To change a Font Awesome icon color, you can simply use CSS. The most common and beginner-friendly method is applying the `color` property directly to the icon’s HTML element, using hexadecimal codes, RGB values, or named colors. This guide will walk you through it with easy-to-follow examples.
Ever stumbled upon a Font Awesome icon that just doesn’t quite match your website’s color scheme? It’s a common design puzzle! You’ve got that perfect icon ready to go, but its default color clashes with your branding. Frustrating, right? Don’t worry, tweaking an icon’s color is surprisingly simple and can make a huge difference in your design’s cohesion. This guide breaks down exactly how to do it, step-by-step, so you can easily customize your icons to perfectly fit your vision.
Why Font Awesome Icons Need Color Customization
Font Awesome is a fantastic library of scalable vector icons that’s widely used across the web. Its versatility lies not just in the sheer number of icons available, but also in how easily they can be styled. Most of the time, the default grey or black is fine. However, visual design is all about harmony and impact. When an icon’s color doesn’t align with your brand’s palette, it can pull the viewer’s eye away from your message or make your design feel less professional. Customizing icon colors allows you to:
- Enhance Brand Consistency: Use your brand’s primary or secondary colors to reinforce identity.
- Improve Readability: Ensure icons stand out against different backgrounds, especially where contrast is low.
- Create Visual Hierarchy: Use color to draw attention to important icons, like call-to-action buttons.
- Add Personality: Inject a unique feel to your website or application design.
- Match Design Aesthetics: Seamlessly integrate icons into diverse visual styles, from minimalist to vibrant.
Understanding How Font Awesome Colors Work
Font Awesome icons are essentially text characters with special styling. This means they behave much like any other text element on a webpage. When you add a Font Awesome icon using its HTML tag (like <i> or <span>), you can control its appearance, including its color, using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
The key is that the icon itself is rendered using the current text color of its parent element, or by a specific color style applied directly to it. By understanding this, you can leverage CSS to precisely select and apply any color you desire.
Method 1: Changing Icon Color with Inline CSS
For quick, one-off changes or for specific icons that need a unique color, inline CSS is a straightforward option. You apply the style directly within the HTML tag of the icon.
Applying the `color` Property Inline
This is the most direct way to change an icon’s color. You add a `style` attribute to the icon’s HTML element and set the `color` property.
Step-by-Step:
- Locate Your Font Awesome Icon: Find the HTML code for the icon you want to change. It usually looks something like this:
<i class="fas fa-home"></i>
- Add the `style` Attribute: Within the opening tag (e.g., the
<i>tag), add the `style` attribute. - Set the `color` Property: Inside the `style` attribute, specify the color you want. You can use color names, hexadecimal codes, or RGB values.
<i class="fas fa-home" style="color: blue;"></i>
Or using a hex code:
<i class="fas fa-home" style="color: #FF5733;"></i>
Or using RGB:
<i class="fas fa-home" style="color: rgb(255, 87, 51);"></i>
When to Use Inline CSS:
- When you need to change the color of just one or two specific icons.
- For quick testing or prototyping.
- When you don’t have access or permission to modify external CSS files (though this is rare in most web development contexts).
Limitations of Inline CSS:
- Maintainability: It can make your HTML messy and harder to manage, especially if you have many icons to style.
- Reusability: You have to repeat the style for every icon you want to color the same way.
- Overriding Specificity: Inline styles have high specificity and can be difficult to override with external stylesheets if needed later.
Method 2: Changing Icon Color with Internal & External CSS
For most projects, using CSS stylesheets is the preferred and most efficient method. This is where you define styles in a separate .css file (external) or within a <style> block in your HTML’s <head> (internal).
Using CSS Classes for Dynamic Styling
The power of CSS lies in its ability to define styles once and apply them to multiple elements using classes. This is ideal for Font Awesome icons.
Step-by-Step:
- Identify Your Icon’s HTML: Again, you’ll have your icon in HTML, like:
<i class="fas fa-cog"></i>
- Create a Custom CSS Class: In your CSS file (or
<style>block), define a new class that targets the icon and sets its color. Let’s say you want a “primary-color” class:.primary-color { color: #007bff; / A nice shade of blue / }You can use any valid CSS color value here: named colors (like `red`), hex codes (`#FF0000`), RGB (`rgb(255,0,0)`), or HSL values.
- Apply the Custom Class to Your Icon: Add your new class to the icon’s existing classes in the HTML:
<i class="fas fa-cog primary-color"></i>
Using More Specific Selectors
Sometimes, you might not want to add a new class to every single icon. You can use CSS selectors to target icons based on their location or other attributes.
Example: Coloring all `fa-heart` icons red within a specific section:
.my-special-section .fa-heart {
color: red;
}This targets any icon with the class `fa-heart` that is a descendant of an element with the class `my-special-section`.
Using CSS Variables (Custom Properties) for Theme Colors
For advanced projects and design systems, CSS variables offer immense flexibility. You can define your brand colors once and reuse them throughout your styles.
:root {
--primary-brand-color: #0056b3;
--secondary-brand-color: #eaa029;
--danger-color: #dc3545;
}
.brand-icon-primary {
color: var(--primary-brand-color);
}
.brand-icon-secondary {
color: var(--secondary-brand-color);
}
.alert-icon {
color: var(--danger-color);
}Then, in your HTML:
<i class="fas fa-star brand-icon-primary"></i>
<i class="fas fa-bell brand-icon-secondary"></i>
<i class="fas fa-exclamation-triangle alert-icon"></i>This approach makes it incredibly easy to update your brand colors across your entire site just by changing the variable definitions in one place.
