IBM wanted to replace Helvetica Neue with a typeface of its own, reflecting its industrial history and identity. Plex blends rational shapes with a few more human details.
At a glance
Origin: IBM, United States, with the Bold Monday type foundry, Netherlands.
Designer: Mike Abbink, with the Bold Monday team.
Date: 2017.
Evolution
The family has grown to many variants, with a sans serif, a serif, a monospace and a condensed version, as well as many scripts such as Arabic, Devanagari, Hebrew, Japanese and Korean.
Famous examples
It is the typeface of IBM's entire identity, from its products to its communication.
Current use
Released as open source, it is widely used on the web, in interfaces and in technical documentation, especially thanks to its monospace version.
Alternatives
Inter, Source Sans, Roboto.
Great typefaces glossary
Akzidenz-Grotesk, Arial, Avenir, Baskerville, Bodoni, Caslon, Circular, Cooper Black, Didot, DIN, FF Meta, Franklin Gothic, Frutiger, Futura, Garamond, Georgia, Gill Sans, Gotham, Graphik, Helvetica, IBM Plex, Inter, Minion, Montserrat, Myriad, Neue Haas Grotesk, Optima, Poppins, Roboto, Sabon, SF Pro, Source Sans, Source Serif, Times New Roman, Univers, Verdana