IKEA and Verdana Options

[pandy]

I stumbled on this and thought it was rather funny in a strange way. Verdana certainly evokes feelings. More than 7000 people have signed this petition to make IKEA stop using Verdana for their catalogue and go back to Ikea Sans and Ikea Serif. Did anyone know there were IKEA fonts? Gosh.

http://www.petitiononline.com/IKEAVERD/petition.html

One of the signers: "I'll boycott IKEA if they keep using Verdana".

[wgabrie]

Wow, that's unexpected.

I guess that, after over a decade of seeing the same web-safe fonts over and over, people just don't want to see them anymore. I've heard of the ban comic sans movement, but going after Verdana takes the anti-[insert font] movements to a whole new level. Verdana, and its serif neighbor Georgia, are very readable because of their high letter height. I guess at this rate people will be going after Arial and Helvetica soon enough if they haven't already done so.

I guess it's time for web designers to start looking for better font stacks.

This post has been edited by wgabrie: Oct 9 2010, 03:53 PM

[Darin McGrew]

Actually, people have been complaining about the use of Verdana for a while, but many of the complaints about its use on the web have been based on what happens when authors pick sizes in px and the visitor's system doesn't use Verdana for whatever reason. For example: Web Matters - Why you should avoid Verdana

[pandy]

Sure, and those who understand typography say it's an ugly and simple font. But I'm amazed that people feel that strongly for the font choice for a product catalogue. Neither did I know that the IKEA cataloque used to be a masterpiece of design. I guess I lack taste.

[wgabrie]

I'm aware of the Verdana / pixel size problem.

Also, the other day I read that GAP changed its logo and everyone hated it. (Well, actually I don't like it either compared to their old logo...)

I guess the age of the word processor and a small, overused collection of "cookie cutter" fonts has left people looking for new and different text styles. It sounds like it's almost time for Calligraphy to go mainstream in the digital age and not just the font-family or in the form of pictures with alt-text... But in a way more like medieval manuscript art.

This post has been edited by wgabrie: Oct 9 2010, 07:51 PM

[stjepan]

Verdana is very readable and very boring font. Something to be put on the sleeping pills box. There are many simple but exciting fonts out there. And Ikea catalogs with Verdana are pure horror from the designer's point of view.

[pandy]

Isn't everything IKEA pure horror? I get sweaty just thinking about those pages with peculiar details for a shelf system...

[stjepan]

Well, it is not. They have cool bolts, screws, hammers...

[pandy]

Surely you jest...

I think when they started they had some good furniture, but not much of that now. But what do you do when your wallet is thin? Buy it anyway!

[Frederiek]

But you have to give them the benefit of having a solid market share and their business is well set up. I saw that once on Discovery; really clever. And, like you said (thin wallet), it serves the masses in this ongoing economic crisis.