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Create a theme

You can create custom themes to match your organization's branding guidelines or to better fit the tone of your content. A theme you create is stored as a StoryMap theme item in ArcGIS so it can be applied to different pieces of content you or others create with ArcGIS StoryMaps.

Create a theme from scratch

Use the following steps to create a theme:

  1. Sign in to ArcGIS StoryMaps.

  2. On the ArcGIS StoryMaps content page, click Create, and click Theme to create a new StoryMap Theme item and launch the theme builder.

    The theme builder displays a panel with starting options and a sample story that shows a preview of your theme configuration choices.

    Tip:

    You can also create a theme from the ArcGIS StoryMaps builders. Click the Design button in the header, and click the Create new theme button in the design panel.

  3. In the Choose a starting point panel, click the cards to preview each option, including the following:

    • Shared theme—Import your organization's shared theme settings for body background, body text color, button text color, header background color, header text color, link color, logo, and logo link. The shared theme button background color will also be used to set your new theme's accent color. This option will only appear if an administrator has configured a shared theme.

    • Generate theme—Use AI to generate a theme. This option will only appear if AI features are enabled in your organization. For more information, see Use AI to generate a theme.

    • Choose a standard theme—The standard themes are the themes that are included with ArcGIS StoryMaps. Their properties are documented in the theme reference.

  4. Click Select below the option you want to use as the starting point for your custom theme.

    After you choose a starting point, the panel will display theme configuration options.

  5. Give your theme a title by replacing the Untitled theme text at the top of the panel.

  6. Adjust any of the configuration properties as needed.

    For more detail about available configuration options, see Theme properties.

    As you build a theme, you can preview how the theme will be applied to stories, briefings, frames, and collections by viewing the sample items in the large panel. To change to a different sample item, use the menu in the lower corner of the large panel.

  7. Click Publish to begin the publishing process.

    Note:

    Themes follow the same publishing workflows as other items created with ArcGIS StoryMaps.

Generate a theme

Complete the following steps to generate a theme using the ArcGIS StoryMaps assistant (preview):

  1. Follow steps 1 and 2, above.

  2. Click the Generate theme card from the Choose a starting point options.

  3. Type a phrase or set of keywords to describe the theme you want to create in the Describe your theme text box.

  4. Optionally, click Add image to upload a photograph, logo, or other image that contains colors, fonts, and stylistic elements you want to incorporate into the generated theme.

  5. Click Generate.

    A theme is generated with suitable colors, fonts, basemap, and block styles to match the description provided.

  6. Click Regenerate to get other suggestions, or click Save and edit to accept the suggestion and continue editing the theme.

For more information, see AI in ArcGIS StoryMaps.

Preview a theme

As you make changes to theme properties, you can preview how they are applied to ArcGIS StoryMaps content items in the preview panel. You can choose to preview the theme on a story, briefing, frame, or collection.

Note:

You may need to choose a different item type or navigate to a different section of the sample item to observe changes to a specific theme element.

Related topics

Additional resources