88 Outstanding Favicons and 6 Resources to Help You Create Your Own

By | | News & Trends

Favicons have become a standard element in web design, and they can have a tremendous impact on brand recognition (see Matt Magain’s post, Google Changes Favicon, Challenges You To Do Better). If you’re not used to designing for a tiny area (just 16×16 pixels), it can be very difficult to create a distinguishable company-specific or site-branded favicon. And depending on the logo, colors, words, etc. that you’re working with, it can be a challenge to create one that actually looks good.

In my constant search for favicon inspiration, I compiled a list of more than 80 creative and well-designed favicons that successfully portray the look and feel of the website or brand. There are probably thousands more that are suitable for this list, so if you have a few of your own favorites, share them in the comments.

99designs
99designs
Duct Tape Marketing
Duct Tape Marketing
MODx
MODx
SitePoint
SitePoint
Acquisition
Acquisition
Epicurious
Epicurious
Mozilla
Mozilla
Skype
Skype
Ad and Breakfast
Ad & Breakfast
ESPN
ESPN
MTV
MTV
Small Design Firm
Small Design Firm
Amateur Illustrator
Amateur Illustrator
Facebook
Facebook
Noggin
Noggin
SmartWebby
SmartWebby
Amazon
Amazon
Fast Company
Fast Company
NY Giants
NY Giants
Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine
Ben and Jerry
Ben and Jerry
Finer Design
Finer Design
Nymbler
Nymbler
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon
Blooms Today
Blooms Today
Flickr
Flickr
New York Times
New York Times
Target
Target
BMW
BMW
Flock
Flock
Open Directory Project
Open Directory Project
Twhirl
Twhirl
Boho Magazine
Boho Magazine
Food and Wine Magazine
Food & Wine Magazine
Organic
Organic
Twitpic
Twitpic
Brain Candy
Brain Candy
Georgia Aquarium
Georgia Aquarium
Panic
Panic
Twitter
Twitter
Cars.com
Cars.com
Graphic Design Studio
Graphic Design Studio
Patrick Monkel
Patrick Monkel
Two Peas in a Bucket
Two Peas in a Bucket
CBS
CBS
Green Tea Design
Green Tea Design
PBS Kids
PBS Kids
twothirty
twothirty
Christian Sparrow
Christian Sparrow
Hawaii.gov
Hawaii.gov
Pepsi
Pepsi
United States Postal Service
USPS
Ciplex
Ciplex
HGTV
HGTV
PETA
PETA
Visible Theory
Visible Theory
Cloudless
Cloudless
Hulu
Hulu
Petco
Petco
Webmonkey
Webmonkey
Constant Contact
Constant Contact
Knitty
Knitty
Peter Hurley
Peter Hurley
Wedding Bee
Wedding Bee
Design Float
DesignFloat
LightMix Design Studio
LightMix Design Studio
Pink Cake Box
Pink Cake Box
The White House
The White House
deviantART
deviantART
LinkedIn
LinkedIn
Purina
Purina
Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market
Devlisting
Devlisting
LogoSauce
LogoSauce
RingCentral
RingCentral
Wine.com
Wine.com
Digg
Digg
MailChimp
MailChimp
San Diego Zoo
San Diego Zoo
Yelp
Yelp
Digileon
Digileon
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart
ServiceMagic
ServiceMagic
YouTube
YouTube
Ditley Web Design
Ditley Web Design
The Metropolitian Museum of Art
The Met
Seventhman
Seventhman
ZAP Electric Cars
ZAP

Now that you’re inspired, it’s time to create your own favicon that’s as smooth as the examples above. Here are a few resources you may find useful:

Written By:

Alyssa Gregory

Alyssa Gregory is a small business collaborator and the founder of the Small Business Bonfire, a social, educational and collaborative community for entrepreneurs.

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{ 28 comments }

judy March 24, 2009 at 1:01 pm

Great collection of fav icons. This is the most I’ve seen in one place. This chicago web design studio I started working for was teaching me all about it.

raul March 6, 2009 at 5:32 am

There are also web services that allow to display PNG favicons from web pages, for example Faviconiac: <img src=”http://www.faviconiac.com/favicon/sitepoint.com/” /> will display the sitepoint favicon.

