Lingo's custom branding features let you create a polished, professional experience that reflects your brand identity.
As we covered in How Theming Works, you can customize branding at the Space, Portal, and Kit levels. Let's start by looking at some example use cases.
Example use cases
Multiple Brands
If your organization manages multiple, distinct brands, you can create separate Portals that match each brand's identity with custom colors, logos, and styling. Let's look at how you could implement this:
Space: Set your default Space theme to your primary organization brand. This becomes the baseline for your team when they log in to Lingo.
Portal: Create a Portal for each brand. Customize each Portal's header with brand-specific logos, colors, and background images. Add a custom description to communicate the Portal's purpose.
Kit: For Kits focused on a particular brand, override the theme settings to match that brand's styling—especially useful when sharing Kits across multiple Portals.
Why don't kits inherit the portal theme?
Kits can live in multiple portals or shared directly with no portal. Inheriting the portal theme could cause a kit to look different in different contexts.
Sharing with clients
Custom branding is valuable when agencies share work with clients. With Kit-level theming, you can customize individual Kits to match your client's brand—adjusting the theme style, accent color, fonts, and asset backgrounds.
For multi-Kit projects: Create a dedicated Portal for the client, add relevant Kits, and customize both the Portal header (with their logo and brand colors) and individual Kits to maintain consistent client branding throughout.
Team Portals
Internal teams may not need separate brand identities, but custom Portal headers still add value. Customize each team Portal with a descriptive header, team colors, or relevant background images. Add a Portal description to clarify the purpose — "Marketing Assets," "Product Documentation," "Sales Resources" — so team members immediately know they're in the right place.
What you can customize
Available at all levels (Space, Portal, Kit)
Choose a theme style Select from three built-in themes—Classic, Scher, or Wyman—each with its own visual style. Set a default at the Space level and override for specific Portals or Kits.
Accent color The accent color is used throughout Lingo for buttons, links, and highlights. This single color choice creates a cohesive branded experience across your content.
Typography Change the font across the app to match your brand style. If your brand font is not available in the provided list, contact support to set up a custom font.
Custom fonts are only available on the Enterprise plan.
Asset backgrounds Choose the color values for the light and dark asset backgrounds. These colors provide contrast to help your content stand out, for example you would put a white icon on a dark background so it is visble. You can also set custom colors on specific assets but having presets can help keep things consistent.
Note highlighting colors Customize the preset colors used for card backgrounds. These inlude Neutral (Gray), Info (Yellow), Warning (Red), and Success (green) states. These help communicate status and importance in your content. You can also set custom colors on specific content blocks but having presets can help keep things consistent.
Portal-specific options
Portal header customization
Title: Display the portal name, upload a custom logo (recommended 400px wide PNG), or show no title
Background: Use a solid color or upload a hero image to create visual impact
Description: Add custom text below the title with adjustable text color
Portal avatar Upload a logo that appears in the header throughout your Space. This becomes the default for all Portals unless overridden.
Space-specific options
Space avatar Upload a logo to override the Space avatar in the header for the Portal.
How inheritance works
Space theme (the foundation) Set your default branding once at the Space level. This becomes the baseline styling for all Portals and Kits in your Space. Think of it as your organization's default brand identity in Lingo.
Portal themes (override as needed) Portals inherit all Space theme settings by default. You can then override specific settings—like adding a custom header, changing colors, or uploading a logo—just for that Portal. Any settings you don't customize will continue to inherit from the Space theme.
Kit themes (selective overrides) Kits also inherit from the Space theme by default. You can override the theme style, accent color, fonts, and background colors for individual Kits when needed. Kit-specific styling follows the Kit wherever it's viewed—whether in a Portal, standalone, or in the desktop app.
Why it matters
For external sharing When partners, clients, or agencies access your Portals, they see your brand instead of a third-party interface. It looks more professional and trustworthy.
For internal teams A branded experience shows your team this is an official, supported tool—not just another random app.
For multiple audiences Create distinct looks for different groups. Your client Portal can look different from your press Portal or internal resources.
Best practices
For logos
Upload high-quality images (recommended 400px wide for Portal header logos)
Use PNG format with transparency for clean integration
Ensure your logo is legible at various sizes
Test visibility against different background colors
Keep file sizes reasonable (under 1MB) for fast loading
For colors
Accent color: Choose a primary brand color that provides good contrast for buttons and links
Header backgrounds: When using solid colors, ensure your title and description text remain readable
Asset backgrounds: Select light and dark colors that complement your content without overwhelming it
Note colors: Keep the default Info/Warning/Success colors unless your brand guidelines require specific colors
Test all color combinations for accessibility (aim for WCAG AA contrast standards)
For Portal headers
Background images: Use high-resolution images (at least 1200px wide) that look good at different screen sizes
Keep important content away from the edges where text might overlay
Choose images that won't make overlaid text hard to read, or use solid color backgrounds instead
Preview how your description text looks against the background
Before you finalize
Preview your branding on both desktop and mobile
Check how it looks when shared with external guests
Test with different user roles to ensure consistent experience
Review your Portal header appearance with different title options (name, logo, none)
Getting started
Set your Space theme Start by setting your default theme in Space Settings > Appearance. Choose your theme style, accent color, and fonts. This establishes the baseline look for your entire Space.
Customize Portals When editing a Portal, access the theme editor to customize the header, add a description, and override inherited styles as needed.
Brand individual Kits Open a Kit and access the theme editor to customize styling for that specific Kit—perfect for client-facing content or special projects.