IKEA, Sweden’s Jewel

IKEA’s creative personnel break some of the traditional rules of catalog design, such as using sans serif type, some black type against dark backgrounds and occasionally type over a busy background. At the same time, they’ve implemented some truly inventive design ideas. For example, the catalog shows a completely furnished room in which certain items are circled with a number that refers to copy at the edge of the page. So rather than showing a desk lamp by itself, you see what it looks like on a desk. What’s more, the catalog is filled with charts and schematics that show designs, sizes, colors and prices, enabling the merchandisers to display one item but list its many variations.