The Font War: Ikea Fans Fume over Switch to Verdana - TIME Follow @TIME Thumbing through his local Swedish newspaper, Göteborg resident Mattias Akerberg found himself troubled by a full-page advertisement for Ikea. It wasn't that the Grevbäck bookcases looked any less sturdy, or that the Bibbi Snur duvet covers were any less colorful, or even that the names given to each of the company's 9,500 products were any less whimsical. No, what bothered Akerberg was the typeface. "I thought that something had gone terribly wrong, but when I Twittered about it, people at their ad agency told me that this was actually the new Ikea font," he recalls. "I could hardly believe it was true." Over its 60 years, Ikea has built a reputation as a purveyor of inexpensive but stylish home furnishings, selling everything from leather sofas to chrome toilet-bowl cleaners. Branding has been a large part of the Swedish chain's success  what urban dweller today, whether in Atlanta or Kuala Lumpur, doesn't recognize that bright blue warehouse, glowing like a beacon of fine living, at the side of the highway?

And its signature typeface, a customized version of Futura, has long been an integral part of that brand. But with its 2010 catalogue now arriving in mailboxes, the supplier of headboards and coffee tables to the world's thrifty and trendy has switched to what it sees as a more functional typeface: Verdana. In the process, it has provoked an instantaneous global backlash, the kind that can only happen on the Internet. (Read about Ikea in TIME's Design 100.) "Ikea, stop the Verdana madness!" pleaded Tokyo's Oliver Reichenstein on Twitter. "Words can't describe my disgust," spat Ben Cristensen of Melbourne. "Horrific," lamented Christian Hughes in Dublin. The online forum Typophile closed its first post on the subject with the words, "It's a sad day." On Aug. 26, Romanian design consultant Marius Ursache started an online petition to get Ikea to change its mind. That night, Verdana was already a trending topic on Twitter, drawing more tweets than even Ted Kennedy. IKEA's 2009 online catalogue uses the old typeface. IKEA's 2010 online catalogue features the Verdana font.

All this outrage over a font? For some designers, it's an issue of propriety  Verdana, which was invented by Microsoft, was intended to be used on a screen, not on paper. "It has open, wide letterforms with lots of space between characters to aid legibility at small sizes on screen," explains Simon l'Anson, creative director at Made by Many, a London-based digital-consulting company. "It doesn't exhibit any elegance or visual rhythm when set at large sizes. It's like taking the family sedan off-road. It will sort of work, but ultimately gets bogged down." (See pictures of Microsoft.) Carolyn Fraser, a letterpress printer in Melbourne, Australia, adopts a different metaphor to explain the problem. "Verdana was designed for the limitations of the Web  it's dumbed down and overused. It's a bit like using Lego to build a skyscraper, when steel is clearly a superior choice." Others seem mystified by the choice to eliminate one of the chain's key identifying features.

"The former typeface definitely better reflected Ikea's design philosophy, giving it a very special, unique flavor that actually fit the company's style," says Vitaly Friedman, editor in chief of the online Smashing Magazine, which is dedicated to Web design. "With Verdana being used all across the Web, Ikea's image not only loses originality, but also credibility and the reputation that the company has built since the 1940s." The main complaint that online protesters have, though, is that the newly adopted font is plain ugly. Especially when it's enlarged to, say, the size of a catalogue headline. Or worse yet, a billboard. So why would Ikea make such a change? The very ubiquity of Verdana seems to be part of the font's appeal. Freely distributed by Microsoft, the typeface allows Ikea to use the same font in all countries and with many alphabets. "It's more efficient and cost-effective," says Ikea spokeswoman Monika Gocic.

"Plus, it's a simple, modern-looking typeface." (Read "The Store That Runs on a Wrench.") "They went cheap, in other words," counters Bucharest designer Iancu Barbarasa, who blogged about the font change on his website. If he sounds somewhat bitter, there's a reason. With its attention to the curve of even a $9 lampshade, Ikea has become renowned for its understanding of good design. "Designers have always thought of Ikea as one of their own," Barbarasa notes. "So now, in a way, the design community feels betrayed." Indeed, the desire to remind people  and corporations  that design matters is what spurred design consultant Ursache to start a petition asking Ikea to do away with the offensive Verdana typeface. "Look, I know this isn't world hunger," he says. "But if a company like Ikea can make this mistake, you have to wonder who is going to lead when it comes to design." (Read "Furniture for Everyone.") Ikea has yet to respond publicly to the tempest. "I think it's safe to say we were surprised by the response," admits spokeswoman Gocic. As of Aug.

