Comments on: Ikea Has Outraged “Fontheads” http://blog.hiledesign.com/ikea-has-outraged-%e2%80%9cfontheads%e2%80%9d/913/ Hile Design's advertising, design and fun blog Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:03:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Monica Getz http://blog.hiledesign.com/ikea-has-outraged-%e2%80%9cfontheads%e2%80%9d/913/comment-page-1/#comment-4976 Monica Getz Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:41:33 +0000 http://blog.hiledesign.com/?p=913#comment-4976 After reading a preview of Dave's post, a Hile staffer (who shall remain nameless) made the innocent comment, "Don't people have better things to worry about than fonts?" The rest of the Hile crew within earshot promptly launched into an impassioned, albeit brief, discussion about the very topic. In the previous version of Dave's post, he mentioned that "we" agreed with Ikea. Lindsey, our resident fontophile, promptly took issue: Well, Dave, we don't necessarily agree with you, you know. After all, Verdana is a web font. Julie: Yeah, Dave. I'm not crazy about it, either. Dave (startled at this lack of cohesiveness among the Hile team): Well, I didn't say I'm in favor of Verdana being used any place Futura is used ... Art: I went into Ikea and they had a sign with words on it in Verdana as big as you ... It was ugly! Me (I admit somewhat self-righteously, trying to show how I, as the office writer, am above the trivialities of font discussions): What's really important is what's written in the font, not the font itself. Art: I can show you a dozen examples of when that's not true. Alright, already. So, I guess we at Hile are a little opinionated about font usage. Sheesh! Granted, there are more important things in the world than Ikea's choice to use Verdana (they're paying the bill, after all), but we all have our hot buttons, and at least in this design-oriented office, typography tends to be one of them. Oh, and Dave? I like the way Verdana looks on our marketing letters, which is as close as I tend to get to it! After reading a preview of Dave’s post, a Hile staffer (who shall remain nameless) made the innocent comment, “Don’t people have better things to worry about than fonts?” The rest of the Hile crew within earshot promptly launched into an impassioned, albeit brief, discussion about the very topic. In the previous version of Dave’s post, he mentioned that “we” agreed with Ikea. Lindsey, our resident fontophile, promptly took issue: Well, Dave, we don’t necessarily agree with you, you know. After all, Verdana is a web font.

Julie: Yeah, Dave. I’m not crazy about it, either.

Dave (startled at this lack of cohesiveness among the Hile team): Well, I didn’t say I’m in favor of Verdana being used any place Futura is used …

Art: I went into Ikea and they had a sign with words on it in Verdana as big as you … It was ugly!

Me (I admit somewhat self-righteously, trying to show how I, as the office writer, am above the trivialities of font discussions): What’s really important is what’s written in the font, not the font itself.

Art: I can show you a dozen examples of when that’s not true.

Alright, already. So, I guess we at Hile are a little opinionated about font usage. Sheesh! Granted, there are more important things in the world than Ikea’s choice to use Verdana (they’re paying the bill, after all), but we all have our hot buttons, and at least in this design-oriented office, typography tends to be one of them. Oh, and Dave? I like the way Verdana looks on our marketing letters, which is as close as I tend to get to it!

]]> By: Dave Hile http://blog.hiledesign.com/ikea-has-outraged-%e2%80%9cfontheads%e2%80%9d/913/comment-page-1/#comment-4929 Dave Hile Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:03:38 +0000 http://blog.hiledesign.com/?p=913#comment-4929 I should clarify that I am not recommending Verdana for use in headers and display fonts in print, but it holds up well at small sizes (like 9 pt) as a text font. I should clarify that I am not recommending Verdana for use in headers and display fonts in print, but it holds up well at small sizes (like 9 pt) as a text font.

]]> By: Lindsey http://blog.hiledesign.com/ikea-has-outraged-%e2%80%9cfontheads%e2%80%9d/913/comment-page-1/#comment-4928 Lindsey Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:31:22 +0000 http://blog.hiledesign.com/?p=913#comment-4928 Glad you revised your postscript. Personally I disagree with Ikea's decision; Futura is a beautiful font and much more interesting for display. I'm shuddering to think of their giant banners in Verdana now. Sadness. Verdana's not necessarily a bad font for print, but I think it's better used on-screen. You'd think they would have gone with some Swiss Typography… Glad you revised your postscript. Personally I disagree with Ikea’s decision; Futura is a beautiful font and much more interesting for display. I’m shuddering to think of their giant banners in Verdana now. Sadness. Verdana’s not necessarily a bad font for print, but I think it’s better used on-screen.

You’d think they would have gone with some Swiss Typography…

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