Introduction

Material Design 4 (often referred to as MD4 or material theming) brings a refreshed component library, dynamic color capabilities, and improved accessibility standards to modern apps. Flutter’s support for Material Design 4 allows developers to adopt the latest UI patterns with minimal friction. This tutorial walks you through enabling MD4 in your Flutter application, customizing color schemes, leveraging new components, and applying dynamic type.

Enabling Material Design 4 in Flutter

Before you start building with Material Design 4, confirm you’re on Flutter 3.7 or later. Then, update your pubspec.yaml:

environment:
  sdk: ">=2.17.0 <3.0.0"

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  flutter_material3

In your main.dart, enable Material 3 (the underlying API for MD4):

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() => runApp(const MyApp());

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'MD4 Demo',
      theme: ThemeData(
        useMaterial3: true,              // Enables Material Design 4
        colorSchemeSeed: Colors.teal,    // Seed color for dynamic theming
      ),
      home: const HomeScreen(),
    );
  }
}

Key points:

• useMaterial3: true turns on the material design 4 component library.

• colorSchemeSeed drives dynamic color generation, simplifying material theming.

Customizing Your Color Scheme

Material Design 4 embraces dynamic color generation, but you can also define a custom ColorScheme for full control:

final customScheme = ColorScheme(
  brightness: Brightness.light,
  primary: Colors.indigo,
  onPrimary: Colors.white,
  secondary: Colors.amber,
  onSecondary: Colors.black,
  error: Colors.red.shade700,
  onError: Colors.white,
  background: Colors.grey.shade50,
  onBackground: Colors.black,
  surface: Colors.white,
  onSurface: Colors.black,
);

Apply it in your theme:

theme: ThemeData(
  useMaterial3: true,
  colorScheme: customScheme,
  typography: Typography.material2021(), 
),

Tips for effective material theming:

• Maintain sufficient contrast (onPrimary vs. primary).

• Align accent colors (secondary) with your brand palette.

• Test dark mode by specifying brightness: Brightness.dark variants.

Implementing MD4 Components

Material Design 4 introduces refreshed widgets that adapt to your color scheme automatically. Let’s look at a few essentials:

ElevatedButton with new styling:

ElevatedButton(
  onPressed: () {},
  style: ElevatedButton.styleFrom(
    shape: RoundedRectangleBorder(
      borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(12),
    ),
    padding: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 24, vertical: 14),
  ),
  child: const Text('Continue'),
),

NavigationBar (replaces BottomNavigationBar):

NavigationBar(
  selectedIndex: 0,
  onDestinationSelected: (_) {},
  destinations: const [
    NavigationDestination(icon: Icon(Icons.home), label: 'Home'),
    NavigationDestination(icon: Icon(Icons.search), label: 'Search'),
    NavigationDestination(icon: Icon(Icons.person), label: 'Profile'),
  ],
),

Key changes in material design 4 widgets:

• Rounded corners are more pronounced by default.

• Component states (hover, focused) follow the Material 4 motion system.

• Colors auto-adapt to light/dark modes via your ColorScheme.

Dynamic Color and Typography

One of the standout features of material design 4 is dynamic color—Android 12+ devices can extract palette colors from the user’s wallpaper. Flutter’s colorSchemeSeed makes this easy:

MaterialApp(
  theme: ThemeData(useMaterial3: true, colorSchemeSeed: Colors.deepPurple),
  darkTheme: ThemeData(useMaterial3: true, colorSchemeSeed: Colors.deepPurple, brightness: Brightness.dark),
  themeMode: ThemeMode.system,
  home: const HomeScreen(),
);

For typography, MD4 encourages using updated type scales:

• BodyLarge, BodyMedium, BodySmall

• DisplayLarge to DisplaySmall

• TitleLarge to TitleSmall

Customize typography:

final customTextTheme = Typography.material2021().copyWith(
  bodyLarge: const TextStyle(fontSize: 18, fontWeight: FontWeight.w400),
  titleMedium: const TextStyle(fontSize: 20, fontWeight: FontWeight.w500),
);
ThemeData(useMaterial3: true, textTheme: customTextTheme);

Best practices:

• Use system fonts for performance and consistency.

• Scale typography in dark mode for readability.

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Conclusion

Upgrading your Flutter app to Material Design 4 modernizes the look and feel, boosts accessibility, and streamlines theming. By toggling useMaterial3, defining a robust ColorScheme, leveraging updated MD4 widgets, and harnessing dynamic color and typography, you’ll deliver a polished user experience that aligns with Google’s latest design guidelines.

Whether you’re a solo developer or leading an agile team, Vibe Studio can accelerate your material design 4 journey. Its no-code conversational interface and Firebase integration mean you’ll spend less time wiring up boilerplate and more time refining your UI. Embrace material design 4 today and deliver slick, adaptive experiences that stand out.