27, Ursache's petition had garnered over 700 signatures. That may not seem like a lot, but then there weren't many protests at first to a certain beverage company's announcement in April 1985 that it would be changing its flagship product. Just three months later, however, New Coke was gone. And that was before Twitter. Ikea Customers Outraged About Font Change | POPSUGAR Tech Ikea Customers Outraged About Font Change Ikea Customers Outraged About Font Change Ikea Customers Outraged About Font Change September 1, 2009 by Tech 4 Shares My favorite Swedish furniture retail chain Ikea (did you pick up your back to school items ?) has just changed its well known futura font to verdana. But why the sudden typeface change? An Ikea spokeswoman said that the change allows Ikea to use the same font in all countries and with many alphabets therefore making it "more efficient and cost-effective." With customers noticing the change in the new 2010 catalog, thousands took to Twitter to air their frustrations with many saying that they feel betrayed because Ikea is emulating other big box corporations which have ugly, basic fonts.

To keep reading, and to see the font differences closer up, just . What's interesting to note is that Verdana was never intended to be used in print, as Microsoft created it as an easily readable font for the web . What do you think? Do you think Ikea's integrity as a design company is being questioned with this new font change? Do you like the change? Personally, Ikea in Verdana is going to take some getting used to — Futura just suits Ikea and its style. Oh, and if you want to check out the 2010 catalog, you can access it in its entirety online here . Share this post Get Inspired With Our Living Newsletter You're subscribed! Sign Up For Our Newsletter Select topics that interest you Food millarci 7 years Okay. It's a bad design choice to go from Futura to Verdana. If they want their catalog to look sh*tty it's up to them. At the end of the day, they are paying for all those catalogs being produced. It's a bad design move, but I think people need to just let it go. If anything, feel sorry for the designers who probably had to lay it out in that horrible font and had no choice.

sourcherry 7 years It's indeed a bad choice, but if it is to reduce costs I guess it makes sense. People will rather have less aesthetic pleasing catalogs than reduced quality in the products or services, I'm sure. T-S 7 years Ew. Miffed at the comments that anyone who cares about this is a loser who tweets what they had for breakfast. Verdana is a knock off font created by Microsoft (along with arial and others) because Microsoft was too cheap to pay for Helvetica. Personally I'm more interested in this font change than I am in which actors have made out with each other recently. sofi-nj 7 years is this seriously an issue?? i can hardly tell the difference. who cares??? i echo the comments above - WOW. pioneers 7 years I think it's funny that so many people have the opinion that it's not "cool" to get upset over a font change. The whole "pathetic" comments are pretty hilarious. First of all, if you were in the graphic design field (or any field closely related), you'd probably think this was a bad change, too. And you'd be able to tell the difference between the two looks within a second.

Veranda is an eyesore, and it was never meant to be a typeface used for print. Second of all, the people who are really the most "up at arms" work for type foundries or design firms. In other words, they make their living by providing quality fonts for a fee. Of course they're going to be outraged when IKEA made the change to a ubiquitous, FREE font that shouldn't even be printed--it's sending the wrong message when a huge company known for their great design senses trades their trademark custom font for some unfitting free font that anyone can use. It's a move toward putting boutique foundries out of business. Look, we all have our own industries or interests, and you're probably pissed off about something I might not care at all about. But that's no need to call someone pathetic. Instead, maybe try to see this as a "bigger picture" issue: in a global economic crisis, people want to make sure their products are still considered valuable so that they can continue to feed their families. Dealio? bchicgrl 7 years Seriously WOW, people need to find something a little more important then a font change to get all worked up over.

PinkNC 7 years I think people that Twitter all day honestly don't have a life. If you are Twittering almost every moment of your boring day, then you need to get interesting or just go to work. And if you are at work then you need to get busy my friend. And I didn't see anything wrong with the *Before* photo up there. deleteaccount 7 years In plain simple words...some people are straight out just stupid. Font....really? I'd rather have IKEA change their font for cost efficiencies rather than cut people their jobs! The people commenting on Twitter are obviously not finance, corporate, or SANE people. And if they are ...maybe some over-extreme art directors or advertising creatives who breathe, eat and sleep "branding," but even then....still really stupid...to make a fuss during our current economic state. Be thankful there are companies out there thinking of alternative ways to save money...instead of just trimming the payroll. cal1 7 years " thousands took to Twitter to air their frustrations with many saying that they feel betrayed because Ikea is emulating other big box corporations which have ugly" Those thousands = idiots As simple as that.

