Typeface Tussle

Fans of cheap chic furniture retailer Ikea are all in a huff these days. It must be that wretched allen key, right? You would think. Turns out, the same love of design that has bargain-minded consumers snapping up light wood chairs and sleek desks also has them up in arms about the Swedish company’s latest design change: its catalog font.

NPR reports that Ikea, which was using the font Futura for 50 years, abruptly switched to Verdana, a typeface created by Microsoft to ease on-screen reading. The move was none-to-popular among Ikea fans. The Swedish retailer got a virtual earful from design mavens the world over who took to Twitter and blogs to express their dissatisfaction. There's even an online petition circulating to get Ikea to switch back.

The furniture giant, though, says that it chose Verdana specifically because it reads well both on the page and on the screen. And they aren’t planning to change back.

Why can't everything just be Helvetica?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.