IKEA's Web Fonts

a year ago

IKEA initially used Futura font, synonymous with its branding since 1954.
In 2010, IKEA switched to Verdana for better digital compatibility across devices.
Verdana's limitation was its lack of support for non-Latin scripts, problematic as IKEA expanded into markets like Thailand and South Korea.
IKEA adopted Noto Sans, a Google font supporting all languages, and customized it to create Noto IKEA.
Initial deployment of Noto IKEA involved using Google Fonts and a small custom font for amended characters.
Problems arose with caching, performance, and legal concerns regarding Google Fonts under GDPR.
IKEA moved to self-hosting fonts to improve performance, reduce dependencies, and ensure legal compliance.
The self-hosting solution included subsetting, chunking fonts, and removing unnecessary features to optimize load times.
IKEA explored variable fonts but found limited benefits for their current typography system.
Future improvements include optimizing font delivery for CJK markets and removing unused characters.

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