dootsie 7 years I think it definitely says something about Ikea that their big, genius plan to drum up free press and controversy is to change their font. They know their clientele! IKEA's font fury | Jackie Huba IKEA's font fury September 1st, 2009 Is IKEA , the global Swedish furniture chain, having a New Coke moment? After 50 years of using the iconic Futura font for its catalog design, it has switched to Verdana. Hard-core IKEA fans, who love the brand for its design sensibility are upset. Their rallying cry: Verdana was invented by Microsoft for the computer screen, not paper. Verdana is just plain ugly. See the difference here: Twitter is filled with angry comments extolling the company to "stop the Verdana madness." An online petition has 4,000 signatures. IKEA made the switch because it's cheaper to use one font that works in digital and print media. They didn't anticipate a backlash; a spokeswoman for the company said: "We're surprised. But I think it's mainly experts who have expressed their views, people who are interested in fonts.

I don't think the broad public is that interested." The uprising may have begun with people who know fonts but thanks to Facebook and Twitter, a broader audience knows, especially if you include the 300+ articles in the mainstream media. Ultimately, is this important to IKEA? It depends on scale, of course, but also something that's not quantifiable: the depth of emotional attachment. When a company has evangelists, it's often because it has core values. For IKEA, core values are style, chic design, and affordability. In that context, a typeface isn't just a typeface: it's an emotional catalyst. When Walmart changed its logo recently, no one complained. Walmart had nowhere to go but up since its core value is low prices, not reflect contemporary style or design. When Coke changed its formula in 1985, the outrage wasn't about its sugared water tasting worse, it was about the betrayal of an established core value. A psychologist who listened to complaints in the call center described the calls as the equivalent of the death of a family member. For IKEA, the Futura font is (or was) the emotional subtext to IKEA's contemporary yet familiar vibe.

For the purists and evangelists, switching to Verdana is a sign of something worse than a new font. IKEA's next move is a big one. What do you think it should do? (Image courtesy of the isdgn blog ) Share this: September 1, 2009 at 2:05 pm Great article Jackie! Been reading about it on Twitter and the Web. Funny to me…ppl have moved further than just brand loyalty with this one…font loyalty??? Should make you think twice before changing what is working for the sake of change. September 1, 2009 at 4:02 pm Very interesting. It makes perfect sense from both perspectives to me. I like that Ikea is thinking big and moving forward. Too many brands hold on for too long when they should be exploring and testing and thinking forward. Not to mention the good publicity you “usually” get when you change things up. September 1, 2009 at 4:30 pm Hi Jackie, IKEA’s problem isn’t what they did (switching fonts), it’s how they perceived the reaction.

Calling it the response from “experts…people who are interested in fonts” is insulting — and smacks of trying to marginalize the very people who care enough to care. The first thing IKEA needs to do is apologize, not for their decision but for their response. I actually think they can make an economic argument for the decision (especially in this economy), and how every cost savings helps to save jobs, hold the line on prices, or whatever makes sense in this case. But that cost is small compared to the cost of disappointing their evangelists. September 1, 2009 at 4:40 pm I’m not an expert in fonts, but I definitely know that Verdana is for screen, not for print. Change is good, but not ignorant decisions. IKEA’s mission is good design at affordable prices. To me, the change to verdana signifies thoughtless design, at least for the catalog. I think they should respond to their customers. September 1, 2009 at 5:30 pm Sorry Jackie, but I honestly feel this is a case of much ado about nothing.

When I heard about the designer backlash, my first thought was: does the core Ikea buyer give two hoots about the font used in the catalog? Are they going to boycott the brand because a minority of designers think the font in a catalog is ugly? I’ll wager a steak dinner that they don’t. They want to purchase decent furniture for a good price. My office is furnished by Ikea and I ask, seriously, who cares about Verdana…I want to know the shelving units are sturdy and will hold my books and personal items. I wonder if this isn’t just another example of social media bear baiting that I wrote about a few weeks ago ( )? I guarantee that Ikea will move along with their Verdana-fonted catalog just fine. But if the quality and design of their *actual product* falters, that’s when I expect their most passionate evangelists to shred the brand. September 1, 2009 at 6:02 pm Chris, Thanks for your comment. Is the story being overblown? Maybe. But I think this is a big learning lesson for IKEA marketers and for that matter, any marketer.

