Yes, it’s fonts that we are talking about here, and as anyone who has seen the documentary “Helvetica” or fiddled with computer programs can tell you, there’s a big difference between Wingdings and Bauhaus. And there are many people who care deeply about the ways letters are given shape, how they descend below the line, where they get thicker or thinner and how elaborately they are ornamented.
So when Ikea casually abandoned its version of the famed 20th-century font Futura that had served it for 50 years and replaced it for 2010 with the computer-screen font Verdana, professional outrage was immense.
via nytimes.comI always thought that the IKEA brand, especially in my mid-20's when it was THE furniture option for me, was more "inexpensive" than "cheap". This one change in typography can change that perception - making it a lowercase brand in more ways than typeface.
for me, ikea has always been about the store. the catalog is nice but it has never made me say "I must have this now" in the way the store does. lucky thing, I guess...