Typography
Notice: Much of this component, with exception of the UIFont and UIFontDescriptor APIs, will soon be deprecated. Please consider using the schemes/Typography component and the Material Theming APIs instead.
The Typography component provides methods for displaying text using the type sizes and opacities from the Material Design specifications.
Design & API Documentation
Installation
Installation with CocoaPods
To add this component to your Xcode project using CocoaPods, add the following to your Podfile:
pod 'MaterialComponents/Typography'
Then, run the following command:
pod install
Usage
Importing
Before using Typography, you'll need to import it:
Swift
import MaterialComponents.MaterialTypography
Objective-C
#import "MaterialTypography.h"
Font
Select a font most appropriate to its usage and set it as your label's font. All fonts are returned from class methods beginning with the font's Material Design type style and ending with 'Font'. Material Typography should be used consistently throughout the entire UI.
Opacity
Each font has a respective opacity (alpha) value returned by class methods beginning with the font's Material Design type style and ending with 'FontOpacity'. These CGFloats should be set on the label's alpha property. If animating alpha, it should be the maximum value reached.
Type Sizes and Opacities
MDCTypography provides a UIFont font and a CGFloat opacity for each of the standard type
settings in the Material Design specifications.
Material Design type styles and their respective MDCTypography methods
| Material Design Type | MDCTypography Font | MDCTypography Opacity |
|---|---|---|
| Display 4 | display4Font | display4FontOpacity |
| Display 3 | display3Font | display3FontOpacity |
| Display 2 | display2Font | display2FontOpacity |
| Display 1 | display1Font | display1FontOpacity |
| Headline | headlineFont | headlineFontOpacity |
| Subheading | subheadFont | subheadFontOpacity |
| Body 2 | body2Font | body2FontOpacity |
| Body 1 | body1Font | body1FontOpacity |
| Caption | captionFont | captionFontOpacity |
| Button | buttonFont | buttonFontOpacity |
Font size reference
Font opacity reference
Examples
Create a Title Label
Swift
let label = UILabel()
label.text = "This is a title"
label.font = MDCTypography.titleFont()
label.alpha = MDCTypography.titleFontOpacity()
// If using autolayout, the following line is unnecessary as long
// as all constraints are valid.
label.sizeToFit()
self.view.addSubview(label)
Objective C
UILabel *label = [[UILabel alloc] init];
label.text = @"This is a title";
label.font = [MDCTypography titleFont];
label.alpha = [MDCTypography titleFontOpacity];
// If using autolayout, the following line is unnecessary as long
// as all constraints are valid.
[label sizeToFit];
[self.view addSubview:label];
Create a Display 1 Label
Swift
let label = UILabel()
label.text = "Display 1"
label.font = MDCTypography.display1Font()
label.alpha = MDCTypography.display1FontOpacity()
// If using autolayout, the following line is unnecessary as long
// as all constraints are valid.
label.sizeToFit()
self.view.addSubview(label)
Objective
UILabel *label = [[UILabel alloc] init];
label.text = @"Display 1";
label.font = [MDCTypography display1Font];
label.alpha = [MDCTypography display1FontOpacity];
// If using autolayout, the following line is unnecessary as long
// as all constraints are valid.
[label sizeToFit];
[self.view addSubview:label];
Set an Existing Label as a Caption Label
Swift
label.font = MDCTypography.captionFont()
label.alpha = MDCTypography.captionFontOpacity()
// If using autolayout, the following line is unnecessary as long
// as all constraints are valid.
label.sizeToFit()
Objective C
self.label.font = [MDCTypography captionFont];
self.label.alpha = [MDCTypography captionFontOpacity];
// If using autolayout, the following line is unnecessary as long
// as all constraints are valid.
[self.label sizeToFit];
Advanced Usage
Custom Fonts
Material Components for iOS allows you to set your own font for all of the components. Use the class
method setFontLoader: on MDCTypography to specify a loader that conforms to the
MDCTypographyFontLoading protocol.
If you want to use the system font use MDCSystemFontLoader which already conforms to the
MDCTypographyFontLoading protocol. It is used if no font loader is set.
