Sharepoint Branding - How to Create Custom Theme in Sharepoint 2013

In this article you will learn how to create custom theme using Out of Box feature in Sharepoint 2013. For Custom Theme in Sharepoint 2013,we need to customize following files: 

•  Master Page (.master)
•  Fonts (.spfont)
•  Colors (.spcolor)  

 Look at following steps
 
 Step 1
 
 Go to Site Settings -> Web Designer Galleries -> Composed Looks

Step 2
 
 When you click on "new item" in Composed Looks list then one blank form will open with following fields : 



Title: This field is for Title of Custom Theme, you can mention whatever title you want in that field.
 
 Name: This field is for Name of Custom Theme ,you can mention whatever name you want in that field.
 
 Master Page URL: This field is for Custom Master Page , you have to mention the path of master page in that field.
 
 How to create custom master page ?
 
 Step 3
 
 Go to Site Settings -> Web Designer Galleries -> Master pages and page layouts



Layouts
 
 When you click on "Master pages and page layouts", Master Page Gallery will open and you can download a copy of any existing master page either seattle.master or oslo.master. In this article seattle.master used for creating custom master page.



Save it to your local machine and rename it whatever name you want , In this article we renamed it dummy.master.
 
 Step 4
 
 Upload dummy.master in Master Page Gallery and Publish a Major Version.

You have to download (.preview ) file of master page, rename it to whatever name you want , but similar to your .master file and upload in Master Page Gallery then publish it in a same manner like as (.master ) file.

Why we need of (.preview) file?

A master page preview is used to render a preview image of the selected theme components. Each master page must have a corresponding master page preview file for the master page to be available in the theming experience.

If there is no (.preview) file of relevant (.master) page in Master Page Gallery then render Image/Thumbnail of Master Page is not display in Change the Look section.

How to get Custom Master Page URL?

Step 4

After publishing the Custom Master Page in Master Page Gallery, select that master page and click on View properties to get the path where master page stored.

When you click on view properties, all relevant properties will show of that master page.
 
 Step 5
 
After that,hover on Name property of that master page and you will get the URL at the bottom left of web browser where custom master page stored.

Paste that relative path in Master Page URL field.

Theme URL: This field is for Custom Color Palette file (.spcolor extension file) , you have to mention the path of color palette file in that field.

Go to Site Settings -> Web Designer Galleries -> Themes

When you click on "Themes", Theme Gallery will open and one folder is there with name 15 that contains Fonts and Color Palette files of existing themes.


Click on that folder for creating custom Color Palette file. 

Step 6

Follow same procedure for Color Palette and Fonts file also, Download a Copy -> Save it to your local machine -> Rename it -> Upload renamed file in Theme Gallery where all existing Themes file are stored -> Publish a Major Version.

After doing that , you can paste all relevant fields data in New Theme Creation Form.

Step 7
 
 After doing all this, Go to Site Settings -> Look and Feel -> Change the look and select the theme.