Inspired with the favicon design of web 2.0 sites like Tech Crunch, Lifehacker, Technorati, etc? Well follow this simple tutorial for creating web 2.0 fav icon using Photoshop. All you need is just Adobe Photoshop software installed.
Ok let’s get started!
Open a new project in Photoshop either by navigating to File > New or just press Ctrl + N.
Now make sure the width and height its 400px so that you can get a square shaped fav icon with the background color as white.
Now select the desired background color you want to use for your fav icon by clicking set foreground color as show in the figure. Choose a nice web 2.0 color from the Color library.
After selecting the BG color to be used, in the tool box of the Photoshop select Gradient tool or just press (G).
Now below the menu bar you will get a gradient color option, which looks similar to the screenshot posted below, click it and select foreground to transparent palette.
After selecting, drag your mouse from the outermost top of the project to its extreme end via +y to –y axis and leave down to get a color background. While dragging if you seem to have white color over the bottom then press ctrl + z to re-drag and this time drag it out of the bottom extreme to make the white color disappear,
After getting desired web2.0 background for the fav icon, select the horizontal text tool from the tool box and type the first name of your website or added two different layers of text if you need two initials in your fav icon.
After typing your desired initial, select a color for the text which matches the background perfectly or your website theme. (Basically both the background and foreground should match the website theme color). But if you add two initials in the fav icon make sure you give two different colors then.
Now the next part is the optional part of adding 3-d effect. If you satisfy with the current design you can skip this step otherwise add a bevel or emboss effect to the text by right clicking the text and selecting the blending option.
That’s it now the next process is exporting the created project as jpeg image by navigating to File > Save as > and selecting jpeg as format and click save.
The exported jpeg can be easily converted to .ico favicon by visiting this website.
Please forgive me if you have expected more about the design coz I have already mentioned the title as how to design a “SIMPLE†web 2.0 icon which made my tutorial concise after all this is my first tutorial. I have uploaded the .PSD files and made available for download which you can modify according to your wish.
Last but not least, I am expecting your comments and suggestions…
Download: Sample 1 | Sample 2 | Sample 3 (PSD Format).
[update]: Sample 2,3 are live at Technical Blog & BlogTalkz please don’t inherit the same design.
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