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Inspire Yourself: 50 Remarkable Favicons

By Smashing Editorial, January 31st, 2007 in Graphics | 204 Comments | Forum

Actually it’s a pity that many designers don’t really make use of them. Favicons, mini graphics for a particular web-site, can be displayed in the browser’s URL bar, next to the site’s name in lists of bookmarks, and next to the page’s title in a tabbed document interface. To be recognized immediately, Favicons have to be visually appealing and fit to the design or logo of a given page. In fact, if you use Favicons for your sites, users can easily find your URL in their bookmarks - in this way you create some kind of a visual connection between your web-site and your sites’ visitors.

However, the design of Favicons can be tricky - it isn’t that easy to create a beautiful 16×16px mini-icon. Still, some designers manage to achieve tremendous effects. Logotypes with clear geometric structures are easier to work with than typefaces or abstract images. The color selection corresponds to current Web 2.0 trends. Let’s take a look at 50 beautiful
Favicons you can inspire yourself from. You can click on Favicons - they lead to a page, which uses the image as a page icon. Links checked: June/05 2008.

Petal

	http://www.aurea.es/
	http://www.fxis.net/ (dead)
	http://www.divshare.com/
	http://www.tanyamerone.com/
	http://www.akken.com/
	http://www.kepu.net.cn/english/

Rounded Elements

	http://www.fat-man-collective.com/
	http://www.lisensa.com/ (dead)
	http://www.lorop-it.de/ (dead)
	http://www.akamai.com
	http://www.cogmap.com/
	http://www.colorwarepc.com/
	http://www.evozon.com/
	http://www.diabetesgate.de/
	http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/

Letters and Typography

	http://www.cubexagency.com/
	http://www.lisensa.com/
	http://www.somox.com/
	http://www.piqniq.jp/
	http://www.eight6.com/
	http://reachgroupconsulting.com/
	http://www.flexy.info/
	http://www.kiva.org/

Ornaments

	http://www.imthere.com/
	http://www.elevenmedia.com/
	http://www.roisure.com/
	http://www.pixellogo.com/
	http://www.thinkpinkstudio.com/
	http://www.mattwebb.com.au/

Squares

	http://www.sumagency.com/
	http://www.indesign.einsteiger-portal.de/
	http://www.kirkpatrickbank.com/
	http://deforum.ru/
	http://www.imasters.com.br/
	http://www.ouvaton.coop/ (dead)
	http://detlog.org/
	http://www.ministrycamp.com/ (dead)
	http://www.getpaint.net/
	http://microformats.org/
	http://www.kath-thun.ch/
	http://www.campus-and-more.de/
	http://pro-buero.com/
	http://www.quada-office.de
	http://www.modulio.net/

Further Favicons

	http://www.joomlart.com/
	http://letterpop.com/
	http://www.illustrationclass.com/
	http://www.trendwatching.com/
	http://www.edag.hu/
	http://www.elektro.de/

Favicon Tools

Chami Favicon Generator
Even More Favicon Generators
Favourite Favicons
A growing collection of beautiful Favicons all around the world.
Mysteries Of The Favicon.ico — How To Create A Favicon In Photoshop

Published in Graphics, January 31st, 2007
Tags: bookmarks, favicons, Graphics, icons

1.

deprisa (January 31st, 2007, 2:00 am)

Some of them are really really nice. Good little works… I think i am going to spend a while playing with the chami favicon generator tool.
;)
2.

Chris Poteet (January 31st, 2007, 2:00 am)

Thanks! I really appreciate this site.
3.

joey (January 31st, 2007, 8:48 am)

Thanks for putting Piqniq on there, we appreciate it!

One suggestion: how about adding HREF links to all of the sites?
4.

Paul Stamatiou (January 31st, 2007, 11:58 am)

I like my favicon - a dropshadow’d blue square with a white outline and a big “P” inside it.
5.

