Ever felt limited by Angular Material’s default look and wondered how to make your app truly stand out? You’re not alone. Customizing Angular Material is the key to shaping your project’s unique identity, ensuring your design aligns perfectly with your brand and users’ needs.
In this article, you’ll discover clear steps and smart tips for tailoring Angular Material components. Whether you want subtle tweaks or a complete style overhaul, we’ll make the process simple and achievable.
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How to Customize Angular Material: Creating a Custom Theme in Angular
Angular Material makes it easy to create stunning, consistent user interfaces for Angular applications. But just using the default style isn’t always enough—your brand may require unique colors, fonts, and visual identity. That’s where customizing Angular Material comes in. In this guide, you’ll learn how to create a custom Angular Material theme, understand its building blocks, and apply best practices for a seamless and maintainable UI experience.
What Does “Custom Angular Material” Mean?
Customizing Angular Material usually refers to two main aspects:
– Changing the look and feel of Material components by creating a custom theme (like unique colors and typography).
– Applying custom styles beyond theming, such as deep overrides or creating new components that fit your design system.
This guide focuses on custom themes, as they are the heart of Angular Material’s flexibility.
Why Create a Custom Angular Material Theme?
Building your own theme can transform your application’s appearance and ensure it aligns with your brand. Here are the key reasons to customize:
– Consistent branding across your entire app.
– Centralized control over UI appearance.
– Ability to quickly switch between dark/light or multiple themes.
– Enhanced user experience through tailored colors and tones.
Understanding Angular Material Theming: The Basics
Angular Material uses a Sass-based theming system. This enables you to define primary, accent, and warn colors, as well as background and foreground palettes. You work mostly in SCSS stylesheets (not basic CSS), which gives you access to powerful features like variables and color manipulations.
The Core Building Blocks
- Color palettes: Define core brand colors as palettes.
- Theme object: Bundle your palettes into a Material theme using SCSS functions.
- Applying themes: Attach the theme to your app via stylesheets.
Step-by-Step Guide: Creating a Custom Angular Material Theme
Let’s break down the theming process into simple, manageable steps.
1. Install Angular Material
First, make sure Angular Material is set up in your project:
ng add @angular/material
This step also installs Angular CDK and applies some starter styles.
2. Create Your Custom Theme SCSS File
Angular Material’s default theme lives in node_modules. Instead of editing that, create your own (usually src/styles/custom-theme.scss).
// src/styles/custom-theme.scss
@use '@angular/material' as mat;
// Step 1: Define your color palettes
$my-app-primary: mat.define-palette(mat.$indigo-palette, 700, 500, 900);
$my-app-accent: mat.define-palette(mat.$pink-palette, 200, 100, 400);
$my-app-warn: mat.define-palette(mat.$red-palette);
// Step 2: Create your custom theme object
$my-app-theme: mat.define-light-theme((
color: (
primary: $my-app-primary,
accent: $my-app-accent,
warn: $my-app-warn
),
typography: mat.define-typography-config(),
));
// Step 3: Include Angular Material's core stylings
@include mat.core();
@include mat.all-component-themes($my-app-theme);
What’s Happening Here?
- You create color palettes using built-in Material color tools.
- Bundle colors into a theme with
define-light-theme(ordefine-dark-themefor dark modes). - Apply styles globally using Material’s SCSS mixins.
3. Update Your Angular.json
Include your new theme in the build process:
"styles": [
"src/styles/custom-theme.scss",
"src/styles.scss"
]
Make sure your custom theme SCSS is before your main styles to avoid overrides.
4. Use the Theme in Your Components
Now, all Angular Material components across your app (like buttons, input fields, etc.) will use your new colors. No extra code needed—Material handles it!
Example: Themed Button
My Brand Button
It picks up the primary color from your custom theme automatically.
5. Advanced: Adding Typography and Custom Variables
You can further tweak:
– Typography (font sizes, families)
– Density (compact or spacious layouts)
– Elevation and shadows
Extend your $my-app-theme object to override defaults.
Tips for Effective Theming
- Start with a fork: Base your custom palettes on Material’s built-in ones, then tune the colors.
- Use CSS variables for runtime theming: For switching themes on the fly, leverage CSS variables and dynamic classes.
- Scope themes Smartly: For multiple themes (light/dark), wrap your mixins within specific CSS classes and manage switching in your app component.
