Typophiles everywhere, hang your heads for a moment of silence. Another great design decision has been bungled by the corporate machinery. IKEA, long known for sleek flat-packed Swedish furniture, has replaced its long time corporate font. The classic font that has been laid to rest? Futura, that classic modernist typeface by Paul Renner. By any measure, it is a classic, and exactly the sort of font you might want to use if you were a stylish hip modern company dealing with stylish hip modern furniture. The replacement? Verdana, that ubiquitous core font from Matthew Carter, via Microsoft.
I happen to actually think Verdana is a great screen font and served a vital role in the last decade as web-based typography floundered in low resolution and poor aliasing. But it is not a great typeface in the same way Futura is, and it is certainly not stylish or hip. It is even reviled in some circles. The real shame though, is that Ikea seems to have chosen the font by default, because it was easier, or cheaper, or maybe because they don’t know any better. And if that is the case, I would imagine their furniture will soon become even flatter.
Type is often overlooked, and with the pervasiveness of modern computing, is often mistreated and misused. But type can convey a depth of emotion and even a set of values that is often read unconsciously, but read nonetheless. If you are serious about communication, you will demand more than the default.
Fans of furniture can get a new Ikea catalog. Fans of Futura can buy a Volkswagen and fill it up at the Shell station.