Default Avatars

If a user doesn’t add their own avatar, sites often provide a default, so that there’s at least something to see. For a long time on Coub, we used a human silhouette against a grey background. Some sites or apps generate random avatars, so that each one is slightly different.

Recently we made all avatars circular, and the default image didn’t look too good in that format. So we decided to make new defaults (and not just one).

We’ve designed multiple elements that are randomly arranged for each avatar. They aren’t absolutely unique to every user, but the quantity of variations is pretty huge. Now users with default avatars can be more easily distinguished from each other — they won’t just blend into one big anonymous mass.

Big thanks to Artem for everything.

P.S. They’ll appear on mobile a little later.