material-symbols-v3

Material Symbols v3

Material Design 3 icon system using variable fonts. This project uses Material Symbols Outlined loaded from Google Fonts CDN.

Related Skills

ux-iconography : UX patterns for icon usage, accessibility, and animations
ux-accessibility : ARIA requirements for icon-only buttons
utopia-fluid-scales : Type scale tokens for fluid icon sizing

Project Setup

Location: css/styles/icons.css

@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Material+Symbols+Outlined:opsz,wght,FILL,GRAD@20..48,100..700,0..1,-50..200&display=swap');

Self-Hosting (Offline)

For offline/production without CDN:

Download from fonts.google.com/icons
Place in /fonts/material-symbols-outlined.woff2
Replace CDN import:

@font-face { font-family: 'Material Symbols Outlined'; src: url('/fonts/material-symbols-outlined.woff2') format('woff2'); font-weight: 100 700; font-style: normal; }

Basic Usage

home settings favorite

Use the icon name from Material Symbols as text content.

Icon Sizes

Class Size Optical Size Use Case

.icon--sm

20px 20 Dense UI, inline text

.icon--md

24px 24 Default, buttons

.icon--lg

40px 40 Emphasis, headers

.icon--xl

48px 48 Hero sections

info info info info

Fluid Sizing with Utopia

For icons that scale with typography:

.icon-fluid { font-size: var(--step-1); --icon-optical-size: 24; }

Variable Font Axes

Material Symbols is a variable font with 4 axes:

Axis Range Default Purpose

FILL

0–1 0 Outlined (0) vs filled (1)

wght

100–700 400 Stroke weight

GRAD

-25–200 0 Fine thickness adjustment

opsz

20–48 24 Optical size optimization

Fill Styles

favorite  favorite

Weight Variants

home  home  home  home  home

Grade Variants

home  home  home

Custom Variation

.custom-icon { --icon-fill: 1; --icon-weight: 600; --icon-grade: 0; --icon-optical-size: 24; }

Icon Colors

Semantic Colors

check_circle info block

Inherit from Parent

.icon { color: inherit; /* Default behavior */ }

.btn-primary .icon { color: var(--theme-on-primary); }

State Colors

.icon-success { color: var(--color-success); } .icon-error { color: var(--color-error); } .icon-warning { color: var(--color-warning); }

Interactive Icons

settings

.icon--interactive { cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.2s ease, transform 0.2s ease; }

.icon--interactive:hover { color: var(--icon-color-primary); transform: scale(1.1); }

.icon--interactive:active { transform: scale(0.95); }

Button Patterns

Icon + Text Button

.btn { display: inline-flex; align-items: center; gap: var(--space-xs); }

Icon-Only Button

<button class="btn-icon" aria-label="Settings"> settings </button>

.btn-icon { display: inline-flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; min-width: var(--min-touch-target); min-height: var(--min-touch-target); padding: var(--space-xs); }

Trailing Icon

<button class="btn"> Next arrow_forward </button>

Accessibility

Decorative Icons (with visible label)

Meaningful Icons (icon-only)

<button aria-label="Close dialog"> close </button>

Screen Reader Text

<button class="btn-icon"> delete Delete item </button>

High Contrast Mode

@media (forced-colors: active) { .icon { forced-color-adjust: auto; } }

Common Icons Reference

Navigation

Icon Name Usage

home home

Home/main

menu menu

Hamburger menu

arrow_back arrow_back

Back navigation

arrow_forward arrow_forward

Forward/next

close close

Close/dismiss

Actions

Icon Name Usage

add add

Create new

edit edit

Edit/modify

delete delete

Remove

save save

Save

search search

Status

Icon Name Usage

check_circle check_circle

Success/complete

error error

Error state

warning warning

Warning

info info

Information

help help

Help

Media

Icon Name Usage

play_arrow play_arrow

Play

pause pause

Pause

volume_up volume_up

Sound on

volume_off volume_off

Sound off

Settings

Icon Name Usage

settings settings

Settings

tune tune

Adjustments

brightness_6 brightness_6

Theme toggle

lock lock

Locked/secure

Browse all icons: fonts.google.com/icons

Animation

With Anime.js

import { animate } from 'animejs';

// Wiggle animate(iconEl, { rotate: [0, -10, 10, -10, 10, 0], duration: 300, ease: 'easeOutQuad' });

// Bounce animate(iconEl, { scale: [1, 1.2, 1], duration: 200, ease: 'easeOutBack' });

CSS Transitions

.icon { transition: transform 0.15s ease; }

.btn:hover .icon { transform: scale(1.1); }

.btn:active .icon { transform: scale(0.95); }

Web Component Wrapper

class MIcon extends HTMLElement { static observedAttributes = ['name', 'size', 'filled'];

connectedCallback() { this.render(); }

attributeChangedCallback() { this.render(); }

render() { const name = this.getAttribute('name') || 'help'; const size = this.getAttribute('size') || 'md'; const filled = this.hasAttribute('filled');

this.innerHTML = `&#x3C;span class="icon icon--${size}${filled ? ' icon--filled' : ''}" aria-hidden="true">${name}&#x3C;/span>`;

} }

customElements.define('m-icon', MIcon);

Usage:

<m-icon name="home"></m-icon> <m-icon name="favorite" filled size="lg"></m-icon>

CSS Custom Properties

:root { /* Font */ --icon-font: 'Material Symbols Outlined';

/* Sizes */ --icon-size-sm: 20px; --icon-size-md: 24px; --icon-size-lg: 40px; --icon-size-xl: 48px;

/* Variable font axes */ --icon-fill: 0; --icon-weight: 400; --icon-grade: 0; --icon-optical-size: 24;

/* Colors */ --icon-color: var(--color-on-surface); --icon-color-primary: var(--color-primary); --icon-color-secondary: var(--color-on-surface-variant); --icon-color-disabled: var(--color-outline); }

Migration from Emoji

Replace emoji icons with Material Symbols:

Old (Emoji) New (Material Symbol)

📖

menu_book

⚙️

settings

🏠

home

⭐

star

🔒

lock

🔊

volume_up

🔇

volume_off

✓

check

Files

css/styles/icons.css
Icon system styles and CSS custom properties

material-symbols-v3

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Related Skills

animejs-v4

webgpu-canvas

web-components-architecture

audio-design