Uzbek (January 31st, 2007, 1:17 pm)

Nice, but I guess you should rename the article to “Favico’s and Favico creation tools” or something…

I did like the tools rather than favicos… But you know, they set the kind of standart for favicon to create in the future…

Thanks,
Uzbek.
6.

Maris Awris (January 31st, 2007, 1:57 pm)

nice square design.
7.

Dave Bowker (January 31st, 2007, 2:17 pm)

2nd one down is the cream logo :P

…and the site logo is the same apart from a little bevel.
8.

Chad (January 31st, 2007, 3:07 pm)

Yeah its pretty snuts what can be done with 16×16 pixels.

They are especially great when using tabs in Firefox.

Check mine out, letter c in a sparkle…
9.

Geekoid (January 31st, 2007, 3:52 pm)

Wonder what Cingular would think of somox.com’s one! Looks almost identical to their logo. Color even matches.
10.

Josiah Pugh (January 31st, 2007, 6:16 pm)

Simply beautiful. I’ve found favicons the most difficult to design because of the 16×16 palette on which to work.
11.

Ivan Minic (January 31st, 2007, 6:35 pm)

Very nice… All these are so clean and colors are so nice!
12.

adam buxton (January 31st, 2007, 6:36 pm)

I have had a Favicon for a while, but only because I thought it was an interesting little thing to have did not consider the implications and practical uses of one until now. excellent article.
13.

Stephan (January 31st, 2007, 6:47 pm)

It would be great to show some animated favicons here.
14.

felix (January 31st, 2007, 8:43 pm)

im a big fan of poke londons - first animted favicon which inspired me! Link [www.pokelondon.com]
15.

Jason Bates (January 31st, 2007, 8:51 pm)

Some amazing favicons on show here. There certainly very remarkable.
16.

milo (January 31st, 2007, 10:25 pm)

Pretty easy to make your own favicon without any helpers, reference it in the header.
17.

Aaron (January 31st, 2007, 10:41 pm)

Personally one of my favorite favicons is the one on Link [ballisticpixels.com]
18.

CSS Guy (February 1st, 2007, 12:34 am)

Here’s a way to show off the favicons of people you link to.

Hyperlink Cues with Favicons:
Link [www.askthecssguy.com]
19.

Hung Dinh (February 2nd, 2007, 5:29 pm)

Thank you for recommending JoomlArt.com icon :)
20.

Paul (February 2nd, 2007, 6:40 pm)

On our website we use a handbuilt icon representing our building: Link [www.vno-ncw.nl]
21.

Agence Web Lyon (February 6th, 2007, 3:05 pm)

Great Petal favicon here Link [www.poleymieux.fr]
22.

Kate Mag (February 12th, 2007, 5:38 pm)

great favicon resources, thanks
23.

Erick S. (February 15th, 2007, 3:46 am)

I am a big fan of Favicons! And I am actually quite proud of my own at my precious LINKAGE, a nice websites portal…It’s the head of the owl…Quite nice I think!

I resized a .GIF to get this result. It probably could be done better, but I like it this way.
24.

apher (February 26th, 2007, 2:23 pm)

Thanks for your post.
i have made a favicon myself
25.

Stephen (March 23rd, 2007, 12:17 am)

Your own favicon breaks the rule that if an icon is square, don’t take it all the way to the margins! Put a pixel or so blank border around it. For circles, triangles, etc. you need that whole space. Have you ever seen a square application icon that uses all the space? Same in typography: rounded letters like O are taller than square letters like E. Pointy letters, like V in lighter weights of Futura go below the baseline.
26.

Gina Mikel (April 17th, 2007, 11:39 am)

Here is my attempt at favicons:
Link [www.scientificillustrator.com]
27.

Gina Mikel (April 17th, 2007, 11:40 am)

My attempt at favicons is at Scientific Illustrator dot com slash illustration slash favicons dot html (a dragonfly, a tick, a bubble, and a gladiola)
28.

Ulli (June 21st, 2007, 9:30 pm)

Nice to see what is possible with a few pixels!

