Material Symbols Icons for Flutter: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction

With the continuous evolution of Flutter and the demand for visually appealing, high-quality icons in mobile applications, integrating Google’s Material Symbols Icons into your Flutter project has become a must-have for developers. The material_symbols_icons package by hiveright.tech offers a seamless way to incorporate these icons into your Flutter applications, providing a wide range of options for customization and compatibility with future Flutter updates.

Why Material Symbols Icons?

• Official Version: Utilizes the official Material Symbols Icons variable fonts version 2.719 released on 02/01/2024, boasting 3479 icons.
• Interactive Icon Map: Offers a complete interactive icon map for easy exploration and selection of icons.
• Full Variation Support: Includes full variation support and automatic code generation for updating icon definition files.
• Future Compatibility: Designed to be completely compatible with the future Flutter ‘native’ implementation of Material Symbols Icons support.

Live Example:

Check out a live flutter web example of the package here to test icon availability and experiment with different style variations.

Installation

To integrate Material Symbols Icons into your Flutter project, add the material_symbols_icons package to your pubspec.yaml file:

dependencies:
 material_symbols_icons: ^latest_version

Run flutter pub get to fetch the package.

Basic Usage

To use an icon, import the package and reference the icon using the Symbols class:

import 'package:material_symbols_icons/symbols.dart';

final myIcon = Icon(Symbols.add_task);

Exploring Icon Variations

Material Symbols Icons come in three main styles: Outlined, Rounded, and Sharp. Each style offers a unique visual appeal, allowing developers to choose the best fit for their app’s design:

final myRoundedIcon = Icon(Symbols.add_task_rounded);
final mySharpIcon = Icon(Symbols.add_task_sharp);

Customizing Icons

The package allows for extensive customization of icons using the weight, grade, and fill axes. For example, to create a bold, emphasized icon with a solid fill, you could use:

final myCustomizedIcon = Icon(
 Symbols.settings,
 fill: 1,
 weight: 700,
 grade: 0.25,
 opticalSize: 48,
);

Setting Default Icon Variations

For a consistent look across your app, you can set default icon variations using MaterialSymbolsBase.setOutlinedVariationDefaults, MaterialSymbolsBase.setRoundedVariationDefaults, and MaterialSymbolsBase.setSharpVariationDefaults. This ensures that all icons in your app follow a uniform style:

MaterialSymbolsBase.setOutlinedVariationDefaults(
 color: Colors.red,
 fill: 1,
 weight: 300,
 grade: 0,
 opticalSize: 40.0,
);

Conclusion

Material Symbols Icons offer a powerful, customizable solution for developers looking to enhance their Flutter apps with high-quality, modern icons. By leveraging the material_symbols_icons package, you can easily incorporate these icons into your projects, ensuring a visually appealing and intuitive user experience.

Whether you’re building a new app from scratch or looking to refresh an existing one, Material Symbols Icons provide the tools and flexibility needed to create a stunning and functional interface. Start exploring the wide range of icons and customization options available and elevate your app’s design today.