When you are lucky enough to have passionate fans that care so deeply about the brand, you shouldn’t be surprised that they will voice their opinions if you do something they don’t like. We live now in the era of instant feedback on Twitter and Facebook. I like the article that Jacco referenced above. When you see the Verdana font on big signs in the store, you can really see the difference. They don’t look like IKEA signs, They look like they could be in Walmart. All of a sudden, IKEA starts seeming a little less european, a little more ordinary. Certainly people care about the products and their reliability. But I think people are afraid that if this design centered company doesn’t care about their collateral design anymore, it may be one step to not being focused on good product design in the future. September 1, 2009 at 6:16 pm But who is the primary buyer of the IKEA product? Is it the designers that are up in arms? Or is it the folks like me who could care less about font and don’t have a “the sky is falling” attitude? I’m not exactly convinced that the designers who put together the petitions and are making the noise are the primary buyers.

No doubt they are fans, but fans who are core buyers are the ones that any savvy marketer should listen to. My point is: if marketers have to constantly strive to make a small (yet vocal) minority of individuals who are not the core customer happy, then the dog will constantly being chasing its tail. September 1, 2009 at 7:48 pm To the sceptics who think this is much ado about nothing: What if Ikea decided overnight to sack all its graphic designers as a cost-saving measure? From now the CEO’s mother will take all the product photos on a cheap point&shoot, and his 14 year old niece will knock up Ikea’s brochures in MS Word and website in Frontpage. These brochures will be printed A4 on an inkjet and corner stapled together. Now what visual impression would you gather from this company? To say a font change ‘doesn’t make a difference’ is to say that graphic design doesn’t make a difference. Yet graphic design is everywhere you look: newspapers, books, magazines, food labelling, the internet, the very user interface you’re using right now on your computer, and road signs.

Things like colour, contrast and typography all have an impact how how you read, interpret, understand and make decisions. Font, colour and size can all have an impact on how you perceive a brand or product. The only difference is that with non-graphic designers, this perception happens completely sub-consciously. I don’t think that the issue is just about emotional attachment. Typeface designers put a lot of thought and work into their creations and design them to conjure particular associations, or fit specific purposes. Fonts are a substantial part of a company’s brand, so to change the house ‘font’ is actually a form of rebranding. In this case, it’s not that Verdana is a ‘bad’ typeface per se, it’s just that it was purpose-designed to be read more easily on computer screens that are lower resolution than printed material, and as such is not well suited to print and large format applications – simply because it wasn’t designed to be. Verdana used in this context, and to replace a beautiful historic font like Futura, actually cheapens the brand, and although non-graphic designers might say “Who cares?”, the font change will sub-consciously alter the perceptions of Ikea’s customer base.

It’s just that graphic designers are able to consciously pick up on these changes and realise the importance, hence the furore within the graphic design community. And Ikea’s response just serves to highlight their corporate naivety… September 1, 2009 at 8:37 pm PWB, it wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong. And the points that you – as well as others here – make could very well be right in terms of brand perception. But my question is the perception of whom? If it’s designers who love Ikea for the idea of Ikea that’s one thing. But if its the Ikea consumer who shops their stores and purchases their products, then that’s a very different set of individuals. Yes, Verdana is ugly as sin on the printed page and I can’t honestly fathom why they would choose to go in this route. But my point continues to be unless there is a noted drop in their buying customer satisfaction, this is a question of marginal marketing aesthetics (and I know that will enrage designers). There’s no need to create doomsday scenarios where Ikea sacks every one of their graphic designers.

I’ll go on to argue that it’s really too early to tell if this impacts Ikea’s bottom line. And if the company starts botching the design quality of their furniture, then I would fully expect an outcry not only from designers but the folks who purchase Ikea furniture. September 1, 2009 at 9:09 pm Quote Chris Bailey: “does the core Ikea buyer give two hoots about the font used in the catalog? Are they going to boycott the brand because a minority of designers think the font in a catalog is ugly? I’ll wager a steak dinner that they don’t.” “But who is the primary buyer of the IKEA product? Is it the designers that are up in arms? Or is it the folks like me who could care less about font and don’t have a “the sky is falling” attitude? I’m not exactly convinced that the designers who put together the petitions and are making the noise are the primary buyers. No doubt they are fans, but fans who are core buyers are the ones that any savvy marketer should listen to.” Totally agree. I run IKEAFANS.com, which has been the place for IKEA customers online since 2005.

