I’d like to create components that have nested icons that allow for not just single color icons, but say I want to be able to swap for the multi-colored Google “G” or a photo element for a logged-in account status. How would I build that?

Hey Drew! Mind if I ask a question to get more context?
Are all of your multi-colored icons things like Google’s “G” logo, or an image? If so, I suspect that preserving color overrides isn’t necessary (correct me if I’m wrong though).
Or do you have two-tone or multi-hue icons (like these ones) that you also need to support?
Hi Alice! Sure thing — yep, that’s correct! I don’t need to preserve the color overrides.
Cool! Okay I think that makes things a lot easier for you.
Structure-wise you don’t need to sweat the layers at all. In fact, if your goal is to preserve logo-icons’ original colors, I would suggest purposefully deviating from the layer structure your regular icons use. Like this:
That way when you do make color overrides, they don’t transfer to your icon-logos. In the example below all the icons are white, but when placed in a ❖ Button
I override them to purple. But because ❖ Icon / Logo / Google
has a different layer structure, it’s protected from also receiving that purple override:
The only things I can think of that you’ll want to make sure are aligned between these things for consistency when swapping:
Let me know if this helps!
Gah! Huge help! Thank you so much. This makes perfect sense. Really appreciate you laying it out so clearly. 🙏🙏🙏
My pleasure, for real! Holler if you run into snags.
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