IKEA Democratic Design: 3 design takeaways
By: Jc.Díez
Tags: IKEA, Interior Design, Design, UX Design, UX

A few weeks ago, I was walking in IKEA when I came up with a little book over a piece of unpronounceable Swedish furniture, pretty cool by the way.

In the beginning, it looked like a cardboard book, so I thought that it was just another decorative element in the infinite IKEA exhibition full of fake TV’s, Laptops… and so on.

The book cover had a really flashy title that said: “IKEA DEMOCRATIC DESIGN”.

¿¡How many of you would have ignored this title!?

As you can imagine, the book is certainly real and it turned out to be interesting reading about IKEA’s culture, design process and successful (and not so successful)cases.

My takeaways about the book are below:

0. DESIGN CULTURE

I did not know almost anything about IKEA’s culture and this book gave me a clear vision about their principles and values. In their own words :

“Our mission is the almost impossible idea of combining formal beauty with a great functionality and lasting quality. All of this produced in a sustainable value chain and affordable for the client.”

Nike Karlsson, a Designer, summarizes this vision into an user-centred approach:

“Design is not a way of expression, but a way to solve a problem. That’s what makes us different from artists.” Nike Karlsson, Designer

Design as a way of solving user needs, ¿Does it ring a bell for you, UXer?

1. DESIGN PRINCIPLES FIRST AND FOREMOST

Every single product in IKEA, from a chair to a kitchen utensil has to comply with the main 5 design principles :

Form, function, quality, price and sustainability:

IKEA’s Design Principles

Form: as a furniture brand, IKEA works to provide bright and beauty experiences through their products.

Function: every product has to respond to a user need, to facilitate daily life.

Quality: products are designed to last.

Price: democratic design means to design for everyone, with prices for everyone.

Sustainability: reusing instead of wasting. Take care of our planet is a top 5 value for IKEA as I explain later in SUSTAINABLE DESIGN: KITCHENS FROM PLASTIC BOTTLES section.

If a new product doesn’t comply with one of the principles, it can’t go to production. This is a difficult task that makes everyone in IKEA to give the best they have, in order to offer relevant products for the user daily life.

Not every principle is equally distributed across the products, of course. Products are all different and there will be products more focused on some principles than others.

Thus, a really cool thing is that every year all products are reviewed to check if they still comply with the 5 principles in a continuous improving purpose.

If they don’t, the product is reviewed or removed from the catalogue.

2. ERRORS AS PART OF THE CULTURE: A.I.R. SOFA

If you ever thought that IKEA doesn’t make mistakes… here it is an [huge and funny] example.

Back to mid-80s, Marcus Engman (latest Head of Design who is currently leaving the company) ran into a crazy idea: FURNITURE FILLED WITH AIR.

Raw a.i.r. sofa

At first glance, it was supposed to be a revolutionary and new way to see furniture and interior design. Some of the products included in the air-catalogue were sofas, armchairs, daybeds or footstools.

The process was in principle quite simple. Let’s see it with the a.i.r. sofa:

Buy your sofa. Go home and fill it using a hairdryer. Cover it with a stunning cover to make it look like a proper sofa. Enjoy the experience of a weightless sofa.

There were also many benefits:

Cost Materials: reducing 85% of raw materials. Maintenance: (think about the pleasure of lifting an air-sofa and vacuum) Logistics: reducing transport volume by 90%.

This is not a really strong IKEA shop assistant, ¡it’s stunning a.i.r. sofa!

So, ¿what happened?

Well, the thing is that despite the idea was good, the experience was really poor:

1. In IKEA stores and homes, the static of the material turned the pieces into dust collectors.

2. Users realized that sitting on an a.i.r sofa was actually uncomfortable and they prefered an ordinary sofa.

3. Users used warm air instead of fresh melting the material sometimes.

And on top of this, because of the weight, the furniture was moving around stores and homes, so it looked like a furniture flying dance.

Best quote I’ve ever found about this situation comes from IKEA’s employees:

The collection as a gathering of swollen hippos.

It’s true that this was a huge mistake and they should have tested many things before launching. But, the thing is that they had the courage to explore a crazy idea that they believed in and learnt from it. Errors are part of the design process, also an opportunity, and they accept them:

+1 IKEA

3. SUSTAINABLE DESIGN: KITCHENS FROM PLASTIC BOTTLES

Every year, we waste 100.000mill of plastic bottles over the world, just to drink water. Above 30% of this production is recycled.

And IKEA knows.

That’s why they launched KUNSGBACKA as an example of making things different, caring about resources through recycling instead of wasting.

For each front, 25 half-litre recycled bottles are used. This means that 10.000mill oil litres can be saved, just in kitchen fronts !!

If you want to know more about it, check this video:

That’s why they take sustainability as a key principle in the design process and for 2020 they aim to use recycled plastic only.

Besides, sustainable design shouldn’t be an anecdote but a commodity for everyone, so they are also thinking in Circular Economy by recycling their own products to build new ones.

So remember, don’t stop your curiosity and open every single Design book. Even if it looks like cardboard !!

Don’t forget to give your feedback and clap clap clap!

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