Over 112,000 forum members worldwide, and not a single one has yet to express a concern over the change in typeface. I’d wager that most of them haven’t noticed, and if they have it’s not going to change their feelings about IKEA, their buying habits or plans for the future. Only time will tell, but I think that eventually this will have a positive impact as people start to associate the commonplace Verdana font with IKEA. Subliminal suggestion is very powerful. We shall see what we shall see. September 2, 2009 at 6:10 pm This is extremely interesting. IKEA is definitely not Apple, and maybe should not be held to the same type design scrutiny. Good furniture design at sensible prices is not the same as cutting edge, “hip” technology. I hate to see anyone squander the good will of a primarily youthful, culture-aware community, AND I don’t like the “that’s just the type experts’ response. It could have been handled better, certainly, but the core appeal of IKEA doesn’t change quite as much as the cache’ of Apple would if it did something similar. A mistake to change to a more functional type face?

Probably depending on the real savings involved. But brand damage isn’t likely to be dramatic. Those experts STILL aren’t going to find a better place to buy good things at those prices. Forgiveness is at hand, IKEA. September 3, 2009 at 9:46 am I’m right there with you Chris. I’m a long time fan and shopper of IKEA and couldn’t really care less what font they use. Let’s go for wingding’s next time! To me this is just another case that social media festulators have gotten a hold of and exploited because they could. Do people really care or are they reTweeting for the sake of reTweeting? I have family members that forward along every single joke or chain letter that they get. I’ve asked them why they do this and they don’t really know. It’s like people will jump on whatever bandwagon seems particularly interesting at that given minute. If IKEA needed to cut costs and decided it was easier to change it’s font than to raise prices or cut quality, then I’m all for it. Let’s also remember that they are a global company and it’s website caters to multiple languages and conformity of a label is always good.

If Verdana works better with all browsers then yes, they should switch to it, so their online font matches the printed one. September 25, 2009 at 6:32 pm There is a middle ground. IKEA could commiserate with the purists and create a historic line of Futura-using items for them to purchase, while saying firmly–we’ll see if the new font face hurts sales with our best customers. My hypothesis is that the core IKEA customer wants economical well-designed solutions–not idealism. But IKEA could offer a catalog with slightly higher prices using Futura?! (Just having fun with it.) I think IKEA should have a dialogue with ALL its audiences, not relegate some to a unimportant category of ‘experts who are interested in fonts.’ Throw ’em a bone! December 15, 2009 at 7:59 pm Speaking as one of the non-professional customers … I’m not going to stop shopping at IKEA, but truthfully? I don’t like it. It’s ugly. It’s a little thing, but I agree that it does have an effect, however minimal, on my sense of loyalty with the brand.

And let’s face it, I may plan my bigger purchases carefully, but I also spend impulsively on a heck of a lot of smaller items. Will I continue to find a trip to IKEA turning into a fun shopping spree the way I used to? This is one more step towards me saying “maybe not”. It may turn out to be nothing, but who knows? It’s like anything else: if I don’t like it or feel no pleasure in buying it, I’m sure as anything not going to spend my hard-earned money on it. IKEA causes uproar by changing their font IKEA causes uproar by changing their font Fans of the mass market cheap-chic retail chain IKEA are NOT happy with ikea's latest advertising campaign. Apparently IKEA chose to not to use their trademark futura font, which their iconic yellow-on-blue logo is written in, and instead resorted to using the Verbana font. The Internet has erupted in complete and total outrage. Not since the introduction of New Coke has the public been jolted into such heated debates. One would think Obama was making speaches in IKEA or some shit. We'll have to see how this unfolds, but I'm not seeing anything good come out of this.

[Edited 9/6/09 15:27pm] wth ... seriously, people are choosing to get in a mental tiff - roaring n shit ova this ? Mach said: wth ... seriously, people are choosing to get in a mental tiff - roaring n shit ova this ? It goes to show the plasticity and vapid consumerism of modern life has so distorted people's priorities, it's almost sad. I think I'll need to put my words to action and find ways to take all this free time modernity allows and find ways to create with it, rather than consume, consume, consume and become a mindless drone to the scene. Imago said: Mach said: wth ... seriously, people are choosing to get in a mental tiff - roaring n shit ova this ? It goes to show the plasticity and vapid consumerism of modern life has so distorted people's priorities, it's almost sad. I think I'll need to put my words to action and find ways to take all this free time modernity allows and find ways to create with it, rather than consume, consume, consume and become a mindless drone to the scene.

