Tuesday, July 12, 2016

What is a Favicon


Have you ever asked yourself ‘what is a favicon?‘, or you may have been offered it as part of your website design. Well, the following will tell you what it is.

A favicon is a small icon (16 x 16 pixels) which represents your website address recognition. It’s like a Logo for your website, which other internet users can see as part of your domain name address for your website. The term favicon is an abbreviation of ‘favorites icon’. In fact, if you look at your list of Favorites, you will notice that each favorite has its favicon beside it.

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A favicon is an icon that represents your website. Have a look at the favicon below for the Telstra website:

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Notice how the Telstra favicon is the same as their logo.

 
Why a favicon is important for your website

Although a favicon isn’t an essential part of your website, it is an important part of your branding. In today’s environment of tabbed internet browsing, where multiple windows can be open at the same time, your favicon helps to ‘own’ your tab. This makes it easier for your customers to identify your site from all the others.

Choosing not to have a favicon, simply means that you have a generic page icon representing your website – just like millions of other websites. Make yourself stand out in the crowd. Having a favicon adds a further layer of professionalism, contributing to your sites overall trust factor.

And the good news is, it will not normally cost any more to include it in your website design (see below for details).

 

Essential criteria for a great favicon

As your favicon is small, you need to be really smart about how you use the space. The 3 essential criteria for a great favicon are:

1. Must be legible/understandable: Can the user decipher what your favicon is? The simpler the shape and the fewer the colours – the easier and more recognisable a favicon will be.

2. Must have an obvious link to your business: Is it obvious that the picture shown in your favicon relates to your small business? Don’t try and be cryptic. Keep it simple.

3. Where possible, must be consistent with your website logo: Consistency between your business, your website and your favicon are important design considerations. Remember, your existing website logo is the key.

 

Designing your favicon

The simplest approach is to ensure your favicon is the same as your website logo. If this is not practical, where for example your website logo includes words or pictures, a favicon may be a derivative of one or more of the following items:

Your logo

Your small business name

Your small business category

Your primary product or service

Your mascot

Your brand colours

 
For example, look at this inspiring logo for Devakon, a commercial construction business in South Yarra.

 


 
 
The logo is great, but it has too many words/letters to be suitable for a favicon. Therefore, the favicon has taken just one part of the logo – the letter ‘D’ in blue. Fantastic.

 


 

Learn from other famous favicons

Stuck for inspiration? It’s a good idea to look at how other successful businesses have designed their favicon.

Just as all brands are different, their representative favicons are different. Favicons are both unique in nature and need to be adapted for a small space.

Good luck.

When it comes to websites, I can offer you a rebate on the cost of having your own website designed, developed and hosted by a national company based right here in Melbourne. They develop websites from as little as $495, and offer a no obligation, no deposit service where they come to you and discuss your requirements. They will also host your website and provide you with an easy-to-use ‘Content Management System’ for you to make whatever changes you want later on, as well as free 24/7 support by phone and email.

I have negotiated rebates of 20% off their prices and all you need to do is contact me for further details and information.

 

For further information, contact me below:

David Haigh

(w)  http://google.com/+DavidHaighAssociatesAshburton
(t) +61 (0)3 9885 7688
(m) +61 (0)412 550 020


 

 

 

 
 
 
 
About me

I have recently retired after 30 years consulting for corporate clients such as NAB, AXA, IOOF and AustralianSuper. My experience covers website design, social media and business strategies. I am now focussed on providing consulting services to small business.

My services are provided on a voluntary basis, free of charge, and with no obligation.