diff --git a/.flowconfig b/.flowconfig
index d87afb61..ef6f9d9e 100644
--- a/.flowconfig
+++ b/.flowconfig
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 [include]
 .*/frontend/.*
+.*/server/.*
+.*/shared/.*
 
 [ignore]
 .*/node_modules/styled-components/.*
diff --git a/frontend/components/Editor/Editor.js b/frontend/components/Editor/Editor.js
index 9834d133..0573ef5c 100644
--- a/frontend/components/Editor/Editor.js
+++ b/frontend/components/Editor/Editor.js
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ type Props = {
   onImageUploadStart: Function,
   onImageUploadStop: Function,
   starred: boolean,
+  emoji: string,
   readOnly: boolean,
   heading?: ?React.Element<*>,
 };
@@ -213,6 +214,7 @@ type KeyData = {
             className={cx(styles.editor, { readOnly: this.props.readOnly })}
             schema={this.schema}
             plugins={this.plugins}
+            emoji={this.props.emoji}
             state={this.state.state}
             onKeyDown={this.onKeyDown}
             onChange={this.onChange}
diff --git a/frontend/components/Editor/components/Heading.js b/frontend/components/Editor/components/Heading.js
index a219135a..05e2b857 100644
--- a/frontend/components/Editor/components/Heading.js
+++ b/frontend/components/Editor/components/Heading.js
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ type Context = {
   starred?: boolean,
 };
 
+const Wrapper = styled.div`
+  margin-left: ${props => (props.hasEmoji ? '-1.2em' : 0)}
+`;
+
 const StyledStar = styled(StarIcon)`
   top: 3px;
   position: relative;
@@ -61,10 +65,14 @@ function Heading(props: Props, { starred }: Context) {
   const showStar = readOnly && !!onStar;
   const showHash = readOnly && !!slugish && !showStar;
   const Component = component;
+  const emoji = editor.props.emoji || '';
+  const title = node.text.trim();
+  const startsWithEmojiAndSpace =
+    emoji && title.match(new RegExp(`^${emoji}\\s`));
 
   return (
     <Component className={styles.title}>
-      {children}
+      <Wrapper hasEmoji={startsWithEmojiAndSpace}>{children}</Wrapper>
       {showPlaceholder &&
         <span className={styles.placeholder} contentEditable={false}>
           {editor.props.placeholder}
diff --git a/frontend/models/Document.js b/frontend/models/Document.js
index 64b37a60..c13341f2 100644
--- a/frontend/models/Document.js
+++ b/frontend/models/Document.js
@@ -5,15 +5,11 @@ import invariant from 'invariant';
 import { client } from 'utils/ApiClient';
 import stores from 'stores';
 import ErrorsStore from 'stores/ErrorsStore';
+import parseTitle from '../../shared/parseTitle';
 
 import type { User } from 'types';
 import Collection from './Collection';
 
-const parseHeader = text => {
-  const firstLine = text.trim().split(/\r?\n/)[0];
-  return firstLine.replace(/^#/, '').trim();
-};
-
 const DEFAULT_TITLE = 'Untitled document';
 
 class Document {
@@ -31,6 +27,7 @@ class Document {
   html: string;
   id: string;
   team: string;
+  emoji: string;
   private: boolean = false;
   starred: boolean = false;
   text: string = '';
@@ -181,7 +178,11 @@ class Document {
   };
 
