For my first experiment I created a survey with the goal of figuring out what associations handmade design in branding has. I wanted to see if it aligns with the research I did last semester. I took four brands with different values and asked my participants what associations they have with the brand, as well as if the handmade design fit the brand in their opinion.
I had six participants in total. The first brand I asked them about was Oatly. I chose this brand because it has ethical connotations. The brand sells Oat milk, which is becoming more and more popular, because it is much more sustainable then cow’s milk. Five out of six participants mentioned climate or sustainability as an association to the brand. 4 people also mentioned that the brand has a young audience, which might be related to the sustainability concern in my opinion. When asked if the handmade-looking design fits the company values on a scale from 1 to 5, 50% of participants answered 5, 2 participants answered 4 and one person said 3. This shows a clear tendency that people think this handmade design fits this sustainable company.
The second brand I asked about was Fanta. Here the associations went in two directions. 3 people mentioned negative associations like “unhealthy” or “chemical”, whilst three people mentioned only positive words, like “fun”. I noticed the word “young” was also mentioned twice. With Fanta the opinion if the handmade style fits the brand are a bit more indecisive. Four participants thought the style fit well or even very well, one person thought it was neutral and one person answered, “not at all”. This surprised me a little, because according to my research the handmade style has ethical and political connotations, and since Fanta is a mega corporation that sells an unhealthy drink, it should not really fit this style of design. Personally I can imagine that the handmade style also has “fun”, and “young” associations, since these words were mentioned in connection to Fanta much more than “unhealty” and “corporation”.
The next brand I chose is Gucci. Even though their branding usually doesn’t involve the handmade style, I found an invitation to a fashion show with a handwritten font, that I found interesting. Five participants mentioned “high-class” or similar words and two people mentioned “trashy”/ ”fake”. 83,3% said that this style does not fit the brand at all or not well, and one person said it fits well. This aligns pretty much with my research.
The last brand I chose is stüssy. Unfortunately 50% of participants did not now the brand, but since I showed them pictures they could still form an opinion. This time the associations were quite cohesive. Participants mentioned words like “Hip-Hop”, “trendy”, “Artsy” and “provocative”. 66,6% thought the imperfect style fit the brand well or very well, and two people thought it fit neutrally. This kind of aligns with my research, since the brand represents subcultures with political connotations and should therefore fit the handmade style.
All in all, I got confirmation about the associations of handmade design. But I also found out that it has strong connotations to youth and fun.