Swift
class CustomFontLoader: NSObject, MDCTypographyFontLoading {
func regularFont(ofSize fontSize: CGFloat) -> UIFont {
// Consider using MDFFontDiskLoader to register your font.
return UIFont.init(name: "yourCustomRegularFont", size: fontSize)!
}
func mediumFont(ofSize fontSize: CGFloat) -> UIFont {
// Consider using MDFFontDiskLoader to register your font.
return UIFont.init(name: "yourCustomMediumFont", size: fontSize)!
}
func lightFont(ofSize fontSize: CGFloat) -> UIFont {
// Consider using MDFFontDiskLoader to register your font.
return UIFont.init(name: "yourCustomLightFont", size: fontSize)!
}
}
...
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
// Before any UI is called
MDCTypography.setFontLoader(CustomFontLoader())
}
Objective-C
@interface CustomFontLoader : NSObject <MDCTypographyFontLoading>
@end
@implementation CustomFontLoader
- (UIFont *)regularFontOfSize:(CGFloat)fontSize {
// Consider using MDFFontDiskLoader to register your font.
return [UIFont fontWithName:@"yourCustomRegularFont" size:fontSize];
}
- (UIFont *)mediumFontOfSize:(CGFloat)fontSize {
// Consider using MDFFontDiskLoader to register your font.
return [UIFont fontWithName:@"yourCustomMediumFont" size:fontSize];
}
- (UIFont *)lightFontOfSize:(CGFloat)fontSize {
// Consider using MDFFontDiskLoader to register your font.
return [UIFont fontWithName:@"yourCustomLightFont" size:fontSize];
}
@end
...
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application
didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {
// Before any UI is called
[MDCTypography setFontLoader:[[CustomFontLoader alloc] init]];
}
Dynamic Type
Material Components for iOS supports the iOS Dynamic Type feature on all Material-supported iOS versions.
Overview
Typography library provides APIs that allow users to support Dynamic Type feature in Material Components.
To support Dynamic Type in your component, you need to set up text styles represented by MDCFontTextStyle on text, such as MDCFontTextStyleBody1 or MDCFontTextStyleTitle. These text styles describe how text size should be adjusted when Dynamic Type setting changes. Next, enable mdc_adjustsFontForContentSizeCategory on components that have Dynamic Type support. This setting tells the component to adjust the text size based on user setting.
Configure Text Styles
Users configure text styles in source code. First, you call the scalerForMaterialTextStyle: method. This method returns an MDCFontScalar object for a given MDCFontTextStyle. Next, use the MDCFontScalar object to scale a UIFont by calling scaledFontWithFont: method. This method scales the font based on Dynamic Type setting provided by the user. This method also supports both system fonts and custom fonts.
Objective-C
UIFont *customFont = [UIFont fontWithName:@"CustomFontName" size:18.0];
MDCFontScaler *fontScaler = [MDCFontScaler scalerForMaterialTextStyle:MDCTextStyleBody1];
UIFont *customScalableFont = [fontScaler scaledFontWithFont:customFont];
label.font = customScalingFont;
Swift
let customFont = UIFont(name: "CustomFontName", size: 18.0)!
let fontScaler = MDCFontScaler(forMaterialTextStyle:.body1);
let customScalableFont = fontScaler.scaledFont(with:customFont);
label.font = customScalingFont;
The text control doesn't adjust the font size automatically when the user adjust Dynamic Type setting. To detech such adjustments, you can listen to UIContentSizeCategoryDidChangeNotification and update the font by calling mdc_scaledFontForCurrentSizeCategory method when the notification arrives.
Configure Dynamic Type in Material Components
In your source code, set mdc_adjustsFontForContentSizeCategory to YES on components that have Dynamic Type support. When the user makes Dynamic Type changes in Settings, components will respond automatically.
Fallback behavior to handle legacy Dynamic Type behavior in Material Components
If adjustsFontForContentSizeCategoryWhenScaledFontIsUnavailable is set to YES, the font size will adjust even if a scalable font has not been provided for a given UIFont property on this component. It needs to be set before mdc_adjustsFontForContentSizeCategory is configured to let the component know whether the fallback behavior should be applied.