Sounds good ~ far better then an uncreative consumer anyway I just think it's dumb to invest in roaring over something like this ~ that's just me though Some of the items are cheap. Like I bought a $4.99 laundry hamper. And their breakfast is cheap!! Edmonton, AB - Ohh purple joy oh purple bliss oh purple rapture! REAL MUSIC by REAL MUSICIANS - Prince "I kind of wish there was a reason for Prince to make the site crash more" ~~ Ben Imago said: Fans of the mass market cheap-chic retail chain IKEA are NOT happy with ikea's latest advertising campaign. Apparently IKEA chose to not to use their trademark futura font, which their iconic yellow-on-blue logo is written in, and instead resorted to using the Verbana font. The Internet has erupted in complete and total outrage. Not since the introduction of New Coke has the public been jolted into such heated debates. One would think Obama was making speaches in IKEA or some shit. We'll have to see how this unfolds, but I'm not seeing anything good come out of this. Dan! the logo didn't change!

(it isn't in futura anyway, futura is san serif) the font they used throughout their store on all the labels and within the catalog was futura, which they changed to Verdana, and it looks just fine to me although that is very much a non-designer's font IMO Imago said: Fans of the mass market cheap-chic retail chain IKEA are NOT happy with ikea's latest advertising campaign. Apparently IKEA chose to not to use their trademark futura font, which their iconic yellow-on-blue logo is written in, and instead resorted to using the Verbana font. The Internet has erupted in complete and total outrage. Not since the introduction of New Coke has the public been jolted into such heated debates. One would think Obama was making speaches in IKEA or some shit. We'll have to see how this unfolds, but I'm not seeing anything good come out of this. Dan! the logo didn't change! (it isn't in futura anyway, futura is san serif) the font they used throughout their store on all the labels and within the catalog was futura, which they changed to Verdana, and it looks just fine to me although that is very much a non-designer's font IMO oops.

I wanted to be the first to break this important story and figured I could forgo a few truths to be the first. I'm very Dan Rather that way. also their instore signage, price tags, catalogue etc. It's my job to care. yup, I don't make important life-saving scientific discoveries but I can certainly communicate the news in a legible and attractive way! This is one of those cases where I bet it's originated in someone's graphic design blog (full of red hot gossip just like this!!!) and all the blogs copy and paste, obviously skint for news. I can understand YOU caring, and I certainly don't minimize your field. Aesthetics are important! I'm surprised to see the wider, general reaction, though. Maybe it'll have more of an effect on me when I'm actually in a store and can "feel" the difference. "Be excellent to each other." -Bill and Ted Imago said: oops. I wanted to be the first to break this important story and figured I could forgo a few truths to be the first. I'm very Dan Rather that way.

I seriously did not even notice when I got my new catalogue sextonseven orgnoted me with the scandalous news last week, and we skyped about it for some time, especially the price differences between USA and here. you can have a coffee and a slice of princess cake for US$0.99 in USA it costs us AUS$3.95 (should be $1.16) and the meatball dinner for you US$8.95, for us AUS$20.95 (should be $10.50) WTF!!!! Well we ARE living in the arse end of the world down here. We;re lucky to even get things like this without a camel train you know "...and If all of this Love Talk ends with Prince getting married to someone other than me, all I would like to do is give Prince a life size Purple Fabric Cloud Guitar that I made from a vintage bedspread that I used as a Christmas Tree Skirt." Tame, Feb also their instore signage, price tags, catalogue etc. It's my job to care. yup, I don't make important life-saving scientific discoveries but I can certainly communicate the news in a legible and attractive way!

This is one of those cases where I bet it's originated in someone's graphic design blog (full of red hot gossip just like this!!!) and all the blogs copy and paste, obviously skint for news. I can understand YOU caring, and I certainly don't minimize your field. Aesthetics are important! I'm surprised to see the wider, general reaction, though. Maybe it'll have more of an effect on me when I'm actually in a store and can "feel" the difference. I don't think ANYBODY has even noticed, where IS the uproar? everyone on this thread is just saying "who TF cares!" Dan's initial post is pure irony, sensationalism at its (somewhat inaccurate) finest the link Dan posted, is a designer's blog, it's a designer having a good old whinge about a beautiful classic typeface like futura being replaced by Verdana - which is a font that comes shipped with your PC and UGLY Style critics hit latest Ikea design: Verdana catalogue typeface reddit More Ikea, the Swedish furniture chain, said Sunday it never expected such a backlash after switching typeface in its latest catalogue.

The company's decision to make its first such font change in 50 years - from the iconic Futura typeface to the Verdana one - has caused a worldwide reaction on the internet. The catalogue, which the company advertises as the world's most printed book, was distributed last month. "We're surprised," said Ikea spokeswoman Camilla Meiby. "But I think it's mainly experts who have expressed their views, people who are interested in fonts. I don't think the broad public is that interested." Verdana was invented by Microsoft for use on a computer screen, not on paper. Its wide, open letters with space between characters are designed to increase legibility on small computer screens. Ikea said that in order to reach many people in many different ways, it needed a font that works in both digital and print media. Advertisement "Verdana is a simple, cost-effective font which works well in all media and languages," Meiby said. But some Ikea fans were outraged, finding Verdana less elegant than Futura.

The online forum Typophile ended its first post with the words, "It's a sad day." A week ago, Romanian design consultant Marius Ursache started an online petition called "Ikea, please get rid of Verdana." On Sunday, the campaign had more than 2700 signatures. The move to a simple, modern-looking font also fuelled Twitter posts such as "Ikea, stop the Verdana madness" and "Words can't describe my disgust." Swedish art director Christoph Comstedt disagreed. "I don't think the average consumer will react, maybe people in the advertising business," Comstedt said. Ikea has 246 stores selling inexpensive but stylish furnishings globally and around 140,000 staff members. AP Signalwriter: Upset at IKEA Logo Change? Get a Life. Upset at IKEA Logo Change? Get a Life. Did IKEA really change its logo? Not as far as I can tell – can you? It’s weird, you know – talking about a Japanese logo one day, and stumbling across an apparent change to the IKEA logo type font that “erupted into controversy” – according to Houston Chronicle reporter Mary Tuma – the next.

Tuma poses an interview with Rice marketing prof Vikas Mittal: “…about ways companies can prevent brand blunders.” Mittal’s main point is that companies changing their logos really ought to consult with their customers first: A typical redesign can take up to two years and cost $15 million to $20 million for a large company. Yet, there isn’t too much research done on how it affects their customers. Anything from size, typeface to color can trigger different associations…A lot of customers against this change see themselves connected to what IKEA represents – progressive, modern style. Changing the font jeopardizes all of those associations. Fine except that it doesn’t appear IKEA changed the type font of its well-known logo. The company changed the typeface used in its catalogs, its corporate typeface, to Verdana from Futura. Not logo change - body copy style change. Big diff – and virtually no difference at all, not in the grown-up world of life, the Universe and everything. It may be that some type designers and fans are strangely upset – one blog respondent said, “IKEA should change to Verdana.

Futura is too good for IKEA, and they don’t really deserve to use it.” There are several insightful explorations of the IKEA “font fiasco” online. Read the coverage provided by Jennifer Farley of Laughing Lion Design for a more complete review of what’s what. (The IKEA catalog cover images come from Brandacadabra’s Marius Ursache, who writes that “…as a designer, I feel betrayed.” Read his comments next.) Gracious. I missed this minor outbreak of brand silliness amid the media’s far bigger reporting screw-up of the US Coast Guard’s Potomac River exercise yesterday. So, first, thanks to reporter Tuma for getting this “backlash” in front of me, even as I seriously question just how serious a problem IKEA really has. Second, as even designer Ursache admits, “…this isn’t world hunger.” It’s not even worth a puff piece in the Chronicle. Ta for Saturday... Posted by Online protests over Ikea's font change | Newshub Online protests over Ikea's font change 30/08/2009 Ikea, the Swedish furniture chain, said Sunday it never expected such a backlash after switching typeface in its latest catalogue.

The company's decision to make its first such font change in 50 years - from the iconic Futura typeface to the Verdana one - has caused a worldwide reaction on the internet. The catalogue, which the company advertises as the world's most printed book, was distributed last month. "We're surprised," said Ikea spokeswoman Camilla Meiby. "But I think it's mainly experts who have expressed their views, people who are interested in fonts. I don't think the broad public is that interested." Verdana was invented by Microsoft for use on a computer screen, not on paper. Its wide, open letters with space between characters are designed to increase legibility on small computer screens. Ikea said that in order to reach many people in many different ways, it needed a font that works in both digital and print media. "Verdana is a simple, cost-effective font which works well in all media and languages," Meiby said. But some Ikea fans were outraged, finding Verdana less elegant than Futura.

