooks for free? Heck I don't even mind paying (reasonable fee), but I can't seem to find a "Fonts.com" for memes. Edit: Thanks for the replies, but as I expected the answer is "it depends", so I guess I'll sparingly use it and see how it goes. In case anyone interested, the book is about building mobile apps, https://opinionatedlaunch.com/ https://opinionatedlaunch.com/ (work in progress)

eimrine 4y ago
If there is no meme about forbidden memes than this has to be legal. Yellow Smile the first meme was not patented because its creator did not considered how popular it becomes. I think every super popular meme has its similar story.
- slimsag 4y ago
  Huh? Patents have nothing to do with it, unless you were granted a license to use it then it is copyright infringement by definition. Whether they sue you over it is a different matter.
  - tinus_hn 4y ago
    There is such a thing as a design patent that could cover something like the smiley.
    - slimsag 4y ago
      > design patents do not protect pictures, images, graphic designs, patterns or any other 2-dimensional visual imagery in the abstract. A patented design must be tied to an article of manufacture. In fact, the patent examination manual known as the MPEP requires that each design patent application specify the article of manufacture in the title and claim.
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  It's usually called 'smiley face' in English.

g8oz 4y ago

These are great

Freak_NL 4y ago

Regardless of where you stand on the 'Pepe the Frog is a hate symbol' issue, you might want to reconsider including it. The Wikipedia page¹ is fairly informative. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_the_Frog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_the_Frog

vincent-lemoign 4y ago
Thank you for the helping us stay culturally sensitive and mindful. We hadn't known this.

vmoore 4y ago

I might use these. I always wanted to get into making memes instead of just sharing them. These can be easily added to (rasterized) images to remix the original image, which is great. I've also wanted to birth a meme, as in, instead of just rehashing an old joke, I created the joke and it gets shared widely, sort of like some legacy that I contributed to cyberspace. Or maybe I should just use 4chan more and try and get an image trending. That's how it's done right?

dmonitor 4y ago
If you make a meme with these, you will probably be bullied. The imperfections of the ms paint lines are part of the charm to the original images.
yboris 4y ago
Academic side-note: an excellent book about memes, culture, genetics, evolution, and life is by one of my favorite philosophers: Daniel C. Dennett From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds https://www.amazon.com/Bacteria-Bach-Back-Evolution-Minds/dp/0393242072 https://www.amazon.com/Bacteria-Bach-Back-Evolution-Minds/dp...

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

No O'RLY? owl? No Willy Wonka "Do Tell"? No Philosoraptor? Apparently, we are now required to add Adele to the mix.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

natalia-a 4y ago

Those are very cool, I wish there'd be a bit more inventory though.

vincent-lemoign 4y ago
Yay, thanks for the feedback! Streamline's known for its massive, consistent sets so we're absolutely going to add more soon. Even more so because the love we've received from the community is incredible. Would you want to bookmark that page or (if you're feeling lazy) sign up on our newsletter: https://www.streamlinehq.com/newsletter https://www.streamlinehq.com/newsletter? Thanks again, much appreciated!

bobbylarrybobby 4y ago

I guess this is a good place to plug a project I worked on, https://github.com/rben01/collagen https://github.com/rben01/collagen . It lets you compose raster images and SVG shapes (including text) into another SVG, without re-encoding anything into a raster image. It's all just SVG. (Raster images are included via data: urls.) I bring it up here because it's flip side of TFA. Instead of vectorizing memes, you can just take any old image you have, or a link to an image, and stick it in an SVG with some text on top, without actually having to write the SVG by hand. So an input like [this](https://gist.github.com/rben01/c0f51d8481c3ba8bd0ac108ac0b5ace8 https://gist.github.com/rben01/c0f51d8481c3ba8bd0ac108ac0b5a...) produces an output like [this](https://gist.github.com/rben01/23d01aa2668acc64cf4cffa815cb9756 https://gist.github.com/rben01/23d01aa2668acc64cf4cffa815cb9...) (YMMV whether a linked image works in an SVG; I think in secure contexts it doesn't, but if you just copy paste the SVG into JSFiddle it should work). Much easier than crafting memes by hand.

vincent-lemoign 4y ago

Thanks for your support and questions! We're thrilled to announce that our Vector Meme set is now open source, under the GNU GPL license. Our goal was always to bring some lighthearted fun - not claim property rights over these cool memes. So it's nice & clear now! We're also keeping "Pepe the Frog" - even though it was corrupted by use from the Alt-Right, its original intent as a fun cartoon is still widely recognized. Plus, it's used in many non-political memes too!