# Themes, branding sets and LWR styling

*Experience Cloud Consultant Study Guide · Templates and Themes · Last updated October 24, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/templates-and-themes/themes-branding-sets-and-lwr-styling*

How Aura sites are styled with prebuilt themes, the Theme panel and audience-assigned branding sets, what switching or resetting a theme keeps and deletes, and how LWR sites are styled instead with color palettes, styling hooks and head markup.

- Certification: Salesforce Experience Cloud Consultant
- Exam section: Templates and Themes
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant

**Official exam objective:**

> Given a scenario, select the appropriate theme for an Experience.

## What the exam expects

- Choose a theme change, an audience-assigned branding set, audience targeting or custom CSS for an Aura styling requirement.
- Predict what switching themes keeps, what Experience Builder remembers, and what Reset or Replace and start fresh deletes.
- Explain what a branding set can't change (layout, and the header and hero areas of a prebuilt theme).
- Build a color scheme from a logo with Generate Palette from Image instead of guessing hex values.
- Style an LWR site without branding sets or the CSS editor: color palettes, --dxp styling hooks and head markup.

Key terms: **theme** (layouts plus styles such as colors, fonts and images; independent of content); **prebuilt theme** (a ready-made Aura theme styled with clicks in the Theme panel); **branding set** (a bundle of colors, images and fonts that can be assigned to an audience); **theme settings** (options unique to the active theme, such as showing the hero); **color palette** (an LWR set of colors applied to a Section or Columns component); **--dxp styling hooks** (CSS custom properties that LWR Theme panel properties map to).

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Prebuilt themes | Aura sites only | [Prebuilt Experience Builder Themes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=community_designer_brand.htm) |
| Switching themes | Content preserved; earlier theme's customizations return on reactivation | [Change the Theme of Your Experience Builder Site](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=experience.community_builder_theme_change.htm&type=5) |
| Reset or Replace and start fresh | Deletes branding sets, theme settings, regions, layouts and CSS overrides; not retrievable | [Change the Theme of Your Experience Builder Site](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=experience.community_builder_theme_change.htm&type=5) |
| Branding set scope | Colors, images and fonts only | [Use Branding Sets in Experience Builder](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=community_designer_brandsets.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Branding set with prebuilt theme | Doesn't affect the header and hero areas | [Use Branding Sets in Experience Builder](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=community_designer_brandsets.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Branding set audiences | No record-based criteria; default assignment can't be edited | [Assign an Audience to a Branding Set](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=experience.networks_audiences_branding_sets.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Aura CSS overrides | Belong to the active theme; use sparingly | [Use Branding Sets in Experience Builder](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=community_designer_brandsets.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| LWR Theme panel | No branding sets, theme settings or CSS editor | [LWR Template Limitations](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.exp_cloud_lwr.meta/exp_cloud_lwr/template_limitations.htm) |

## Check yourself

- Why does a branding set not solve a request for a different home page arrangement?
- When does a theme's earlier customization come back?
- Which Theme panel feature builds a color scheme from the company logo?
- Why can't an LWR site use the Aura habit of pasting styles into the Theme panel?

## Sources

- [Use Branding Sets in Experience Builder](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=community_designer_brandsets.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Prebuilt Experience Builder Themes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=community_designer_brand.htm)
- [Add Style to Your Experience Builder Site with Themes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.community_builder_theme_understanding.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Change the Theme of Your Experience Builder Site](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=experience.community_builder_theme_change.htm&type=5)
- [Assign an Audience to a Branding Set](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=experience.networks_audiences_branding_sets.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [LWR Template Limitations](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.exp_cloud_lwr.meta/exp_cloud_lwr/template_limitations.htm)
- [Brand Your LWR Site](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.exp_cloud_lwr.meta/exp_cloud_lwr/brand.htm)
- [Create a Color Palette for Page Sections and Columns](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.exp_cloud_lwr.meta/exp_cloud_lwr/brand_section.htm)
- [Override Component Branding in LWR Sites with Custom CSS](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.exp_cloud_lwr.meta/exp_cloud_lwr/brand_target_css.htm)
- [Enable --dxp Styling Hooks](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.exp_cloud_lwr.meta/exp_cloud_lwr/brand_start_using.htm)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 8 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Experience Cloud Consultant pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams