Google has made its ‘next generation brand typeface’, Google Sans Flex, available for download — under an open source license, which is welcome news.
A modern sans serif font purpose-designed for use on screens and OSes, Google Sans Flex is a ground-up, multi-axis rebuild of the proprietary Google Sans font, by typographer David Berlow (of Font Bureau fame).
The “flex” in GS Flex is because it’s a variable font that is “extremely flexible [with] variable axes for weight, width, optical size, slant, as well as an axis for rounded terminals” (as in terminals in letters, not command-line apps).”
Android and web developers will find the varied variable axes on offer a creative boon for “expressive” design work.
Changing system font is a simple way to give Ubuntu (or any other Linux) desktop a subtle new vibe without having to futz around with themes, icon packs or other eye-candy extras which substantially alter the stock experience:
Google Sans Flex as UI font on Ubuntu 25.10
However, Linux desktop environments don’t yet support doing anything fancy with variable fonts, beyond the basics.
Ergo, unlike on modern Android, you can’t toggle Dark Mode in GNOME or KDE with this font enabled to make it automatically adjust its GRAD axis to compensate for the optical thinning that typically occurs when white text is rendered against darker backgrounds.
It’s not a major drawback, and GS Flex works great as a competent, classy system UI font on Linux, especially on HiDPI displays with fractional scaling. For my tastes, Google Sans Flex has (like GNOME’s default Adwaita Sans font) more presence than the Ubuntu font.
Want to try it out? Google has released the font under the SIL Open Font License (OFL), meaning you can modify, redistribute and use it in your own projects.
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