As stated in the title, how do I customize these elements? It seems they are using transparent background which is very difficult to view on most background palettes
To customize Angular Material's input/md-input-container component, you can add this style to your personal style sheet.
md-input-container {
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
padding-top: 2px;
padding-bottom: 2px;
padding-left: 2px;
padding-right: 2px;
margin: 1px 0;
vertical-align: middle;
/*
* The .md-input class is added to the input/textarea
*/ }
md-input-container .md-input {
-webkit-order: 2;
-ms-flex-order: 2;
order: 2;
display: block;
margin-top: 0;
background: none;
padding-top: 2px;
padding-bottom: 2px;
padding-left: 2px;
padding-right: 2px;
border-width: 1px 1px 1px 1px ;
line-height: 26px;
height: 30px;
-ms-flex-preferred-size: 26px;
border-radius: 5px;
border-style: solid;
width: 100%;
box-sizing: border-box;
float: left; }
md-input-container.md-input-focused .md-input,
md-input-container .md-input.ng-invalid.ng-dirty {
padding-bottom: 0;
border-width: 0 0 2px 0; }
md-input-container:not(.md-input-invalid).md-input-focused .md-input {
border-color: black;
}
md-input-container:not(.md-input-invalid).md-input-focused label {
padding-top: 0px;
color: green;
}
md-input-container .md-errors-spacer {
float: right;
min-height: 0px;
min-width: 0px; }
html[dir=rtl] md-input-container .md-errors-spacer {
float: left;
unicode-bidi: embed; }
body[dir=rtl] md-input-container .md-errors-spacer {
float: left;
unicode-bidi: embed; }
md-input-container .md-errors-spacer bdo[dir=rtl] {
direction: rtl;
unicode-bidi: bidi-override; }
md-input-container .md-errors-spacer bdo[dir=ltr] {
direction: ltr;
unicode-bidi: bidi-override; }
md-icon {
margin: auto;
background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;
display: inline-block;
vertical-align: middle;
fill: currentColor;
height: 24px;
width: 24px;}
md-icon svg {
pointer-events: none;
display: block; }
md-icon[md-font-icon] {
line-height: 1;
width: auto; }
md-input-container > md-icon {
position: absolute;
top: 5px;
left: 20px;
right: auto; }
md-input-container ng-messages, md-input-container data-ng-messages, md-input-container x-ng-messages,
md-input-container [ng-messages], md-input-container [data-ng-messages], md-input-container [x-ng-messages] {
position: relative;
float: right;
-webkit-order: 4;
-ms-flex-order: 4;
order: 4;
overflow: hidden;
clear: left; }
md-input-container ng-message, md-input-container data-ng-message, md-input-container x-ng-message,
md-input-container [ng-message], md-input-container [data-ng-message], md-input-container [x-ng-message],
md-input-container [ng-message-exp], md-input-container [data-ng-message-exp], md-input-container [x-ng-message-exp],
md-input-container .md-char-counter {
font-size: 12px;
line-height: 14px;
overflow: hidden;
transition: all 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.55, 0, 0.55, 0.2);
opacity: 1;
margin-top: 0;
padding-top: 1px; }
md-input-container ng-message:not(.md-char-counter), md-input-container data-ng-message:not(.md-char-counter), md-input-container x-ng-message:not(.md-char-counter),
md-input-container [ng-message]:not(.md-char-counter), md-input-container [data-ng-message]:not(.md-char-counter), md-input-container [x-ng-message]:not(.md-char-counter),
md-input-container [ng-message-exp]:not(.md-char-counter), md-input-container [data-ng-message-exp]:not(.md-char-counter), md-input-container [x-ng-message-exp]:not(.md-char-counter),
md-input-container .md-char-counter:not(.md-char-counter) {
padding-right: 10px;
padding-left: 50px; }
md-input-container.md-input-focused label:not(.md-no-float), md-input-container.md-input-has-placeholder label:not(.md-no-float), md-input-container.md-input-has-value label:not(.md-no-float) {
-webkit-transform: translate3d(0, 20px, 0) scale(0.75);
transform: translate3d(0, 20px, 0) scale(0.75); }
md-input-container.md-default-theme.md-input-invalid ng-message, md-input-container.md-input-invalid ng-message, md-input-container.md-default-theme.md-input-invalid data-ng-message, md-input-container.md-input-invalid data-ng-message, md-input-container.md-default-theme.md-input-invalid x-ng-message, md-input-container.md-input-invalid x-ng-message, md-input-container.md-default-theme.md-input-invalid [ng-message], md-input-container.md-input-invalid [ng-message], md-input-container.md-default-theme.md-input-invalid [data-ng-message], md-input-container.md-input-invalid [data-ng-message], md-input-container.md-default-theme.md-input-invalid [x-ng-message], md-input-container.md-input-invalid [x-ng-message], md-input-container.md-default-theme.md-input-invalid [ng-message-exp], md-input-container.md-input-invalid [ng-message-exp], md-input-container.md-default-theme.md-input-invalid [data-ng-message-exp], md-input-container.md-input-invalid [data-ng-message-exp], md-input-container.md-default-theme.md-input-invalid [x-ng-message-exp], md-input-container.md-input-invalid [x-ng-message-exp], md-input-container.md-default-theme.md-input-invalid .md-char-counter, md-input-container.md-input-invalid .md-char-counter {
color: rgb(255,44,0);
}