Unity Sprites in the Resources folder, and the ramifications...

gistfile1.txt

THE WORST WAY - DON'T DO THIS
Atlas & Sprites inside of Resources. Effectively negating the purpose of the atlas, although it's still included in the build:
 512.2 kb	 0.6% Built-in Texture2D: sactx-0-512x1024-DXT5-New Sprite Atlas-d54d9b5f
 82.8 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_009.png
 73.2 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_003.png
 66.8 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_014.png
 66.3 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_002.png
 63.5 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_012.png
 63.1 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_006.png
 62.7 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_016.png
 61.5 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_013.png
 60.1 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_007.png
 56.6 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_010.png
 56.1 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_005.png
 54.4 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_015.png
 54.1 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_004.png
 53.5 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_000.png
 51.5 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_001.png
 50.4 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_011.png
 46.1 kb	 0.1% Assets/Resources/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_008.png
 2.3 kb	 0.0% Assets/Resources/New Sprite Atlas.spriteatlas

THE INSPECTOR REFERENCE WAY
Atlas & Sprites outside of Resources (requires inspector link to atlas to access sprites):
 512.2 kb	 0.6% Built-in Texture2D: sactx-0-512x1024-DXT5-New Sprite Atlas-d54d9b5f
 2.3 kb	 0.0% Assets/New Sprite Atlas.spriteatlas
 1.6 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_003.png
 1.6 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_006.png
 1.5 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_005.png
 1.4 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_011.png
 1.3 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_013.png
 1.2 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_002.png
 1.1 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_010.png
 1.1 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_009.png
 1.1 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_004.png
 1.0 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_001.png
 1.0 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_014.png
 1.0 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_012.png
 1.0 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_016.png
 0.9 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_008.png
 0.9 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_000.png
 0.9 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_007.png
 0.9 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_015.png

THE Resources.Load() WAY (identical build size as THE IDEAL WAY)
Atlas is in Resources, but Sprites are outside of Resources.
 512.2 kb	 0.6% Built-in Texture2D: sactx-0-512x1024-DXT5-New Sprite Atlas-b3c617c9
 2.3 kb	 0.0% Assets/Resources/New Sprite Atlas.spriteatlas
 1.6 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_003.png
 1.6 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_006.png
 1.5 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_005.png
 1.4 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_011.png
 1.3 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_013.png
 1.2 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_002.png
 1.1 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_010.png
 1.1 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_009.png
 1.1 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_004.png
 1.0 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_001.png
 1.0 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_014.png
 1.0 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_012.png
 1.0 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_016.png
 0.9 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_008.png
 0.9 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_000.png
 0.9 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_007.png
 0.9 kb	 0.0% Assets/Sprites For Atlas/Avatar_015.png