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What the Helvetica? IKEA changes typefaces.

 

When I think of Ikea, I think of efficient, clean, simple and functional items and design. When I think of the typeface Verdana, I think of making my US History papers look longer in APA Format. This is why my head hurts a little, as a designer, when I think about the fact that Ikea has changed– for the first time in 50 years– the design for their international branding. 

I took a look at the new catalog with my roomie (also a designer) and we both sighed a little bit. We wondered out loud,Verdana?! It’s not clean looking! Verdana was made for computer screens, why the heck is it being used for a print catalog? … It doesn’t look right. It’s ugly. 

Ikea used a modified version of the typeface Futura called Ikea Sans. It was used on EVERYTHING in the store in different colors and weights. Futura is severely overused by amateur designers, but it’s very sharp and particular, and is visually associated to Ikea. It’s also the only typeface to make it into space.

After a few minutes of seeing if it would grow on us, we came to a final verdict: Verdana is clunky and generic looking. Ikea is cheap, but the design and presentation never looks cheap.  It would seem that the author of this NYtimes article had similar feelings. I’m over it, and –as an analytical artist, I’ve moved onto other rationale for a switch (functionality).

Either way, I don’t think it deserves a petition. Yes, someone made a petition.  The Short Form Blog got pretty sassy about it, too. Um, I say that we save petitions for something other than typefaces. What do you think?

After reading a few more articles while writing this, I’ve decided I agree with Ikea for the switch and not with the thousands red-faced designers across the land. Designers out there are probably raising their T-squares in protest at me, but Ikea has sold me with their rationale:

“….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.”


I agree. But this still feels like the argument you have when your Mom wants you to get a pair of butt ugly– excuse me– ’sensible’ shoes for school.


bianca | Sep 8 2009 4:55pm | art, futura, IKEA, nytimes, verdana | Comment 1

TWITTERPOLL: 08/28/09

This week’s TWITTERPOLL was inspired by my post, An Ode to IKEA. It didn’t get many comments, but I was thrilled to see it was a big RT (retweet, for you technical Luddites) in the Tweesphere, and that many other 20-somethings sympathized! After stressing (whining) about the gripes of moving and assembling furniture, I decided to ask what everyone actually likes in their place.

This week we asked:

 

aaaaaaaaaand all the cool kids said:

 

 

Thanks to everyone who participated! Follow us on Twitter to be in next week’s TWITTERPOLL.


bianca | Aug 28 2009 12:59pm | Uncategorized, Anthropologie, IKEA, philly apartment, teacups, twitter, Uhuru, vintage | Comments 0

An Ode to Ikea.

 

All of this can be summed up in a single sentence I shouted to my room-mate, “This is like some effed up game where you climb through wood and screws on your hands and knees… and if you don’t hurt yourself, you get a shelf.”

 

Once upon a time, I had furniture I didn’t have to build myself. It was in a land far, far away where I didn’t have rent, responsibility and I, obviously, had not yet discovered the joys of doing my own laundry.
That joyous time was high school, and that furniture belonged to my parents.

While I’ve been fortunate to hang onto a few key pieces from my the ‘rents in the past 6 years, not much survived college that wasn’t made of the same sort of polymer that’s also used to make tupperware. I stressed. I moved into a new apartment. I stressed some more, and then the Post-Collegiate Gods smiled upon me and bellowed, You shall discover Ikea, and yooo-oou shall build! and I said, …Oh maaaaa-aan.

I found many things: I discovered brushed chrome, bins, furniture that looks heavy that isn’t, furniture that looks light that is actually quite heavy, and isles that can go on for days. Ikea is awesome in many ways, but once you leave the spick-and-span store where everything is perfectly placed, and –more importantly- put together, things… change. Screws suddenly disappear. Nails bend. People throw their backs out.

 

My friend Jaco said that Ikea is like an erector set for big people. If he only knew.

Seriously– thanks to Ikea, I can feel better about any ex-boyfriend and the worst imaginable intimiate encounters. Why?? Because I’ve spent more time on my back, awkwardly bent into strange positions with a screwdriver, grunting, attempting to build a moderately priced furniture …and have felt more generally defeated than a person should ever feel at their own consent. 

So what is the moral to this weird tale? You’ve made it this far, so I suppose it’s safe to tell you that this week has been a total eye-opener: after building three separate (quite large) pieces of furniture entirely on my own, I’ve found myself suddenly appreciating Mom and Dad staying up on Christmas Eve, building that damn desk and chair set I asked for.

I’m acknowledging this weird hazing as a step through the threshold that is my 20’s; I’m saluting my shorts to those who survived before me –and made it out alive, and that now have furniture that is not entirely made of masonite. 

Here, here: to anyone who has played a game of real-life Tetris in the back-seat of their Mom’s CRV just so, after great laborious efforts involving leftover parts and instructions without words,  they can hang their clothes up.

bianca | Aug 25 2009 3:02am | DIY, pics or it didn't happen, building your own furniture, IKEA, moving out | Comment 1

IKEA rolls out solar

Yay, ever since taking apart some of those solar-powered garden lights and semi-successfully attempting to turn them into sun jars, I’ve been really interested in solar lights. And hey look, IKEA’s Summer 2009 collection turns out to have a bunch of solar options!

In that cute Swedish Chef way IKEA has of mashing together languages, the line is called SOLIG and SUNNAN.

Interestingly enough, this appears to be the first wave of a larger IKEA move to make green technology as affordable as they’ve made somewhat flimsy modern furniture. IKEA pledged $77 million over the next five years to investments in green startups last August; the resulting products (which will focus on solar panels, alternative light sources, eco-friendly materials, energy efficiency, and water saving and purification systems) will then be sold in IKEA stores.

This is seriously neat. The major thing standing standing in the way of mainstreaming alternate forms of energy is the affordability and the perception as it being a concern mostly of people who wouldn’t dreeeeeeeeeam of buying their groceries anywhere but Whole Foods. The absolute best way to get the ball rolling is to get the tech into IKEA and Target and WalMart, and onto people’s desks.

SUNNAN desk lamp, $19.95

via MoCoLoco


emily g | Mar 4 2009 1:08pm | green, home, shopping, IKEA, solar power | Comments 0