---
title: "Verdana (1996) — Matthew Carter"
description: "Verdana was designed by Matthew Carter in 1996. What it signals, where you have seen it, and how to tell it from Tahoma."
url: https://atoneplace.net/font/verdana/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Verdana

**Verdana: Matthew Carter, 1996**

Sans-serif · A website designed between 1998 and 2008.

Drawn for screens at a time when screens were 72 or 96 dots per inch and anti-aliasing was rare, so every letter was fitted to the pixel grid. Its very wide letterforms and large x-height made it the most readable option on a 1996 monitor by a wide margin. IKEA switching its catalogue from Futura to Verdana in 2009 produced a genuine international news story and a petition.

## How to tell it apart

| Mistaken for | Which letters to check |
| --- | --- |
| Tahoma | Tahoma is Verdana's narrower sibling by the same designer, with tighter letter spacing. If it looks like Verdana but fits more words on a line, it is Tahoma. |

## The facts

- **Designed by:** Matthew Carter
- **Released:** 1996
- **Classification:** Sans-serif
- **What it signals now:** A website designed between 1998 and 2008.

## Where you have seen it

- Most of the web in the early 2000s
- IKEA's catalogues from 2009, controversially

## Other typefaces from the 1990s

| Typeface | Year | Designer | What it signals |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| FF Meta | 1991 | Erik Spiekermann | The 1990s doing corporate identity properly. Warm, readable, slightly quirky. |
| Comic Sans | 1994 | Vincent Connare | A hospital notice, a village hall poster, or a joke about typography. |
| Georgia | 1996 | Matthew Carter | A blog, a newspaper website, or long-form reading on screen. |

> This page describes the typeface rather than showing it. Displaying a specimen requires a licensed font file and almost none of these may be redistributed, so the descriptions name the letters to look at instead.

## Common questions

### Who designed Verdana?

Matthew Carter, in 1996.

### What is Verdana used for?

A website designed between 1998 and 2008. You will have seen it on Most of the web in the early 2000s, IKEA's catalogues from 2009, controversially.

### What is the difference between Verdana and Tahoma?

Tahoma is Verdana's narrower sibling by the same designer, with tighter letter spacing. If it looks like Verdana but fits more words on a line, it is Tahoma.

## Related pages

- [Typefaces from the 1990s](https://atoneplace.net/font/decade/1990s/)
- [Akzidenz-Grotesk](https://atoneplace.net/font/akzidenz-grotesk/)
- [Franklin Gothic](https://atoneplace.net/font/franklin-gothic/)
- [Johnston](https://atoneplace.net/font/johnston/)
- [Futura](https://atoneplace.net/font/futura/)
- [Gill Sans](https://atoneplace.net/font/gill-sans/)
- [Helvetica](https://atoneplace.net/font/helvetica/)
- [Univers](https://atoneplace.net/font/univers/)
- [Optima](https://atoneplace.net/font/optima/)

## Sources

- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place (/about/)