How do I get rid of the big colored letter circles next to contacts and in notifications?

[Android Central Question]

I've looked all through the phones settings, general and specific to apps. Every contact I have has a big round circle at its left with a letter in it. I'd like to turn those off. Any clues?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Which phone? On the stock Google Contacts app, the circle with a letter shows up for contacts that don't have a photo assigned (either by you, or by Google via the contact's Google+ profile). I'm not aware of a way to get rid of it. If it bothers you, one workaround would be to add a generic image to all of your contacts that don't have a photo.