Skip to main contentCarbon Design System

Design kits

Rapidly build beautiful and accessible experiences. The Carbon kit for Figma contains all resources you need to get started.

Internal users

Get the libraries

1. Sign into Figma using IBM SSO

You should be added to the IBM Figma organization automatically once you sign in. You do not need to join or request to join any specific team to access the libraries.

All themes are now available in one Figma library! We have implemented Figma modes and theming variables, allowing us to combine all four themes into one library file. We have deprecated the Gray 10, Gray 90, and Gray 100 theme library files and will no longer be maintaining them. In the meantime, you can still use the deprecated theme library files until they are removed at a future date.

2. Turn on the Carbon themes library

The (v11) All themes - Carbon Design System library, used to be known as the White theme library, includes all four Carbon themes, including two light (White and Gray 10) and two dark (Gray 90 and Gray 100).

Inside of a design file, navigate to the Main menu panel in the top left of the toolbar (A). Open the menu and select Libraries from the list (B).

internal figma instructions part 1

Then in the Libraries modal that appears, find the team called IBM Design Systems (C) and switch the toggle beside a themed library, for example the (v11) White Theme - Carbon Design System to on (D).

internal figma instructions part 2

To preview the All themes library, visit the following view-only link. To access the v10 Figma theme libraries, see v10 Design Kits.


3. Turn on IBM Design Language libraries 

Under the same team IBM Design Systems you can also turn on the following IBM Design Language libraries or visit these view-only links.

  • Color styles - IBM Design Language
  • Hover color styles - IBM Design Language
  • Text styles - IBM Design Language
  • Icons - IBM Design Language
  • Pictograms - IBM Design Language

External users

Get the libraries

1. Sign into Figma

All themes are now available in one Figma library! We have implemented Figma modes and theming variables, allowing us to combine all four themes into one library file.

2. Get the theme libraries

The (v11) All themes - Carbon Design System library, used to be known as the White theme library, includes all four Carbon themes, including two light (White and Gray 10) and two dark (Gray 90 and Gray 100). We have deprecated the Gray 10, Gray 90, and Gray 100 theme library files and will no longer be maintaining them. In the meantime, you can still use the deprecated theme library files until they are removed at a future date.

Navigate to the Community icon in the header (A).

external figma instructions part 1

Select the Design Systems category and search for Carbon Design System (B).

external figma instructions part 2

See the (v11) All themes - Carbon Design System library file.

external figma instructions part 3

3. Duplicate the file of your choice to your workspace

4. Publish as a library to your workspace

To preview the (v11) All themes - Carbon Design System library, visit the following view-only link.

3. Bring in additional colors and icons

Use these additional IBM Design Language libraries to have access to color styles, hover color styles, text styles, icons, and pictograms.

Start designing

Components

Included in the library are all 40 of the Carbon components and their variants. To insert a component, go to the Asset panel and find the component you would like to use. Drag it from the asset panel onto the canvas.

View the name of the component in the right sidebar. If the component has variants, you’ll see fields underneath the component name to configure the properties and values of that component set.

For more help on how to use Figma components, see the Figma docs.

Grids and Screens

Included in the library is an asset called Screens. These screens provide a canvas that can be configured at the five 2x grid breakpoints. It also includes the 16 column grid both with and without a left panel grid influencer.

Color styles

The Carbon color tokens are surfaced in Figma using styles. To apply a color style, select an object then in the Styles menu you can select a style from the Carbon theme libraries or the IBM Design Language libraries. In addition to applying color styles to objects, you can also apply Color styles to Text layers. In addition to the Color style library, we have created a Hover color styles library to incorporate specific hover colors per color grade.

To learn more about applying color styles in Figma, see the Figma docs.

Text styles

To apply a text style, select a text layer, then in the properties panel, choose a text style from the (v11) Text styles - IBM Design Language library depending on which version you are on. Use color styles to change the color of a text style.

To learn more about applying text styles in Figma, see the Figma docs.

Feedback

Help us improve this component by providing feedback, asking questions, and leaving any other comments on GitHub.