Find out what a favicon is, why it’s important and why you need a custom one for your own website!
What is a Favicon?
A favicon - short for favourite icon - is the tiny icon used on web browsers to represent a website or a web page. You’ll most likely see them everyday when you open a new tab bar and see the icon of each website. Even though a favicon is tiny, measuring about 16 x 16 pixels small, they are of great importance to any website, improving its user experience, branding and professionalism.
Isn’t a favicon just a smaller version of my logo?
Kind of. Except chances are if you shrunk down your existing logo, it would probably be so tiny that it would be unreadable. So a favicon needs to take the same visual language from your logo and brand kit but make it very simplified.
Try a Favicon Hunt
Here’s an optional task for you… go find some of your favourite websites or visit the websites of some well established brands. We all know what the Coca Cola logo looks like, but check out their favicon - it’s a tiny red cola bottle. Cute! How about Nike - you can probably guess what they use… yep, their iconic swoosh. Let’s try something else - Urban Outfitters… they use their UO initials from their logo. Let me know which brands you tried out in the comments - did you have a favourite favicon? Did you find any favicons that didn't work, because they were so small?
Favicon options
A favicon could be the initials of your brand name. It could be a decorative element from your logo or a simple version of your icon (if you have one). When I design my clients’ logo and branding I always think how their logo can translate into a favicon. A favicon is a continuation of the brand and is no less important than the logo itself. And that’s another example of why a strong brand is more than “just a logo”. Ask your designer to create a favicon for you. Sometimes you might need to try a few variations to find the right balance between readability, simplicity and uniqueness.
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My signature logo + brand package includes a favicon as standard.
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