So, I was in Typography class and someone bought up an interesting topic. Ikea has changed their font in their 2010 book. Their font used to be Futura, which if you guys are interesting in type is actually a great font to use in print, to Verdana. Verdana is a "web" font. Used to allow people to read clearly on the internet, but usually not used in print. Ikea's explanation is that it was abandoning its own version of the Futura font because it wanted one that would be effective in many different languages and on the Web, and that Verdana was designed for just that purpose. They didn't think people would notice, but quite frankly when I picked up the new version versus the old version, I noticed a difference immediately. Ikea is known for their inexpensive furniture and the new font makes it look cheesy.
Here is a link to a blog post about it. It also shows you the difference between 2009 and 2010.
http://idsgn.org/posts/ikea-says-goodbye-to-futura/
There is also a petition out for Ikea to change back to their original Futura font, and it was even a Twitter trending topic.
Futura looks more of their style. But I guess in this economy right now, everyone is looking for "simple and cost effective."
1 comment:
I have a rule of thumb I always go by: if the typeface comes standard on a PC, never use it in design. It appears someone convinced IKEA of something else.
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