A well designed favicon can be an effective tool in elevating your brand high above the litter that day-to-day browsing generates around your users. This little ident offers an easy avenue to developing brand recognition, and differentiation from the competition. The best bit: it costs nothing!
You might run a site that has a great domain name for SEO, but despite your best efforts, heading down that route can often leave you with a mouthful of a URL. In steps the well designed favicon, an instantly recognisable ident for your brand, waving it’s pixels loud and proud in the favourites list, browser history, tabs, and address bar.
Amongst other benefits, favicons can help build on:
* Brand awareness – the more your users see it, the more recognisable your branding becomes.
* Reputation – a more finished, established and professional look and feel.
* Positioning salience – differentiation from the competition
Our guidelines:
* Remember size isn’t everything. Displayed at just 16×16 pixels in most instances, a favicon must be simple enough to retain clarity. A tightly constrained colour palette and very simple symbols are prime subject matter.
* Ensure your favicon represents your branding. Users need to be able to associate a favicon instantly with your website.
‘OK, but how do I make one?’
Favicons can be generated using many image editing suites, including Photoshop, GIMP and various free online tools such as:
* http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/c
* http://www.favicon.cc/ (please, don’t be tempted by animated favicons as they generally end up distracting enough to put users off rather than encourage positive interaction)
For detailed instructions and inspiration on creating your own favicon check out:
*Inspire Yourself:50 Remarkable Favicons
*How to Create a Favicon and Why Should You Use One
Grant Bunyan
UX Designer, Global Personals Limited