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Upgrade BYU Web Fonts

Change Ringside and Public Sans to IBM Plex Sans on all BYU websites

Background and Scope

OIT and Brand & Creative have worked together and decided to replace the current BYU web fonts. We will cancel our license for Ringside as a web font later this year. Websites, web applications, and mobile apps should no longer use it to avoid further charges from the font distributor.

This change only applies to websites, web applications, and mobile apps. These sites and apps load web font files to display text. The Ringside web font files will no longer be licensed for that use. Sites and apps should replace the Ringside and Public Sans fonts with IBM Plex Sans for both headings and body text.

Fonts licensed for print use (installed directly on a computer) are not affected. For example, BYU Logos are created on a computer and distributed as image files. Even if a logo appears on a website, it does not require web fonts—it retains the same appearance regardless of the web fonts loaded. Therefore, BYU logos will not need to change.

Timeline

ImmediatelyIBM Plex Sans can begin to replace Ringside and Public Sans fonts on BYU websites
Thu, July 3, 2025Target for all sites to be upgraded
Mon, August 4, 2025Old fonts will no longer be accessible through the BYU CDN. All pages that have not been upgraded will likely fall back to default fonts.

Upgrade Steps

For Brightspot sites

You need to do nothing. Fonts will be changed across the entire Brightspot platform during this time. You'll be notified about change dates so that you can review your sites.

For all other sites

  1. Load the IBM Plex Sans font onto your site through Google Fonts.
    1. EITHER add the font using link tags in HTML
      <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=IBM+Plex+Sans:ital,wght@0,100..700;1,100..700&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">
    2. OR add the font using an @import statement in your CSS
      @import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=IBM+Plex+Sans:ital,wght@0,100..700;1,100..700&display=swap');
  2. Add "IBM Plex Sans" to the beginning of all font stacks, to supersede Ringside and Public Sans.
    1. Search for "Ringside" and for "Public Sans" in your CSS. You'll find lines that look something like this:
      font-family: "HCo Ringside Narrow SSm", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
    2. For every line you find, add "IBM Plex Sans" to the front of the stack.
      font-family: "IBM Plex Sans", "HCo Ringside Narrow SSm", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
    3. If needed, specify the font style and weight. (It is possible that the font style and/or weight are not already specified in your CSS.)
      font-family: "IBM Plex Sans", "HCo Ringside Narrow SSm", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
font-style: [normal|italic];
font-weight: [100-700];
  3. Test your website.
  4. Once you've determined that IBM Plex Sans is working correctly, you can remove Public Sans and Ringside fonts from your CSS.

Sizes and Weights

IBM Plex Sans is a variable font, which means that it contains the data needed for all weights from 100–700 in one file. It can be set to any number within that range (not just the multiples of 100, as with most other fonts). The following sizes and weights look most similar to the current fonts on most BYU sites.

StyleCSS
Body text 
font-family: "IBM Plex Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size; 16px;
font-weight: 425;
color: #141414;
Body text - bold 
font-weight: 600;

Heading 2

 
font-family: "IBM Plex Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size; 2em; /* 32px */
font-weight: 650;
color: #002e5d;

Heading 3

 
font-family: "IBM Plex Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size; 1.33em;
font-weight: 640;
color: #002e5d;

Heading 4

 
font-family: "IBM Plex Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size; 1.11em;
font-weight: 600;
text-transform: uppercase;
color: #002e5d;
Heading 5
 
font-family: "IBM Plex Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size; 1em;
font-weight: 500;
color: #002e5d;
Heading 6
 
font-family: "IBM Plex Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size; 1em;
font-weight: 475;
font-style: italic;
color: #002e5d;

Comparisons

Ringside Narrow
IBM Plex Sans

Heading 2

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 4

Public Sans
IBM Plex Sans
“There are many ways in which BYU can tower above other universities—not simply because of the size of its student body or its beautiful campus spread out below magnificent mountains but by the unique light BYU can send forth into the educational world.”
“There are many ways in which BYU can tower above other universities—not simply because of the size of its student body or its beautiful campus spread out below magnificent mountains but by the unique light BYU can send forth into the educational world.”

Further Help

Please contact the websites support team, websites@byu.edu