Jake’s Neighborhood

Go forth and fill your libraries with media.

Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.

~daisy

This post discusses IKEA's move to use Verdana, a typeface mainly used for its notable legibility on web pages, but also closely associated with Microsoft. In-between paragraphs are images of IKEA which I have captured for the past four years (serving mainly as a documentation of the transition and a last look at IKEA before Verdana).

First, let's know about Verdana's origins (but this, you can Google it yourself).

Second, let's think of where we usually see Verdana being used. After the age of home-made websites read in Times New Roman, along with animated GIFs, 'Sign My Guestbook', MIDI background music and scrolling titles, Verdana came about as the primary typeface of the body text on web pages. One website that sums up what the web looked like in the year 2003 is Myspace (and it still does).

Thankfully Helvetica came to clear things up and became the prominent typeface for the past 4 years. Despite that, Helvetica has been given an unfair treatment, especially by whom I would call militant revivalists and pseudo design practitioners, but that's a totally different story altogether.

Although Verdana is quickly being phased out online, many message boards and online forums today still use this typeface (like lowyat and macrumors, which isn't much of an issue). Very rare do we get to see Verdana in real life, except on printed announcements made on the spur of the moment (like notice boards you'd find in schools).

But all of a sudden, without warning, surprisingly and so on, IKEA is adopting Verdana as a part of its identity, replacing Futura (or a variation of it), which they have been using for decades. Naturally, my reaction was "WTF?!". This was when I downloaded the US edition of the catalogue, released way earlier in August. I noticed the usage of Verdana but subconsciously dismissed it, thinking that it's just some electronic formatting error or something technically similar to that.

Then I noticed many design blogs making a lot of noise about IKEA's latest typographical paradigm shift. Some unsuccessfully defended that it is IKEA's effort to be 'truly accessible', but most protested that it is 'one step backward' and 'a backlash to the utilitarian chic which IKEA has been advocating' (not real quotes; just a summary of the majority of the comments).

This has got me thinking to myself not just why IKEA switch to Verdana, but also the motive behind this degrading decision, what sort of justification IKEA would state for their move, the connection between using Verdana and the 'expected' rise in sales (which company would want to make a move that decrease sales, eh?), and what beauty does IKEA see in Verdana which Futura does not have?

I mean, let's face it. Verdana is not a good-looker in print. Other than that, I won't comment onto the complex details; I'll leave that to the experts. Would it make sense if I were to speculate that Verdana is just some one-off thing and it's back to Futura next year? Probably not. It's not just the catalogue that is being morphed into some Verdana junkyard, but also the store signages and website. However I haven't seen Verdana on its product packaging, but we can expect that soon.

If you can recall, IKEA was using another typeface, a serifed one (which I can vaguely remember seeing it printed on its product packaging and instructional booklets [in off-white recycled paper]) 13 years ago (this was around the same time I first knew of IKEA through their billboard of a cow-print sofa with a copy that says "Home is where IKEA is", located on the Federal Highway somewhere near Angkasapuri).

One way I can think of to refer to this particular typeface is in the picture above, which is a small tray which the restaurant had back in 2006, the one similar to the numbers printed on the DEKAD alarm clock. I am not sure if it had any significance to anyone when IKEA stopped using that typeface. If you are familiar with this, do share it.

So how do I talk about IKEA's switch to Verdana without getting emotional? Not possible. Instead of checking out the lovely new items and room designs and admiring Swedish-looking families in the kitchen, featured in the catalogue like how it should be every year, this year's has got me shaking my head all the way through.

I could go on and on about the horror of Verdana + Microsoft, making very bitter remarks and then conclude that life must go on. But I am not even a typography specialist; if I see a typeface that looks good and has no disturbing connotations with renowned ugly brands like Microsoft, I'll support it. And Verdana is no way one of them.

And while being on topic, I would like to touch on the local IKEA's effort to include the Malay language in their signage, advertisements and promotional items. It's about time IKEA gave recognition to the national language. To this date, all local IKEA catalogues are published in the English language, but I hope there would be a Malay version soon. IKEA is quickly gaining attention from the Malay middle-class (who uses Malay as their first language) market who are getting familiar with the IKEA culture of buying furniture and accessories as frequent as buying groceries. From my own observation, the Malay that is being used in IKEA are mostly English-isms and direct translations. I hope they will improve on this.

Actually, there are many other things I'd like to bring up about IKEA today, like the wonderfulness of the new IKEA PS line, people who don't clean up their tables, a man who spent an hour wrapping his purchases at the wrapping tables before sending it through air mail, and a space age-looking booster seat, but I'm putting the full stop here.

How do you feel about IKEA's switch to Verdana?

I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.

I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.

Cheers,

daisy

I found the house which was used as Meera's residence in the 1995 film Ringgit Kasorrga, which I have written about early this year.

Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.

We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.

I will keep you posted.

Thank you for being so patient.

~daisy

Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.

This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!

Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.

Can't wait to read your posts!

