Maintain Your Platform User Experience Designer Certification for Summer ’26

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

Describe how to enable dark mode for Lightning Design System 2 themes in Lightning Experience.
Explain how brand color palettes support consistent data visualizations across reports and dashboards.
Identify accessibility updates that improve the experience for users who magnify their screens.
Describe the new admin-controlled mobile home page experience in the Salesforce mobile app.
Explain how actionable push notifications allow users to complete tasks without opening the Salesforce app.
List four Flow Builder user interface improvements.
Describe how custom Lightning web components expand design possibilities in Lightning dashboards.
Recognize key additional updates relevant to Platform User Experience Designers.

Stay Current with Your Certification

Salesforce certifications hold the most value when you keep them relevant. To keep your Platform User Experience Designer certification current, complete this badge by the due date.

Interested in learning more about getting certified? Check out the Platform User Experience Designer certification.

While anyone can earn this badge, it is designed for those who hold the Platform User Experience Designer certification.

As part of the Salesforce Certification Program, you agree to the terms of the Salesforce Certification Program Agreement. Review the exam policies in the agreement and the Salesforce Certification Program Agreement and Code of Conduct article before you continue.

Platform User Experience Designer Certification Overview

As a Salesforce Certified Platform User Experience Designer, you design solutions on the Salesforce Platform using core user experience concepts and human-centered design principles.

Certified Platform User Experience Designers deliver value when they:

Design intuitive, accessible experiences using Salesforce Platform tools and features.
Apply human-centered design methods to understand customer needs and requirements.
Build and deliver solutions that align with Salesforce design standards.

In this badge, we highlight key updates that you need to know for Summer ’26 to keep your certification current and your skills sharp.

Enable Dark Mode for Lightning Experience

Salesforce Lightning Design System 2 (SLDS 2) is the updated design system that powers modern theming in Lightning Experience. It is the foundation for dark mode and the new theming infrastructure.

Dark mode is now available in Performance and Unlimited editions for orgs that use Lightning Design System 2 themes. When enabled, dark mode displays light-colored text and visual elements on a dark background. This reduces eye strain in low-light conditions and gives users more control over how Salesforce appears on their screen.

Enable Dark Mode in Your Org

Administrators enable dark mode in Setup under Themes and Branding. Create a new theme or edit an existing Lightning Design System 2 theme, then select Let users enable dark mode in the Dark Mode section. After saving and activating the theme, each user can select their preferred appearance from their profile menu.

Design for Both Light and Dark Contexts

As a designer, once dark mode is enabled in your org, you need to review your color palettes, contrast ratios, and brand identity to ensure they work in both light and dark contexts. You can also upload a dark-mode version of your company logo in the theme settings.

Dark mode is not yet fully supported in all areas of Salesforce, including Analytics, Reports and Dashboards, Experience Builder, App Builder, and Setup.

Apply Brand Colors Across Reports and Dashboards

It can be time-consuming to maintain consistent branding across reports and dashboards when each chart requires individual updates. Salesforce now lets administrators configure a brand color palette once and apply it across the entire organization. Brand color palettes are configured in Setup under Themes and Branding. Once a theme with a brand color is activated, the palette is available to anyone building reports and dashboards.

Apply Your Brand Palette

To apply your brand color palette:

In a report, select Brand in the report chart properties.
In a dashboard, select Brand in the dashboard properties.

This ensures that data visualizations stay accurate and consistent with your organization’s brand without requiring manual updates to individual reports or dashboards.

Brand color palettes are available in Lightning Experience in Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited editions.

Improve Accessibility for High-Magnification Users

Salesforce is introducing three release updates to improve the experience for users who magnify their screens. These updates bring Salesforce in line with two specific Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA standards.

Resize Text (1.4.4): Content remains fully functional when text is resized up to 200% without assistive technology.
Reflow (1.4.10): Content adapts to fit the screen without requiring horizontal scrolling at 400% zoom on a standard 1280-pixel viewport.

