Gail Rankin's blog

A couple of weeks ago I received the new IKEA catalog in the mail and promptly cuddled up and enjoyed some moments of fantasy about the beautiful clutter free Swedish mod apartment I could have one day. As I was perusing the home decor bible, I noticed that the headline type and some other elements did not feel as streamlined and clean. In the past IKEA was one of the fore-runners of the streamlined and clean Bauhaus style.

Well, it turns out I was right ... IKEA has changed their catalog and store signage typeface from Futura to Verdana. To the dismay of MANY of their design-minded clientele. Actually dismay seems too subtle of a word, it’s more like outrage! There is currently a petition online to get rid of Verdana with over 6,000 signatures. Not to mention 100's of blog postings and online articles including Time, New York Times, and Business Week.

For those of you that don't know the history of the two typefaces I will explain things a little.

FUTURA
A classic modern typeface following the Bauhaus design philosophy designed by Paul Renner between 1924 and 1926. He followed the Bauhaus esthetic in that he avoided creating any non-essential elements making use of geometric proportions with no serifs** or frills. It has a crisp, clean form and gives the feeling of efficiency and forwardness.

VERDANA
Designed in 1994 by Microsoft with the intent to create a new typeface that had exceptional readability online at small sizes. Because it was designed for small on-screen text some design elements were overlooked ... and the outcome was a clunky and awkward type when it was displayed large.

It seems that Tropicana’s new identity is causing a lot of uproar. The common opinion is that it looks like a discount brand because of the generic photo and overly simplified design. Yet, the product and price seem to be the same as before! This has caused a lot of confusion. People are angry when they browse the juice section with all its options and brands popping out … they can’t locate their old-time favorite … because its incognito! Not to mention hard to read for many.

When I first laid eyes on the new Tropicana carton, I instantly thought of The Byne Group. Then I thought about Pepsi Cola and their new simplified design. I’m always in favor of a cleaner design (we all are at The Byne Group!) … with Target and Apple being the prime examples of big corps. that have done it well. Turns out that Pepsi Corp. has decided to update several of their key products due to decreased sales. This includes Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade and Tropicana.

The new design was just released in January 2009 and it certainly didn’t last long because Tropicana made a statement this week citing that they will be reverting to the old design.

Even though this seemed to be a crash and burn scenario for Pepsi … I look at it in another way, they got a lot of press coverage and attention over this issue. People were reminded of how much they are connected to Tropicana. And I also applaud them for being brave and trying to do something very different for the industry they are in. Bravo!

New York Times, www,nytimes.com,
“Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Packaging,” Feb. 23, 2009.