Ulli
29.

NIck (July 3rd, 2007, 2:56 pm)

Nice, good to see what is possible, and these days most designers don’t go that extra mile and give the client something that helps portray the site so well. And now that a lot of bookmarks in your browser use them as well, it is that little extra effort that makes some of these stand out.
30.

Teen Nude (July 17th, 2007, 10:31 am)

Really good site!
thanks for the lists!
31.

Danny D (August 27th, 2007, 10:26 am)

Thanks a lot, very interesting article , lots of leads.
I have bookmarked this site for future reading..Very good site.
32.

Rosli (September 5th, 2007, 10:25 am)

Great site and I like the sharing. A lot of infos and I have generate a favicon for my site with my own picture =)
33.

Prasanth (September 13th, 2007, 5:42 am)

Trendwatching favicon is something that I admire. Though it looks very much like RSS icon, its pretty good.
34.

اغاني (September 15th, 2007, 12:13 pm)

I Really like these sweet icons
plz don’t forget to add some hearts:)
35.

結婚相 (September 20th, 2007, 2:45 pm)

Good article. Fun too. However, you may want to point out WHY hacks are stupid and direct n00bs to some good sources for using CSS layouts without hacks.
36.

LGR (October 10th, 2007, 5:27 am)

Those favicons are beautiful. Another tool I like to use to generate a favicon from an image is Link [www.freefavicon.com]

They also have some favicons to download and use if people don’t feel like making their own.
37.

knauf (October 25th, 2007, 1:46 am)

Nice collection - unfortunately none of these icons can be used for any other project. Perhaps you should make also a collection of open-source favicons which anybody could use on his webpage.
38.

CafeTime (November 20th, 2007, 7:27 am)

I have old favicon but good. You inspired me. THX
39.

maximum (November 29th, 2007, 5:14 am)

Further Favicons is good!
40.

oleg (January 4th, 2008, 3:50 am)

check favicon at skrinda.com ;)
41.

dannydowney (January 6th, 2008, 11:29 pm)

This site never ceases to amaze me…great post. I will check out that tool.
Have another Great Year of Being a Smashing Magazine!
42.

Ms. Techie (January 10th, 2008, 3:44 am)

Way to go - love the collection of favicons.. some are quite well thought out - other than being the brand logo.

I like this site’s own favicon it stands out amongst other web browsers icons and is easily noticed…
43.

Psy (January 21st, 2008, 1:17 pm)

Thanks for sharing!
Some icons are really really good. Nice little works!
44.

Umar Farooq (January 23rd, 2008, 10:26 am)

Great Share!
Awesome stuff!!
Cheers!
45.

WDG (January 28th, 2008, 8:10 am)

Nice collection!
I’ve just made mine, a simple yellow “W” on a blue background (check it out by clicking my name).
I’ve used the following free plugin from Telegraphics and PS CS3:
Link [www.telegraphics.com.au]

A tip: start by creating a bigger document (64×64) then resize to 16×16 when you’re satisfied. Now you can save as ICO (Windows icon).
46.

James (March 21st, 2008, 3:00 am)

Great post, I love icons to increase my navigation around windows, if I am working on a certain project. .I will add a suitable icon to save time when looking for files
47.

Marcis Gasuns (March 22nd, 2008, 12:16 pm)

Some are inspiring, the round ones are the best.
48.

Evo08 (March 23rd, 2008, 2:56 pm)

Really needed this , thanx .
49.

Alex (May 21st, 2008, 1:14 pm)

Is there a way to add Favicon to site in my favorites that don’t already have them. I use the Favorites tool bar with just Favicons but as some sites don’t have Favicons they just have the sheet of paper.
50.

http://www.cathetel.com (June 21st, 2008, 2:32 pm)

At Cathetel.com we were able to create an animated favicon, but it only worked on Firefox. Internet Explorer is picky and just ignored it. Since majority use IE, at this time, we had to go back to the frozen little red angel. Oh well, into the next century we go!
51.