External vs. Internal CSS
External CSS: Stored in a separate .css file (e.g., styles.css) and linked in the HTML’s <head> section using <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">. This is the most common and recommended method for most websites because it keeps your HTML clean and allows for browser caching, improving performance.
Internal CSS: Placed directly within a <style> tag inside the <head> of your HTML document. This is useful for single-page websites or when you have specific styles that apply only to that particular page.
Method 3: Font Awesome’s Built-in Styling Tools (Less Common for Color)
Font Awesome itself provides some utilities for styling, though their primary focus for color is often through standard CSS properties. However, for size and rotation, they offer classes.
Font Awesome Sizing Classes
While not directly for color, understanding these can help manage the visual impact of icons. You can change the size of icons using classes like fa-lg, fa-2x, fa-3x, etc. For example:
<i class="fas fa-star fa-3x"></i>
Understanding Font Awesome Versions
It’s important to note that Font Awesome version (v4 vs. v5 vs. v6+) can sometimes influence the class names or how you implement styles, but the core principle of using the CSS `color` property remains consistent.
Font Awesome 5 and 6 use specific prefixes like `fas` (solid), `far` (regular), `fal` (light), `fad` (duotone), and `fab` (brands). For example:
<i class="fas fa-user"></i> <!-- Solid user icon --> <i class="far fa-user"></i> <!-- Regular user icon -->
Regardless of the style, the `color` CSS property will work the same way for all of them.
Choosing the Right Color for Your Icons
Selecting the perfect color goes beyond just matching your logo. It’s about creating an effective user experience. Here are some tips:
- Brand Guidelines: Always refer to your brand’s established color palette. Consistency is key.
- Contrast Ratios: Ensure sufficient contrast between the icon color and its background. This is crucial for accessibility, as recommended by standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Tools like the WCAG Contrast Minimum Requirements can help you evaluate this.
- Meaning and Psychology: Colors evoke emotions and associations. Use colors that align with the icon’s function (e.g., red for alerts, green for success).
- Visual Hierarchy: Use brighter or contrasting colors for primary call-to-action icons to guide users.
- Testing: View your icons in different contexts and on different devices to ensure they look great everywhere.
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
While changing icon colors is generally straightforward, beginners can sometimes run into issues:
- Specificity Wars: Your CSS rule might not be applied because another, more specific rule is overriding it. Try making your selector more specific (e.g.,
.my-container .fas { color: red; }) or using `!important` as a last resort (though it’s generally bad practice). - Incorrect Font Awesome Version: Using class names from a different version than what you’ve installed can lead to icons not appearing or not being styleable correctly. Double-check your Font Awesome CDN link or local installation.
- CORS Issues with SVGs: If you’re using Font Awesome’s SVG-with-js method, coloring might behave differently. For standard web font implementations, CSS `color` is king. The official Font Awesome documentation is an excellent resource for specific implementation details, particularly for advanced setups described on sites like Font Awesome SVG Icons.
- Caching Problems: Sometimes, browsers cache old CSS files. If you make changes that aren’t showing up, try clearing your browser cache or doing a hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R or Cmd+Shift+R).
- Typos: A simple typo in a class name or color code can prevent styles from applying. Always double-check your spelling!
Coloring Font Awesome Icons in Different Contexts
The methods described above are applicable across various development environments.
Font Awesome with Bootstrap
If you’re using Bootstrap, you can easily integrate Font Awesome. You’d typically add Bootstrap’s grid and utility classes alongside Font Awesome classes. For coloring, you could use Bootstrap’s utility classes if they offer suitable color options, or define your own CSS classes:
<!-- Using a custom class -->
<i class="fas fa-check text-success" style="color: purple !important;"></i>
<!-- Or directly within Bootstrap's text color classes -->
<i class="fas fa-info text-primary"></i>Note: Sometimes `!important` might be needed if Bootstrap’s default styles are very specific.
Font Awesome with WordPress
In WordPress, you can add custom CSS to your site.
Using the Block Editor (Gutenberg): When you add an icon block, there’s usually a “Color” option in the block settings sidebar. If not, you can always add custom CSS using the “Additional CSS” option in the WordPress Customizer (Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS).
Using Custom CSS in WordPress: Navigate to Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS and add your styles there:
.site-header .fab.fa-facebook {
color: #1877f2; / Facebook blue /
}Font Awesome with React/Vue/Angular
When working with JavaScript frameworks, you’ll typically import the Font Awesome library or use helper components. Styling is then done by passing the color as a prop, using inline styles, or applying CSS classes from your framework’s styling approach (e.g., styled-components, Vue’s scoped CSS).
React Example:
import { FontAwesomeIcon } from '@fortawesome/react-fontawesome';
import { faCoffee } from '@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons';
function CoffeeIcon() {
return (
<FontAwesomeIcon icon={faCoffee} style={{ color: 'brown' }} />
);
}Table: Common Color Values & Their Usage
Here’s a quick reference for color values you can use in your CSS.
| Color Type | Example | Description | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Named Colors | blue, red, green, orange |
Simple, common color names. Limited palette. | Quick testing, basic designs, clear meanings (red for error). |
| Hexadecimal (HEX) | #007bff, #dc3545, #28a745 |
Six-digit codes representing Red, Green, Blue values (00-FF). Most common web standard. | Precise brand colors, web-safe colors, widely supported. |
| RGB | rgb(0, 123, 255) |
Red, Green, Blue values from 0 to 255. | Slightly more readable than HEX for some, good for programmatic color generation. |
| RGBA | rgba(0, 123, 255, 0.7) |
Same as RGB,
|
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