Furniture megaretailer Ikea just screwed up a product relaunch. Its legendary LP-sized Expedit bookshelves got a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it redesign and a new name, Kallax. But somewhere between the slightly blander, money-saving look (the new version loses some of the outside “bezel”), the tiresome rebranding, and that unfortunate word “discontinue”, all hell broke loose. Fast Co Design offers some suggestions on how to repackage a product without meeting fury.
I mean, if it’s trying to save money (or the trees), can’t IKEA just stuff the Expedit shelf bezel with horse meat?