# Wordless Flat-Pack Assembly Instructions

> The wordless flat-pack booklet as IKEA drew it up after 1999, which replaced the exploded view of older instruction manuals with step-by-step pictures: the product is drawn in black outline on white as it looks at each stage of building, with grey only to pick out the part being fitted. The work is broken into many simple steps with few points of focus each, hardware and tools carry their article numbers, and a cartoon 'assembly figure', now drawn without gender, gives tips. With no words, one booklet serves every market.

- Period: 1999–present
- Where: Northern Europe, Global / networked
- Origin: Älmhult, Sweden. The 1953 IKEA catalogue introduced DELFI, RIGA and KÖKSA, tables for customers to put together at home, an idea Ingvar Kamprad took from the supplier Ovendals in Hultsfred. The instructions that came with flat-packs from then on were a precursor, not yet this style: hand-drawn leaflets handed out in stores (when the first appeared is not recorded), often drawn as an exploded view such as the 1960s booklet for the ROBIN armchair, and in the 1970s and 1980s often hard to follow. In the 1990s IKEA filmed focus groups using them, and a 1999 study found the booklets overloaded with information, with small pictures and too many points of focus. The form defined here was drawn up after that study: instead of the exploded view common in instruction manuals, the product is built up one simple step at a time over more pages, told in pictures with no words, and a cartoon 'assembly figure' was introduced to give tips at the start. In 2005 Norway's prime minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, criticised IKEA because no women were shown putting furniture together in its instructions, and IKEA promised an equal distribution; by 2018 the figure was drawn without gender. The booklets are now drawn digitally, packed with each product and also available online, and are made by an in-house team of about 13 'informative communicators' in Älmhult (around 400 new instructions and 900 revisions a year, as reported in 2018), who test every set before the product is approved for production.
- Branch: Rational modernism
- Also known as: IKEA assembly instructions, IKEA manual style, Wordless instructions, Flat-pack instruction drawings
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/wordless-assembly-instructions/

## Use it with care

IKEA’s name, logo and assembly figure belong to IKEA: work in the manner (black line on white, one simple step per picture, no words) without using them, without copying a real IKEA booklet or product, and without presenting the result as IKEA’s or implying a link with IKEA.

## How it works

- Say everything with drawings: leave out written words so that one booklet serves every country and language.
- Draw the product in black outline on white as it looks at this stage of assembly, and use grey only to pick out the part that matters in the step.
- Give each step its own drawing with few points of focus, and add pages rather than crowd small pictures together.
- Build the product up step by step in the order of work instead of showing every part at once in an exploded view.
- Draw each screw, dowel and tool with its article number, and include a checklist of the tools needed.
- Let a plain cartoon figure, drawn without gender, give tips at the start of the booklet, such as what surface to assemble on or whether a second person is needed.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (defining)
- [Modular grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/modular-grid/) (occasional)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Sequential narrative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/sequential-narrative/) (defining)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (defining)
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (defining)
- [Illusion of depth](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/) (defining)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (characteristic)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Humanist sans](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/humanist-sans/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (defining)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (defining)

### Form & shape
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (characteristic)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (characteristic)
- [Pictogram](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pictogram/) (characteristic)
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (defining)

### Ornament
- [Ornament-free](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornament-free/) (defining)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (defining)
- [Diagram & data](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagram-and-data/) (defining)
- [Icons & pictograms](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/icons-and-pictograms/) (occasional)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (defining)

### Tone & intent
- [Rational & objective](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rational-and-objective/) (defining)
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (characteristic)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (occasional)

Avoids: Straight photography, Typography only, Full polychrome, Gradients, Horror vacui, Abundant decoration, Ornamented display, Type as image, Collage & layering, Halftone & Ben-Day dots, Painterly illustration

Palette: #ffffff, #1a1a1a, #6e6e6e, #a8a8a8, #dcdcdc

Typefaces: Almost no type: what there is (the product name on the cover, the booklet code such as AA-54679-2, step numbers and part article numbers such as 100001) is set as plain sans-serif figures and capitals, On covers and brand material only: IKEA's corporate typefaces, which carry the brand name across its print: Futura until 2009, Verdana from 2009 and Noto IKEA, a customised Noto Sans, from 2019

Known for: IKEA IVAR cabinet assembly instructions, booklet AA-54679-2, in which hexagon key 100001 drives screw 100214 (as described by Justin Zhuang, 2018); IKEA HEMNES day bed assembly instructions, using screw 106569 with the same hexagon key 100001 (as described by Justin Zhuang, 2018); IKEA instructions after the 1999 customer study, broken into more and simpler steps over more pages instead of small pictures with too many points of focus (as described by Justin Zhuang, 2018); 1960s IKEA instructions for the ROBIN armchair, drawn as an exploded view, the earlier approach that the step-by-step sequence replaced (as described by Justin Zhuang, 2018); The 'assembly figure', the cartoon character in IKEA booklets that gives tips on where to assemble and when extra help is needed, criticised in 2005 for showing no women and described as genderless by 2018

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Scandinavian Functionalism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/scandinavian-functionalism.md) (1930–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Legible City Wayfinding (Heads-Up Pedestrian Maps)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/legible-city-wayfinding.md) (1999–present), 61% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Bossa Nova Sleeve Modernism (César Villela and Elenco)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bossa-nova-sleeve.md) (1960–1968), 57% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [HfG Ulm Systematic Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/ulm-school.md) (1953–1968), 56% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Ligne Claire (Franco-Belgian Clear Line)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/ligne-claire.md) (1929–present), 55% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [British Road Signage (Kinneir & Calvert)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/british-road-signage.md) (1958–present), 55% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Munich 1972 Olympic Design (Otl Aicher)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/munich-72.md) (1966–1972), 53% alike

## Sources

- Justin Zhuang, 'Wordless Instructions', 16 January 2018, adapted from an essay for Works That Work magazine (the 1999 study, the step-by-step approach replacing the exploded view, the assembly figure's tips on surfaces and extra help): https://justinzhuang.com/posts/wordless-instructions/
- IKEA Museum, 'Flatpacks': https://ikeamuseum.com/en/explore/the-story-of-ikea/flatpacks/
- IKEA Museum, 'Going nuts': https://ikeamuseum.com/en/explore/the-story-of-ikea/going-nuts/
- Wikipedia, 'Verdana' (IKEA's change from Futura to Verdana in 2009 and to Noto IKEA in 2019): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdana
- Language Log, 'IKEA: linguistics, esthetics, engineering', 8 March 2025 (a booklet with no words, all drawings): https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=68526
- The Local, 'Norwegian prime minister slams IKEA', 10 March 2005 (Bondevik on the absence of women in the instructions; IKEA promises an equal distribution): https://www.thelocal.com/20050310/1085-2/

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Wordless Flat-Pack Assembly Instructions”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/wordless-assembly-instructions/