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A STUDENT DESIGNER PROPOSES REPLACING IKEA’S
DATED LOGO WITH SOMETHING FRESH AND LIVELY.
Margaret Rhodes
Ikea’s traditional blue and yellow logo was designed as a
nod to the company’s Swedish heritage. It’s easy to recognize
and can be seen from a distance, as you drive up to the
warehouse-sized store. Other than that, the logo is pretty
bland.
Ikea’s merchandise, however, has many characteristics: It’s
minimalist, affordable, space-friendly, and has tonguetwisting Swedish product names. Its graphic identity just
doesn’t really speak to any of them. “It’s instantly recognizable
as being a Swedish institution, but does it suit Ikea as a
company in 2014?” asks student designer Joe Ling. “I don’t
think so.”
Ling decided to do some course correcting, in a project for
a class at the Norwich University of the Arts, in the United
Kingdom. The class was asked to choose from a list of
companies that included, in addition to Ikea, Bang & Olufsen,
and toy maker Meccano. Ling’s take: Not only does the Ikea
logo look dated, but it doesn’t articulate what Ikea does best,
which is to sell playful, flat-packed furniture.
“I remember as a child going to Ikea with my family and
running up and down the seemingly never-ending aisles
of cardboard boxes filled with flat packaged furniture,” he
tells Co.Design. “I thought the most recognizable way to
represent Ikea would be if the branding itself had an element
of construction.”
Ling’s logo is a 3-D outline of the Ikea letters, stacked unevenly.
The lin \