The online forum Typophile ended its first post with the words, "It's a sad day." A week ago, Romanian design consultant Marius Ursache started an online petition called "Ikea, please get rid of Verdana." On Sunday, the campaign had more than 2,700 signatures. The move to a simple, modern-looking font also fuelled Twitter posts such as "Ikea, stop the Verdana madness" and "Words can't describe my disgust." Swedish art director Christoph Comstedt disagreed. "I don't think the average consumer will react, maybe people in the advertising business," Comstedt said. Ikea has 246 stores selling inexpensive but stylish furnishings globally and around 140,000 staff members. AP New IKEA catalog a font of discord | The Columbus Dispatch New IKEA catalog a font of discord National News from AP Wed Jan 18 07:39:00 EST 2017 World News from AP Wed Jan 18 14:19:00 EST 2017 Get Email Updates Sign Up The Dispatch E-Edition The E-Edition includes all of the news, comics, classifieds and advertisements of the newspaper.

And it's available to subscribers before 6 a.m. every day. All current subscribers have full access to Digital D, which includes the E-Edition and unlimited premium content on Dispatch.com, BuckeyeXtra.com, BlueJacketsXtra.com and DispatchPolitics.com. Subscribe today! By By Stephan Nasstrom ASSOCIATED PRESS • Monday August 31, 2009 4:24 AM Enlarge Image Request to buy this photo New IKEA catalog a font of discord - STOCKHOLM -- Ikea, the Swedish furniture chain, said yesterday that it never expected such a backlash after switching typefaces in its latest catalog. The company's decision to make its first such change in 50 years -- from the Futura typeface to Verdana -- has caused a worldwide reaction on the Internet. The catalog, which the company advertises as the world's most printed book, was distributed last month. "We're surprised," said Ikea spokeswoman Camilla Meiby. "But I think it's mainly experts who have expressed their views, people who are interested in fonts. I don't think the broad public is that interested." Verdana was invented by Microsoft for use on a computer screen, not on paper.

Its wide, open letters with space between characters are designed to increase legibility on small computer screens. Ikea said that in order to reach many people in many different ways, it needed a typeface that works in both digital and print media. "Verdana is a simple, cost-effective font which works well in all media and languages," Meiby said. But some Ikea fans were outraged, finding Verdana less elegant than Futura. The online forum Typophile ended its first post with the words, "It's a sad day." A week ago, Romanian design consultant Marius Ursache started an online petition called "Ikea, please get rid of Verdana." By yesterday, the campaign had more than 2,700 signatures. The move to perhaps a simpler, more modern-looking font also fueled Twitter posts such as "Ikea, stop the Verdana madness" and "Words can't describe my disgust." Swedish art director Christoph Comstedt disagreed. "I don't think the average consumer will react -- maybe people in the advertising business," Comstedt said. Ikea has about 140,000 employees and 246 stores selling inexpensive but stylish furnishings globally.

Ikea chain’s new catalog font sparks worldwide reaction Ikea chain’s new catalog font sparks worldwide reaction By AP Sunday, August 30, 2009 Ikea defends its new catalog typeface STOCKHOLM — Ikea, the Swedish furniture chain, said Sunday it never expected such a backlash after switching typeface in its latest catalog. The company’s decision to make its first such font change in 50 years — from the iconic Futura typeface to the Verdana one — has caused a worldwide reaction on the Internet. The catalog — which the company advertises as the world’s most printed book — was distributed last month. “We’re surprised,” said Ikea spokeswoman Camilla Meiby. “But I think it’s mainly experts who have expressed their views, people who are interested in fonts. I don’t think the broad public is that interested.” Verdana was invented by Microsoft for use on a computer screen, not on paper. Its wide, open letters with space between characters are designed to increase legibility on small computer screens. Ikea said that in order to reach many people in many different ways, it needed a font that works in both digital and print media.

“Verdana is a simple, cost-effective font which works well in all media and languages,” Meiby said. But some Ikea fans were outraged, finding Verdana less elegant than Futura. The online forum Typophile ended its first post with the words, “It’s a sad day.” A week ago, Romanian design consultant Marius Ursache started an online petition called “Ikea, please get rid of Verdana.” On Sunday, the campaign had more than 2,700 signatures. The move to a simple, modern-looking font also fueled Twitter posts such as “Ikea, stop the Verdana madness” and “Words can’t describe my disgust.” Swedish art director Christoph Comstedt disagreed. “I don’t think the average consumer will react, maybe people in the advertising business,” Comstedt said. Ikea has 246 stores selling inexpensive but stylish furnishings globally and around 140,000 staff members. On the Net:

Question: Which retail chain changed their corporate font in 2009 from Futura to Verdana?
Answer: IKEA