Since the roll out of the “Modern” SharePoint interface, the only way to brand a site was through the site of custom scripts that needed to be applied at a global level to be utilized by the site owner on their site. Now, we have a way to bring the traditional theming capabilities right into the user interface at a site level. Let’s take a quick look.
How to access the site brand center
Access the new site branding center by selecting the gear (settings) icon in the upper right corner. The select Site branding from the dropdown.
You will be brought to the site branding page. There are a few options that you can take:
- Create a new theme
- Add a Font package
- Copy from another site
If you ever made the JSON-based variables for the site script using the theme generator, this should look pretty familiar. It is the same theme generator that had existed before.
As you make adjustments to the items in the left column, you will see them update in the view on the right. This will help you better understand where the colors are being applied in the interface.
Once you finish creating your theme, you can select it from the options to apply it to your site. You can make multiple themes.
Applying the theme
Now that you have created a theme, you have to go to Settings > Change the Look to actually apply it. Not the greatest having to go to a different place then where you make it, but that is the way it was developed.
Select your new theme from the Theme list. It will show you in the preview and you can choose to save and apply the theme. Your company-approved themes will also show in the list for you.
Fonts
In order to upload new fonts, your company admin must enable you add fonts at a site level. This is often discouraged, especially in enterprise organizations that may use multiple fonts or multilingual environments where a single custom font may not work for a particular language.
While you may or may not be able to add in your own custom fonts, Microsoft has now introduced many new out-of-the-box fonts that you can apply in your site. The days of only using Segoe UI are gone (finally).
You can select any of the out-of-the-box font options through the change the look option
Select an option that you like and apply
That’s a wrap
Branding a site is a great way to help relay an on-brand message for your users, bring additional personality, and build community around your content. When done with thought and responsibly, you can use this super power to create an amazing and accessible site for your users.