If you’ve spent more than five minutes browsing the "Special Sauce" section of Neocities, you’ve seen it. It’s that grainy, blue-and-white icon of a stick figure shaking hands, or maybe the scribbled highway interchange. Specifically, the okay computer neocities icon has become the unofficial badge of a certain kind of "web resident." It's for the people who miss when the internet felt like a rainy highway at 2 AM.
Honestly, it's more than just a Radiohead reference. It’s a vibe.
The Weird Stay-Power of 1997
Radiohead released OK Computer in May 1997. At the time, the artwork by Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke (under the pseudonym "The White Chocolate Farm") was a deliberate mess. It was a collage of bleached-out photography, airport signage, and early computer-aided design. They were basically trying to capture "digital dread" before we even knew what that meant.
Fast forward to 2026.
The Neocities community has basically resurrected this specific aesthetic. Why? Because the modern web is too clean. Everything is a rounded rectangle or a high-res vector. Using an okay computer neocities icon—whether as a favicon or a tiny sidebar "button"—is a tiny act of rebellion against the corporate sterility of the 2020s.
Why Radiohead icons are everywhere on Neocities
Neocities is a playground for "Web 1.0" nostalgia. You’ve got people building sites that look like they were hosted on a server in someone's basement in 1999. The iconography of OK Computer fits this perfectly because it's "ugly-beautiful."
- The Paleness: The album's color palette (mostly #E0E0E0 and muted blues) looks great on CRT-style monitors.
- The Symbols: The "Lost Child" and the "Shaking Hands" are cryptic.
- The Feeling: It matches the lonely, personal feel of a handwritten blog.
I’ve seen dozens of sites where the okay computer neocities icon isn't even for a fan site. It's just there because the owner thinks it represents the "Old Web" soul. It’s shorthand for: "I care about the craft, not the clicks."
How to actually get an okay computer neocities icon on your site
You can’t just Google "icon" and hope for the best. Most modern images are too big. If you want that authentic, crunchy look, you’ve gotta do a bit of legwork.
Finding the graphics
Most people find these in "resource dumps." There are specific Neocities sites dedicated entirely to 88x31 buttons and blinkies. If you search for "Radiohead web buttons" or "OK Computer graphics for site," you’ll usually find a zip file from 2004 that someone re-uploaded.
Making it a Favicon
If you want the okay computer neocities icon to show up in the browser tab, you need a .ico or a small .png file.
Usually, a 32x32 pixel version of the "shaking hands" icon works best.
Here is the basic code to drop into your <head> tag:
<link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.ico">
Just make sure the file is actually in your root directory. I’ve seen people complain on the Neocities forums for hours because they didn't realize their file path was wrong. Use href="https://yourname.neocities.org/favicon.ico" if you want to be extra safe.
The "Digital Dread" Aesthetic in 2026
We are living in the world Radiohead warned us about. We have the "paranoid androids" (well, LLMs and bots) and the "fitter happier" productivity trackers. In this context, the okay computer neocities icon feels less like a retro throwback and more like a current-day protest.
Most Neocities users I talk to say they like the album because it feels physical. The art looks like it was scanned, photocopied, and then scanned again. In an era of AI-generated art that is "perfect," that grit is precious.
Common variations you’ll see:
- The "Meeting People is Easy" look: High contrast, grainy black and white.
- The "Airbag" blue: That specific, washed-out sky blue that feels cold.
- The "No Surprises" bubble: Usually a tiny GIF of the helmet filling with water.
It's weirdly poetic. These icons are the ghosts of the early internet. They’re bits of data from a time when we still thought the "Information Superhighway" was going to be a utopian dream.
Actionable Steps for Your Site
If you’re ready to lean into the OK Computer vibe, don't just slap a picture on the page. Do it right.
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- Pixelate your images: If you find a high-res version of the art, downscale it in a program like Aseprite or even MS Paint to get those hard edges.
- Limit your colors: Stick to the #DDEEFF hex codes.
- Use the right fonts: "Helvetica" or "Arial" were the standards, but if you want that specific 97 look, look for "OCR-A" or "Courier."
- Check the Neocities "Graphics" tag: Browse the
#graphicsor#radioheadtags on the Neocities site explorer to find people who have already made transparent versions of these icons.
The okay computer neocities icon is a small thing. But on the personal web, the small things are the only things that matter. You aren't building for a million people; you're building for the three people who will actually recognize that tiny blue icon in the corner and think, "Yeah, I get it."
Final Insight
Go find a scan of the original CD booklet. It’s full of "instructional" icons about what to do in case of a crash or how to use a computer. Those are the best sources for unique site icons that nobody else has yet.
Once you’ve got your icon, make sure your CSS isn't too "modern." Use a fixed-width layout and maybe a background image that doesn't scroll. That's how you truly honor the OK Computer era.
Keep your site weird. Keep it human. And most importantly, keep it yours.