◎俞智敏

Ikea, the Swedish furniture chain, says it never expected such a backlash after switching typeface in its latest catalog.

瑞典家具連鎖店Ikea表示，該公司從沒想到，改變最新一期目錄中的字體會引起如此大的批評聲浪。

The company’s decision to make its first such font change in 50 years — from the iconic Futura typeface to the Verdana one — has caused a worldwide reaction on the Internet.

Ikea決定進行50年來的首次字體改變，把原本極具代表性的Futura字體改成Verdana字體，不料竟在網路上引發全球強烈反彈。

"We’re surprised," Ikea spokeswoman Camilla Meiby said. "But I think it’s mainly experts who have expressed their views, people who are interested in fonts. I don’t think the broad public is that interested."

「我們很驚訝，」該公司發言人梅比女士表示。「但我認為這主要是專家們表達他們的看法，他們對字體很有興趣。我想一般大眾不會那麼有興趣」。

Verdana was invented by Microsoft for use on a computer screen, not on paper. Its wide, open letters with space between characters are designed to increase legibility on small computer screens.

Verdana字體是由微軟公司所發明，目的是在電腦螢幕上使用，而非平面紙張。這種字體較寬鬆，字母之間距離較大，能夠增加文字在小型電腦螢幕上的易讀性。

Ikea said that in order to reach many people in many different ways, it needed a font that works in both digital and print media.

Ikea表示，為使用各種方法接觸到更多人，該公司需要一種同時能適用於數位及印刷媒體上的字體。

But some Ikea fans were outraged, finding Verdana less elegant than Futura. The online forum Typophile ended its first post with the words, "It’s a sad day."

但部分Ikea迷卻大為憤怒，他們認為Verdana字體不如Futura字體優雅。網路論壇Typophile上的第一則留言結尾就寫著，「這真是悲傷的一天」。

新聞辭典

backlash：名詞，指對某事物的強烈反應或反對，如the Sixties backlash against bourgeois materialism（60年代對於中產階級唯物主義的強烈反動）。

typeface：名詞，指鉛字字樣、印刷字體，如Use bold typeface for your headings.（標題應使用粗體字。）

legibility：名詞，指（字跡等的）易讀性、辨識程度，形容詞為legible，如Her handwriting is barely legible.（她寫的字別人根本看不懂。）亦可指能夠輕易看出來的，如legible weaknesses in character and disposition（在性格與氣質上的明顯缺點。）反義字則為illegible。