Using Glyphs

Since Font Awesome was released, we’ve supported copy and pasting glyphs of our icons into your favorite desktop apps. Learn the basics of creating a text layer, selecting an icon, adjusting the style and weight, and how to use Duotone icons as glyphs.

Before You Get Started

Make sure you’ve:

• Set up Font Awesome in your project and the force is with you.

Add an Icon as a Glyph

Open a Document in Your Desktop App

After getting set up, open a new or existing document in the Desktop app you want to use Font Awesome icons in. We’ll use a new document in Figma for the walkthrough below.

Create a New Text Layer

However your app allows you, create a new layer or text block to insert text into.

A new text layer created in a Figma document

Set the Font/Typeface

Next, using your app’s font/typeface selector, find and select the Font Awesome icon family you want to use for the current text layer/block.

Selecting Font Awesome 7 Pro

Copy the Icon’s Glyph

Next, you’re all set to reference the icon you want to use. First, find the icon and copy its glyph to your clipboard.

Select the copy glyph button on any icon’s details

Then, paste the glyph of that icon into the text layer you’ve created.

The glyph for the Image icon pasted into the text layer renders the icon

Adding Kit Custom Icons

If you are using the Kit custom icon font, it works the same as all the other Font Awesome font glyphs. First import and select the Kit custom font located in the otfs folder of your Kit Download files. Then copy the glyph from your Custom Icon details in your Kit, paste the icon’s glyph into a text layer, and it will appear!

Choose a Style by Adjusting Font Weights

Font Awesome comes in several styles, depending on the typeface you’re using. If you’ve installed all .otf files, you can change the weight of your text layer/block to switch between the different icon styles.

Switching from Regular to Solid style of the Image icon

Exporting and Prepping for Production

Remember to convert your icon text layers to vector outlines or rasterized copies before sending the file to others. The production folks may not have access to the Font Awesome font files that those text layers need to display icons.

Duotones and Glyphs

You can add duotone icons into your designs as glyphs, but you’ll need add each of the two layers separately and then take an extra step to align the two layers. You’ll find the glyphs in any icon’s quick preview in the icon gallery or an icon’s detail page.

Find the Icon and Copy the Glyphs

First, find the icon you want to use in the icon gallery.

Copy the primary and secondary glyphs

Copy the glyphs one at a time and paste them in your graphics program.

Paste into Your Design App

Open up your desktop design app and create a text box with the font set to Font Aweseome 6 Duotone, then paste in the primary glyph. Create a second text box and epeat for the secondary glyph. Change the font size to the size you want them to appear and set the text boxes to the same height and width.

Assemble and align the parts of the duotone icon

Adjust the color and opacity of the two layers as you like. The last step is to align the two text boxes to overlap using the align tools for vertical and horizontal center.

Be Mindful of Accessibility with Duotone Icons

Duotone icons are comprised of two layers with different color values, which make them more complex symbols. Read up on some accessibility best practices to be mindful of when using them on the web, desktop, and in print.