To conclude what I found out during my research this semester I want to quickly summarize my most important findings and consider future steps for continuation.
I started out by being intrigued with the visual aesthetic of the hand-made style in graphic design. I noticed it in many places and was wondering if it is currently gaining popularity. I found out that on the one hand it does seem to be a current trend, because it can be found in many design-trend-lists. Especially hand-drawn illustration and natural-looking design as well as references to traditional media with visible imperfections were listed. But since I looked into the history as well, I found out it’s a bit more complicated than that. The arts & crafts movement popularized the style over 100 years ago, as a countermovement to the industrialization. Later the hand-made aesthetic was popularized again by the zine movement between the 1960s and 1990s. This paved the way for craftivism and continued to the craftwashing by big corporations.
I also wondered at the beginning of the semester what the reason for creating time-consuming handmade (or handmade looking) designs in times of computer programs and AI could be. What I have found out so far is there can be multiple reasons. It could be a political choice, to actively withdraw from mass-production and consumerist markets. It could also be the opposite: Appealing to a politically conscious customer-base by using this design-style and getting them to purchase a product. Either way kind of implies a counter-movement idea to the unification of visuals. And a return towards nostalgic qualities from simpler times. It’s the human touch that not only leads consumers to believe it to be made more ethically, but also creates a connection to the designer, that feels more personal.
Another question I asked myself was what effects can handmade aesthetics create that computer designs cannot? I found out that due to historic connotations handmade aesthetics have learned associations to them which, depending on the situation, might strengthen the message of the design. I also found out that the cleanliness of computer-made designs might trick the designer into thinking his design is polished and therefore done, whilst analogue techniques aren’t as forgiving and force the designer to focus more intensely. This might lead to more thought-out designs. The finished design tends to also be more intentional with analogue tools, because they require active decision-making for every small detail.
During this research I stumbled over quite a few possible techniques of handmade design. For example: handwriting, woodcutting, embroidery, drawing, letterpress, collaging, stamping, food decorating and knitting.
All in all the research was very interesting but I found it difficult to find scientific and academic writings about this topic, which slowed down my momentum. There are still a few questions I didn’t answer during this time and could possibly focus on in future research. This includes an investigation about which design styles are combinable with handmade design, in order to get aesthetically pleasing and meaningful results. I also didn’t find out how messy designs can get whilst still working and fulfilling their purpose. Maybe an opinion poll on some examples could be helpful for this. As to how this trend can evolve further, I don’t feel qualified to answer. Especially in branding it seems it is a bit reprehensible to use this style unless the company or cause can actually back up the ethical connotations. To conclude, even though I found it really interesting to find out more about this topic, I am not sure I want to continue with it next semester, because of the difficulty of finding sources.
