Ikea says goodbye to Futura
This week Ikea made the decision to switch it’s dominant typeface used in all it’s catalogs from gorgeous Futura to Verdana. I simply cannot understand why any designer in their right mind would make such a switch knowing that Verdana really pales in comparison as a typeface for headings. Moreover it is a Microsoft typeface. Sigh.
Take a closer look at this typography sample below and you’ll notice just how wrong Verdana is compared to Futura for their usage. The uppercase “i” in particular just irks me. I get that they wanted to keep their branding consistent between their online presence and their catalogs but with inventions like TypeKit on their way there really is no excuse for such a poor type choice. More to the point, Verdana isn’t even a Scandinavian typeface, at least Futura was created by German born Paul Renner so it is sort of in keeping with their Scandinavian stylings. Oh Ikea, what are you thinking!