- Test accessibility: Always check color contrast for readability.
- Organize SCSS: Maintain separate SCSS files for themes, variables, and overrides for maintainability.
Common Challenges of Customizing Angular Material
1. Naming and Managing Palettes
Picking color shades that are visually harmonious and accessible can be tricky. Use Material color tools as a foundation, but also check them directly in your app UI.
2. Overriding Deep Styles
Some components have inner styles that are tough to override. Use Angular ::ng-deep selector sparingly for those deep changes, but remember it’s deprecated and may be removed in the future. Try to stick to theme/SCSS mixins as much as possible.
3. Supporting Multiple Themes
If you offer light/dark modes (or more), structure your SCSS for easy switching. Prefer CSS classes and Angular binding for toggling themes.
Best Practices for Custom Angular Material Themes
- Centralize theme logic: Keep all theme definitions and related SCSS in a dedicated folder.
- Use design tokens: Where possible, use design tokens or variables to boost consistency and future flexibility.
- Minimal override: Embrace Material’s structure—avoid heavy custom CSS that could break with future library updates.
- Iterate visually: Test your theme iteratively, looking at all components and states (hover, active, disabled).
- Document your theme: Leave comments in your SCSS and document color, typography, or spacing choices for team clarity.
Advanced Customization: Unique Components and Custom Styles
While most UI needs can be handled via Material’s theming, sometimes you need components that don’t come out of the box.
How to Proceed?
- Extend or Compose Existing Components: Use Angular’s composition—add your structure, then style with theme variables.
- Leverage Theme Mixins: Angular Material exposes mixins for states, elevations, etc. Use these for consistency.
- Sample Custom Card SCSS:
scss
.my-custom-card {
@include mat.elevation(8);
background-color: mat.get-color-from-palette($my-app-primary, 50);
color: mat.get-color-from-palette($my-app-primary, 900);
} - Respect Theme Context: Always use your theme’s palettes when styling, so new themes apply universally.
The Benefits of Custom Angular Material Themes
- Professional and polished UI: Strong first impressions for users.
- Brand adherence: Full alignment with corporate style guides.
- Easier long-term maintenance: Centralized theming means less repetitive code.
- Future-proofed: When Angular Material updates, your theme remains compatible.
- Efficient multi-theme support: Quickly add or change themes for dark mode or new branding.
Practical Tips & Advice
- Preview and Adjust: Regularly preview your changes in different browsers and screen sizes. Tweak your palettes for accessibility and visual harmony.
- Automate contrast checking: Use utilities or browser plugins to ensure color choices are readable.
- Embrace code splitting for themes: For large enterprise apps with multiple themes, consider lazy-loading themes to decrease initial load times.
No Cost or Shipping Concerns
Since Angular Material themes are handled entirely by SCSS and configuration files within your codebase, there are no direct costs, shipping, or logistics involved. All customization takes place in your project, making it a cost-effective way to enhance your app.
Summary
Building a custom Angular Material theme empowers you to create unique, scalable, and brand-aligned interfaces with minimal hassle. Start by defining your color palettes, bundle them into theme objects, and update your global styles. Leverage Material’s powerful theming tools to maintain consistency, accessibility, and flexibility. Apply best practices for scalability and maintainability, and always iterate with the end user in mind!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I switch between light and dark themes in Angular Material?
You can define both light and dark theme SCSS blocks and apply each theme to a parent CSS class (e.g., .my-app-light and .my-app-dark). Add or remove this class on your app’s root element to switch themes dynamically.
Can I use my brand’s exact colors in a Material theme?
Yes! Use mat.define-palette with your custom color values. Be sure to define at least the required shades (e.g., 500, 700, 900) and check for good contrast and accessibility.
Will custom themes break when I upgrade Angular Material?
If you rely on the official APIs, mixins, and structure, your theme should remain compatible. Avoid using deep overrides that rely on internal or private selectors, as these may break with updates.
How can I customize fonts in Angular Material?
When defining your theme, pass a custom typography configuration to mat.define-typography-config(). You can specify fonts, sizes, weights, and add additional headings or labels as needed.
What is the best way to preview all Material components with my custom theme?
Set up a dedicated style guide or theme preview page in your app that showcases every Material component in various states. This helps spot inconsistencies and ensures all elements look great with your theme.