~ daisy

The Amazon Conduit will be working again on October 15, 2009. Thank you to everyone for your patience.

Have a great weekend,

daisy, Team Vox

In my last Team Vox post, I let you know that we're aware that the Amazon conduit is broken and that we're working to fix it. Many of you want to know when it's going to be fixed and I'm so sorry I haven't gotten back to you about that sooner.

Unfortunately, I don't have an exact date to give you, but rest assured, the Amazon conduit will be fixed in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, I'm about to finish my latest book and I could use a few suggestions as to what to read next, so... if you don't mind, let me know in the comments what's on your nightstand and/or what book you think I absolutely must read next.

Thanks! :)

daisy

Some of you may have noticed that right now you cannot add books from Amazon to your Vox library. Giving people a glimpse into what's on your night stand is important to many of you, so I just wanted to reassure you that we are doing our best to get this bug fixed. I'll keep you posted.

So sorry for the inconvenience.

Hope you have a great weekend!
daisy

After hearing and seeing the no-longer-existent cenfad, I've been getting nostalgic on the route I used to take twice a week back in the years 2005-2006, for my inconveniently-late drafting class at 6 pm. Starting from my house at 4.30 p.m., it took a brisk 9-minute walk to the LRT station. I spotted at least 4 people in the cabin with white Apple earphones, like mine. An improvement.

Taman Jaya looks quite the same like before. The house at the end of the area, the one which had a nice-looking swimming pool, is no longer visible due to the noise shield [installed quite some time ago].

Many of the squatters in the Pantai Dalam area were burnt / demolished to make way for this new development called 'Bangsar South'. A new, ugly-looking building complex can be seen from the Federal Highway.

10 stations later I reached KLCC. The platform was abnormally warm, even though there weren't many people yet. I surfaced to the concourse level, seeing Rotiboy still baking aromatic bread, and the news stand where I used to buy my monthly dose of ELLEgirl. Before heading to the underpass to the convention centre, I dropped by the news stand at Cold Storage. Now, it has a nice shelf displaying niche fashion magazines, although the shop still makes one move around like a crab.

In the tunnel, the advertisements have obviously changed. I used to walk past Samsung/Chelsea ads, LG air-conditioner ads, but today, it has an iPhone ad in English and Malay.

The ascending escalator took me to the park level, where I would walk past ticketing counters and exhibition halls. This time, there were considerably more passer-bys, chiefly Arab tourists and expo people in suits.

This corridor is directly connected to Traders Hotel, which still has the same-looking lobby.

Out of the hotel and on to Jalan Kia Peng, there were several more familiar sights, like this RapidKL bus parked by the roadside, where its driver would take time to clean their bus and sleep.

I was a little odded out to find a house belonging to the ambassador of Germany. I could have sworn it was Belgium's.

Right after the cross-junction, a new firm has taken over the old house next to cenfad. It's Design Development Centre [DDEC], owned by MARA.

I took a look at this house where I used to by my lunch at the grilled fish stalls behind it. I realised that its architecture and layout greatly resembles that of cenfad's.

At the courtyard, I saw two men playing a game of badminton. I asked them what this place was, and what happened to cenfad next door. Very friendly people. They advised me to check with the receptionist to know more, before continuing their game.

At the reception, I was greeted with a man who was trying to conceal his Kelantanese accent. He allowed me to look at the company's works after I asked him some questions, like is there a connection between DDEC and cenfad [there isn't]. What would describe DDEC best is a design consultancy firm.

I noticed there were people still working, like the CEO, who, even though is not a Mac user [based on his display, anyway], is quite a looker. I particularly enjoyed the see-through floor at the reception area.

For comparison purposes, here are two pictures of the gate, taken from the same location four years apart. The first picture includes some of my former classmates running in the rain, back to class after a lunch of grilled fish. The second picture is the current view.

If anyone's curious on how cenfad's interior design studio looks like now, it's on its way to become a jungle.

Here is the same cross-junction [Jalan Kia Peng x Jalan Stonor], about three years apart.

I walked towards KLCC park, passing by new luxury condominiums, which all look uncreatively-alike, except for The Troika, but only for hanging on to Foster+Partners' design, which is designed so that each unit has a KLCC view.

Actually, the view from the site is more of the KLCC park rather than the twin towers. Other new high-rise homes in the area include The Oval, Suria Stonor, Dua Residency, Stonor Park and an unidentified condominium beside The Binjai's showhouse.

Upon entering the park, I asked the DBKL enforcers hanging about near the under-renovation Masjid Asy-Syakirin if bicycles are allowed in the park [in case I happen to bring mine in for fun]. They told me that you can't ride it, push it, nor carry it. Crepes! But walking along the jogging path is fun enough. Fun to sight-see.

Away from the humidity of the water fountain, I headed to Kinokuniya to read some Bauhaus and Swiss design-related books for about an hour. I went back to the LRT station after some dinner and reached my starting point 5 hours after I left it.