Back to the Futura
Posted by Adriane Jewett | Labels: Ikea, kusocialmedia09, typography | Posted On Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 12:45 PM
It's not often that typography makes it into mainstream news.Ikea's recent decision to switch from Ikea Sans (a customized version of Futura) to Verdana (a Microsoft typeface) has type enthusiast up in arms.
The Associated Press picked up the story, and you can read about Ikea's fateful decision in major news sources like the New York Times, Time and NPR.
Typography and design blogs and columns have also exploded with their criticism of Ikea's facelift...
Simon Garfield at the Guardian - why society, not just designers, should take note of this change.
Josie Swindler at AOL's ShelterPop - Ikea's response
Damian Joseph at BusinessWeek - impacts Ikea's brand
Typophile - a forum discussion
...just to name a few.
While I don't think the change is catastrophic, I do feel like Ikea's giving into the man...just a little bit. For a company that is internationally known and loved by it's innovative design (and cheap prices) to adopt a Microsoft font seems to go against their company brand. Then again, maybe their company brand is "furniture for the masses," in which case, a Microsoft font fits perfectly.
Ikea's apparent disregarded the font's intended use should also be noted. According to the articles above, Verdana was designed for use on a computer screen. Now, Ikea is printing with it in thousands of catalogs.
One thing's for sure, Ikea can't be too upset about all the free publicity.
That and I'm definitely ordering a copy of Ikea's new catalog. I need to see this bad boy for myself.
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