Visual Rhythm March 2, 2009 at 6:17 pm

I’d like to add mine to the mix…

http://www.visualrhythm.net

dreamache March 1, 2009 at 10:47 am

I recorded a video tutorial on my blog on how to design a favicon:
http://how.todesignyour.com/blog/photoshop-tutorials/how-to-design-a-favicon/

Chirp March 1, 2009 at 1:25 am

How about the one from the InfiniteMac OSx86 Community? I love it! :*

=> http://www.infinitemac.com

mmj February 28, 2009 at 4:04 pm

One of the most impressive ones there is YouTube – they managed to fit the words ‘you’ and ‘tube’ all into a 16px icon and make the words recognisable.

Also, what’s with the similarity between ‘Visible Theory’ and Flickr? Just sayin’.

Shane February 28, 2009 at 9:44 am

I like my little favicon at Apartmentreviews.com.au :-)

timwright February 28, 2009 at 7:52 am

I love the pepsi and target icons. Another one I’ve been digging lately is the dhl favicon. I think it’s a love it or hate it one.

Alyssa Gregory February 28, 2009 at 10:56 am

I like the DHL favicon! Although I’m not sure I’m sold on animation. It definitely works for them, though.

Snapey February 28, 2009 at 5:59 am

If you can’t show the whole logo, sometimes just part is as good?
http://www.rotary1220.org/02

dawgbone February 28, 2009 at 12:21 am

Georgia Aquarium’s doesn’t show for me…

I like the simple ones myself… graythought’s was good, purina, facebook, espn, redtag, dell, etc… they provide recognition and simplicity all at once.

Too many companies try to put their full logo in there and it just looks off.

Greta February 27, 2009 at 11:09 pm

I just learned how to do this a couple of weeks ago! I like mine, but I think it’s not showing up well enough. Do I make it a different color? White? Put a white box behind it? All suggestions are welcome!! It’s kind of just a green blob right now.

http://woosterpublishing.com/

Thanks!!!

Of these, I really like Blooms Today, Yelp, Flock and Target. I guess the more abstract ones, now that I think of it! On my browser right now, the favicons that stand out are Facebook, Amazon, Blogger, and Coached by Susan (and, of course, SitePoint!).

Greta

x-termin8or February 27, 2009 at 11:03 pm

The MTV one is the best IMO.

Alyssa Gregory February 27, 2009 at 11:21 pm

Some great suggestions added! What’s your feeling on animated favicons? Check out Georgia Aquarium above.

Stormrider February 27, 2009 at 10:50 pm

I like mine :D

http://www.nugc.net/

mattymcg February 27, 2009 at 9:56 pm

I’ve always liked Jeremy Keith’s

Andrew February 27, 2009 at 10:57 am
Matt Mickiewicz February 27, 2009 at 9:42 am

Target, twitpic and twhirl are all great.

Gears February 27, 2009 at 9:41 am

I think ours is pretty nice although it is simple :)

http://www.graythought.com

Signe February 27, 2009 at 8:50 am

I’m surprised that Seventhman hasn’t been sued by PepsiCo yet…

Alyssa Gregory February 27, 2009 at 9:27 am

Signe – You’re right! I was thinking the same as I was looking it over earlier.

glenngould February 27, 2009 at 8:34 am

Creatives at Google; check out the favicons list above.

They are not as good as some great icons listed here, but I’ll link two of mine below:

http://themuseumofinnocence.com/
http://bytes.com/

Person February 27, 2009 at 7:49 am

I like the BMW one.

What someone may find interesting is this, a website http://www.wausita.com/ which lets you search using favicons.

oaknd1 February 27, 2009 at 7:38 am

Sorry that last comment was mine, I didn’t realize that I wasn’t logged in.

Anonymous February 27, 2009 at 7:38 am

While I agree that some of these are stunning (skype, MTV, hulu, pepsi) i question why some of the others were included. I can’t believe the NY Giants don’t have the resources to find white pixels, and i’m underwhelmed by some (like Petco, USPS or HGTV for example) that appear to be really poor renderings of the company logo. Yes, a favicon is an exceptionally hard design challenge, but that makes the incredibly elegant simplicity of something like the Facebook or hulu favicon all the more impressive.

I can appreciate the effort that went in to compiling this list, but it seems like there are a lot of very weak favicons here for a post that is nominally about great ones. :/

Alyssa Gregory February 27, 2009 at 7:43 am

Just like design, “stunning” is subjective. If you have others you think are a good fit for this list, specifically list them. Should also note it’s a compilation of well-branded favicons, which all of the ones you question certainly are.

Jason H February 27, 2009 at 7:26 am

the url for the White House is incorrect

caruso_g February 27, 2009 at 7:16 am

Hey! Where is mine? http://www.bonsai-studio.net :D

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