The Magic of IKEA's Catalogs

IKEA is a Swedish multinational group that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories, among other useful goods and occasionally home services. Their goal is “To create a better everyday life for the many people” - Ingvar Kamprad the founder of IKEA. As a multinational, dozen of leaflet and look-book in different languages are published monthly. Without a “system” or rule to generate their design, working in IKEA’s propaganda department might be the nightmare of every graphic designer. 

The Arrangement of IKEA’s catalogs are clear and direct. Different series of products are divided by colours from page to page, leading a clear separation for viewers to locate their ideal style. With this among of information, without a goos arrangement might lead the lost in their sales.  The use of repetition on layout composition created a particular user experience, viewer enjoy the familiar satisfaction, be fond and want to experience again and again, I kept more then six years of Ikea’s catalogs though the information of it are expired, still i enjoy flipping through them sometime, I’ve been brainwashed.  

Typeface 

Verdana — the font that’s safe to use on the Web. IKEA have said the reason for this was to simplify and merge the fonts used on the Web and in print. Compare to other typeface, Verdana have a shorter ascender & descender, which is more readable for viewers.

(extend reading: Futura Vs. Verdana by Amanda Reeder, Feb 5, 2013 https://issuu.com/aereeder/docs/futura_vs_verdana_final_book)