IBM Plex Fonts – Blog

When you’re building a web project, you can’t underestimate the importance of a good typeface. It’s not just about aesthetics – a clear, legible type system can dramatically improve user experience, readability, and brand consistency. IBM Plex is the world’s first open‑source typeface family, designed by IBM’s in‑house designers and released under the SIL Open Font License. It’s available in Sans, Mono, and Serif variants, making it a versatile choice for almost any project.

Why IBM Plex?

Open‑Source, No License Fees: Free for commercial and non‑commercial use.
Multilingual Support: Over 30 languages with proper glyphs, making it ideal for global projects.
Modern, Human‑Centric Design: Designed with usability in mind; the spacing is comfortable for UI elements.
Responsive Weight System: 9 weights per style for fine control over visual hierarchy.

Getting Started – How to Add IBM Plex to Your Project

There are a couple of simple ways to integrate IBM Plex. Below are the most common methods: Google Fonts CDN, @font-face, and npm package.

1️⃣ Google Fonts CDN

Add the following <link> tags inside your <head>:

<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=IBM+Plex+Sans:wght@400;500;700&family=IBM+Plex+Mono:wght@400;500;700&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">

2️⃣ @font-face

Download the font files from the official repo, host them locally, and declare them:

@font-face {
  font-family: 'IBM Plex Sans';
  src: url('fonts/IBMPlexSans-Regular.woff2') format('woff2'),
       url('fonts/IBMPlexSans-Regular.woff') format('woff');
  font-weight: 400;
  font-style: normal;
}

3️⃣ NPM Package

Use npm install @ibm/plex and import the CSS into your build pipeline.

Example CSS

body {
  font-family: 'IBM Plex Sans', sans-serif;
  background: #f5f5f5;
  color: #222;
}
code, pre {
  font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace;
}

Quick Demo – Switch Between Weights

Try the following snippet in a sandbox environment to see how different weights affect readability:

Regular (400) – “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

Medium (500) – “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

Bold (700) – “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

Visual Proof – A GIF

Practical Use Cases

UI Kits: The sans variant is perfect for clean, modern UI components.
Developer Documentation: The mono variant gives code snippets a polished look.
Print: The serif variant is great for PDFs and print assets.
Accessibility: Its generous x‑height and generous tracking help screen readers and users with dyslexia.

Final Thoughts

IBM Plex’s design ethos, combined with its open‑source nature, makes it a standout choice for anyone looking to give their UI a professional yet friendly feel. Whether you’re building a corporate dashboard or a personal blog, you’ll find that it scales beautifully across devices, languages, and platforms.

Try it out today. And if you’re feeling adventurous, explore Guess the Font – it’s a quick way to test how recognizable Plex is.

IBM Plex Fonts – The Open‑Source Typeface Family That Keeps Your UI Looking Fresh