Review the Three Release Updates

Update	Release	Components Affected	Zoom Level
1	Summer ’26 (automatic)	Page headers and modal windows	200%+
2	Summer ’26 (automatic)	Date pickers, popovers, utility bars, and record headers	400%
3	Winter ’27	Cards, docked containers, menu lists, and panels	400%

Updates 1 and 2 are now automatically applied with the Summer ’26 upgrade. Update 3 must be enabled manually. Update 1 must be enabled before Update 3.

Test Your Custom Components

Custom components built with deprecated user interface elements may display layout issues at high zoom levels after these updates are applied. Before Update 3 is enforced, test your custom components in a sandbox at both 200% and 400% zoom.

Configure the Mobile App Home Page

The Salesforce mobile app now includes a new home page experience that gives administrators full control over the layout. Previously, individual users could customize their own home page. Now, administrators configure the layout centrally through the Mobile Home Builder, ensuring all users see the most relevant information when they open the app.

Select Your Cards

Administrators can add and arrange the following cards on the mobile home page.

Pinned Reports
Recents
Favorites
My Calendar
Tasks

Give Users Flexibility

By default, administrators set the layout for all users. If you want to allow users to personalize their own view, enable the Allow users to customize their Salesforce Mobile App home page toggle in Setup.

The customizable mobile home page is a beta feature. It is available in all editions of the Salesforce mobile app.

Design for Actions Outside the App

Actionable push notifications allow users to complete tasks directly from their phone's notification center or lock screen, without opening the Salesforce app. This is now generally available.

When a notification arrives, users can respond to it immediately with a single tap. For example, a user can:

Accept a lead.
Approve a discount.
Snooze a task for later.

As a designer, this changes how you think about task completion. Not every interaction happens inside the app. Consider which actions in your workflows are time-sensitive and simple enough to complete from a notification, and work with your development team to surface them there.

Design Better Screen Flows with Flow Builder Updates

Flow Builder includes several user interface updates that give designers more control over the appearance and behavior of screen flows.

Add Radio Button Groups

A new Radio Button Group component is now available in screen flows. You can arrange options horizontally or vertically depending on your layout needs. This gives users a clearer, more structured way to make selections compared to a standard dropdown.

Reduce Visual Clutter on the Canvas

Fault paths can now be collapsed on the Flow Builder canvas. This reduces visual noise when you are working on complex flows and helps you focus on the primary flow path.

Customize Screen Flow Components

Salesforce expanded the styling options available for screen flow components, so designers have more flexibility to match the look and feel of their organization’s brand. You can also add static resource images to Display Text elements, making it easier to include visual context directly in a flow screen.

Review Errors More Efficiently

The validation panel has been redesigned with a card-based layout. Errors are now organized by card, making it easier to identify and fix issues without scrolling through a flat list.

Embed Custom Components in Lightning Dashboards

Custom Lightning web components (LWCs) can now be embedded directly in Lightning dashboards. This is now generally available.

Standard dashboard components cover most common data visualization needs. Custom LWCs extend what is possible; developers can now build interactive, real-time views that go beyond standard capabilities. For example, you can add a waterfall chart, which is not available as a standard dashboard component.

As a designer, this opens new possibilities for how you present data to stakeholders. Work with your development team to identify use cases where a custom component would add value that a standard component cannot provide.

You can add one custom Lightning web component per dashboard. The component data is displayed based on the permissions of the logged-in user.

Explore Additional Updates for Platform User Experience Designers

Summer ’26 includes several other updates that are relevant to your work as a Platform User Experience Designer. These updates cover security visibility, language support, and feature previewing. Each affects how you design, test, and deliver experiences on the Salesforce Platform.

Update	What It Helps You Do
Field Access Summary	Review field-level security for any field across all profiles, permission sets, and permission set groups in one place in Object Manager.
Catalan and Basque User Interface Translations	Review translations carefully to ensure accuracy for users who speak Catalan or Basque.
Salesforce Release Manager	Preview and test upcoming features in sandboxes using the Development channel before they reach production.

Wrap Up

In this unit, you explored Summer ’26 updates relevant to Platform User Experience Designers. You learned how to enable dark mode, apply brand color palettes, and support users who magnify their screens. You also explored new tools for mobile home page configuration, actionable push notifications, Flow Builder screen design, and custom Lightning web components in dashboards.

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