   updateData(data: Object = {}, dirty: boolean = false) {
-    if (data.text) data.title = parseHeader(data.text);
+    if (data.text) {
+      const { title, emoji } = parseTitle(data.text);
+      data.title = title;
+      data.emoji = emoji;
+    }
     if (dirty) this.hasPendingChanges = true;
     this.data = data;
     extendObservable(this, data);
diff --git a/frontend/scenes/Document/Document.js b/frontend/scenes/Document/Document.js
index e81507db..403ca9a2 100644
--- a/frontend/scenes/Document/Document.js
+++ b/frontend/scenes/Document/Document.js
@@ -203,6 +203,7 @@ type Props = {
               <Editor
                 key={document.id}
                 text={document.text}
+                emoji={document.emoji}
                 onImageUploadStart={this.onImageUploadStart}
                 onImageUploadStop={this.onImageUploadStop}
                 onChange={this.onChange}
diff --git a/server/models/Document.js b/server/models/Document.js
index 8a125221..eef624d3 100644
--- a/server/models/Document.js
+++ b/server/models/Document.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import isUUID from 'validator/lib/isUUID';
 import { DataTypes, sequelize } from '../sequelize';
 import { convertToMarkdown } from '../../frontend/utils/markdown';
 import { truncateMarkdown } from '../utils/truncate';
+import parseTitle from '../../shared/parseTitle';
 import Revision from './Revision';
 
 const URL_REGEX = /^[a-zA-Z0-9-]*-([a-zA-Z0-9]{10,15})$/;
@@ -35,15 +36,10 @@ const createUrlId = doc => {
   return (doc.urlId = doc.urlId || randomstring.generate(10));
 };
 
-const extractEmoji = doc => {
-  const regex = emojiRegex();
-  const match = regex.exec(doc.title);
-
-  if (match.length) return match[0];
-  return null;
-};
-
 const beforeSave = async doc => {
+  const { emoji } = parseTitle(doc.text);
+
+  doc.emoji = emoji;
   doc.html = convertToMarkdown(doc.text);
   doc.preview = truncateMarkdown(doc.text, 160);
   doc.revisionCount += 1;
@@ -62,7 +58,6 @@ const beforeSave = async doc => {
   // We'll add the current user as revision hasn't been generated yet
   ids.push(doc.lastModifiedById);
   doc.collaboratorIds = _.uniq(ids);
-  doc.emoji = extractEmoji(doc);
 
   return doc;
 };
diff --git a/shared/parseTitle.js b/shared/parseTitle.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ebb3e0dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shared/parseTitle.js
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+// @flow
+import emojiRegex from 'emoji-regex';
+
+export default function parseTitle(text: string = '') {
+  const regex = emojiRegex();
+
+  // find and extract title
+  const firstLine = text.trim().split(/\r?\n/)[0];
+  const title = firstLine.replace(/^#/, '').trim();
+
+  // find and extract first emoji
+  const matches = regex.exec(title);
+  const firstEmoji = matches ? matches[0] : null;
+  const startsWithEmoji = firstEmoji && title.startsWith(firstEmoji);
+  const emoji = startsWithEmoji ? firstEmoji : undefined;
+
+  return { title, emoji };
+}
diff --git a/webpack.config.js b/webpack.config.js
index 91cdf941..d1a43ae7 100644
--- a/webpack.config.js
+++ b/webpack.config.js
@@ -26,7 +26,10 @@ module.exports = {
       {
         test: /\.js$/,
         loader: 'babel',
-        include: path.join(__dirname, 'frontend'),
+        include: [
+          path.join(__dirname, 'frontend'),
+          path.join(__dirname, 'shared'),
+        ]
       },
       { test: /\.json$/, loader: 'json-loader' },
       // inline base64 URLs for <=8k images, direct URLs for the rest
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 5422feaa..3ca1b2dc 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -2499,6 +2499,10 @@ emoji-regex@^6.1.0:
   version "6.4.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/emoji-regex/-/emoji-regex-6.4.2.tgz#a30b6fee353d406d96cfb9fa765bdc82897eff6e"
 
+emoji-regex@^6.5.1:
+  version "6.5.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/emoji-regex/-/emoji-regex-6.5.1.tgz#9baea929b155565c11ea41c6626eaa65cef992c2"
+
 emojilib@^2.0.2:
   version "2.0.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/emojilib/-/emojilib-2.0.2.tgz#df91c45ede69f2d0ffd3d80acf8c72771b2a5ea1"