Jason King (June 22nd, 2008, 6:23 pm)

That’s a good list of icons. Lots of primary colours and clean edges. Definitely inspiring stuff.

I’m compiling a list of Link [www.kingjason.co.uk] - I’d appreciate suggestions.
52.

Susanne (June 25th, 2008, 8:11 am)

I may sound very stupid, but HOW and WHERE exactly do I insert the favicon? I was told, somewhere in the “head” section, but I had no success so far. Please help!
Thanks.
53.

Helen Skiles (August 5th, 2008, 10:33 am)

I was told, somewhere in the “head” section…….

Please Susanne, lets not talk naughty here.
There may be children visiting my dear.
54.

Dovid de Bresser (September 5th, 2008, 3:51 am)

There are some changes since the last time this page was updated.

Is dead link (or at least didn’t open in my browser):
Link [www.lisensa.com] (you have it twice, in the “Rounded Elements you notice the link is dead, but in the Letters and Typography you don’t)

Do not show any favicon (on my browser at least):
Link [www.aurea.es]
Link [www.imthere.com]
Link [www.edag.hu]

Have a new favicon:
Link [www.colorwarepc.com]
Link [www.eight6.com]
55.

Teddy (September 5th, 2008, 10:18 pm)

hey these are great links.. I found out a good favicon generator called Link [www.seo-mind.com] but couldnt find a place to get good images.. you helped me out.. thanks..
56.

TRo (September 9th, 2008, 1:33 pm)

Thanks for sharing!

Link [www.sanal-arsiv.com]
57.

Khaos (November 22nd, 2008, 6:45 pm)

Hola, Gracias por los favicon, necesistaba inspiración para crear el mío.
Saludos!!
58.

yulia (January 20th, 2009, 11:18 pm)

thanks for sharing
59.

Claire (February 16th, 2009, 1:58 am)

Favicons are something that both designers and customers agree on. To a customer, its a last touch, and adds that extra professionalism to the site. For a designer, its again a last touch, but for the customer, to make them like it and wow at it.
60.

Hakki (February 27th, 2009, 10:39 am)

Very nice post, its quite remarkable how effective some of these favicons are given the tiny real estate.
61.

Subhadeep Gayen (March 30th, 2009, 7:58 pm)

Wow great list i like it, also helpful if u add this link in favicon tools Link [pcandweb.com]
62.

francisa (April 22nd, 2009, 7:20 pm)

nice…………
look this - Link []
63.

My Medical Note (April 23rd, 2009, 1:02 am)

The favicons are really great and inspiring. I was about designing one for my medical blog when I googled top favicon only to see your site on no one.

there are all simple and great
64.

masjaliteng (April 25th, 2009, 8:13 am)

thank you for this great info…
65.

kak (April 26th, 2009, 7:22 pm)

great post. thank you
66.

YoungGold (May 12th, 2009, 12:03 pm)

also if you wish to create your own favicon there are ways in which you can use photoshop or Fireworks to create one and then download a file which rewrites the image into a .ico file
67.

CeFFo (May 16th, 2009, 11:53 pm)

Thanks

Link [www.full-forum.com]
68.

web design leeds (May 19th, 2009, 11:58 pm)

cheers!.. good post, some nice info.

Link [www.nextgen-design.co.uk]
69.

campuscodi (May 28th, 2009, 3:00 am)

actually it’s not that difficult to create a favicon
the tutorials on the net are all wrong

just create a 32×32 png with your desired design and then rename it using total commander with the .ico extension

don’t resize it
code the website to use that favicon and voilaaa!

look what great result I got using my technique on Link [iasisevens.com]
70.

Andy Blyth (June 9th, 2009, 6:39 am)

Hey all, let me know what you think of my favicon @ Link [www.gifster.co.uk]
71.

Armig Esfahani (June 27th, 2009, 10:24 pm)

I like the ornaments the most i think Matt Webb did great job..
thank you for the post.. so useful specially the tools..