Awesome Font Identification: Is It Font Awesome, or a Font in a Logo?
Searching for "awesome font"? Learn how to tell Font Awesome icons from a logo typeface, identify lettering in vector logos, and find vector assets from authoritative sources.
Contents
A search for "awesome font" usually points in one of two directions. Most often the searcher means Font Awesome, the icon toolkit used on websites and in interface design, typed with the words reversed. Less often, the searcher has seen a logo with lettering they like and wants to know which typeface it uses. These are different problems with different answers, so the first step is working out which one applies.
The Short Answer
Font Awesome is not a typeface for setting words. It is a library of pictograms, such as arrows, social media marks, file symbols and interface icons, delivered as an icon font and as individual vector graphics. If the shape in front of you is a small symbol rather than a letter, it may come from Font Awesome or a similar icon set. If it is a word or name set in distinctive letters, you need a typeface identification process instead. Font Awesome will not help you match lettering.
How Font Awesome Differs From a Regular Font
A conventional font maps letters, numbers and punctuation to glyphs designed to work together as text. An icon font uses the same file technology but stores symbols in place of letters, so each icon is called up by a code or class name rather than by typing a word. The glyphs inside the font file are vector outlines, which is why they scale cleanly on screen.
Font Awesome icons are also offered as standalone SVG files. For logo and print work, an individual SVG is usually easier to handle than the font, because it can be opened in a vector editor, recolored and combined with other artwork without installing anything.
| Question | Icon font (such as Font Awesome) | Text typeface |
| What it contains | Symbols and pictograms | Letters, numbers, punctuation |
| How you use it | Insert an icon by code, class or SVG file | Type words |
| Typical use | Interface elements, buttons, small graphics | Wordmarks, headlines, body text |
| Role in a logo | Occasionally a symbol element, rarely suitable as a unique mark | Often the wordmark itself or its starting point |
Identifying a Font Awesome Icon
If you suspect an icon on a website comes from Font Awesome, the most reliable method is to inspect the page's code in a browser's developer tools. Class names or embedded SVG markup often reveal the icon library and the icon's name. Visual matching alone is less dependable, because many icon sets draw common symbols such as a house, envelope or magnifying glass in very similar ways.
Font Awesome has been released in several major versions and in more than one style family, and the same icon can look different between them. When matching an icon, compare stroke weight, corner treatment and whether the shape is filled or outlined, not just the general subject.
Identifying the Typeface in a Logo
When the question is about lettering, start by looking closely at the letterforms. The features that separate one typeface from another are often small:
- Serifs or no serifs, and if serifs are present, whether they are bracketed, slab-shaped or hairline
- The shape of distinctive letters such as a, g, R, Q and the numeral 1
- Terminals, the ends of strokes, which may be flat, angled, rounded or ball-shaped
- Stroke contrast, meaning how much thick and thin parts of letters differ
- Proportions such as x-height, letter width and the length of ascenders and descenders
- Spacing between letters, which in logos is frequently adjusted by hand
Image-based font matching tools can suggest candidates from a clear, high-resolution crop of the wordmark. Results improve when the text is straight, unobstructed and shows several distinct characters. Treat suggestions as leads to confirm, not as a definitive answer.
Many logos cannot be matched exactly. A brand's wordmark may be custom lettering drawn from scratch, or an existing typeface with altered letters, joined characters, custom spacing or reshaped curves. In those cases a font identifier will return the nearest published typeface, which may be close in feel but will not reproduce the logo. Some organizations publish brand guidelines naming their typefaces, and when available that is the most reliable confirmation.
Finding the Right Vector Asset
For Font Awesome icons, the appropriate source is the project's own distribution, through its official website, documentation or package releases. The library has historically offered a free set alongside a paid tier with more icons and styles, so an icon you see in use may not be available in the free download. Check the official documentation for which icons, styles and versions are included in each tier.
For a company's logo, the authoritative source is the brand owner, typically through a press kit, media page or brand guidelines. Files from third-party logo collections may be accurate, outdated or redrawn approximations. A recreation can look right at small sizes while differing in curves, proportions or color values from the official artwork.
Checking Whether a File Is Really Vector
A file extension does not guarantee editable vector paths. An SVG, EPS, AI or PDF file can contain true vector outlines, but it can also wrap an embedded raster image, in which case it will pixelate when enlarged and cannot be edited as shapes. Thumbnails and previews shown on download pages are usually raster images even when the downloadable file is vector.
To verify, open the file in a vector editor and switch to an outline or wireframe view. Genuine vector artwork shows as paths and anchor points. An embedded image appears as a single rectangular box. Text inside a file may also still be live type that depends on an installed font, rather than converted outlines, which affects how it displays on another computer.
Download Access Versus Permission to Use
Being able to download an icon, font or logo file is not the same as having permission to use it in any way you like. Three separate questions apply:
- The license for the artwork or icon files, which governs copying, modification and attribution
- The license for any font, which may restrict embedding, modification or commercial use
- Trademark rights in brand names and logos, which exist independently of how a file was obtained
Font Awesome publishes its own licensing terms for its free and paid components, and those terms should be read directly before using an icon in a product or logo. Brand icons included in any icon library represent marks owned by the respective companies, and using them is subject to those owners' trademark rules. An icon from a shared library is also a poor foundation for a distinctive logo, since anyone else can use the same symbol.
What This Article Cannot Confirm
No specific evidence was supplied about a particular logo, icon or typeface, so this guide cannot name the font in an individual image, confirm current Font Awesome version numbers, icon counts, pricing or license wording. For those details, consult the official Font Awesome documentation or the brand owner's published guidelines.