IBM · Design system breakdown
Open, enterprise-grade system with serious engineering depth.
IBM open-sourced Carbon in 2017. It absorbed lessons from earlier IBM design languages and aligns with the IBM Design Language. Carbon ships across web (React, Angular, Vue, Svelte, vanilla), iOS, and Android.
IBM design and engineering teams own the system; community contributions accepted through GitHub. Strong RFC discipline and explicit deprecation policy. Open-source with a public roadmap.
| Token | Value | Role |
|---|---|---|
| background | #f4f4f4 | Page surface (light) |
| text-primary | #161616 | Default body text |
| interactive-01 | #0f62fe | Primary action |
| support-error | #da1e28 | Error state |
| spacing-05 | 1rem (16px) | Default spacing step |
| duration-fast-02 | 110ms | Micro-interaction duration |
Token names and values are illustrative — refer to the system's official tokens reference for the canonical, current set.
If you're evaluating this system
Pick Carbon if you're building enterprise tools that need to look serious, work across many frameworks, and survive a security review. Don't pick it for a consumer-facing brand-led product.
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