Primary Research Responses

 DAN 

1. Male, 20, Straight – Studying Music Production at Leeds Conservatoire
2. Essential items such as my bed, drawers and desk were already included in our student house. Some items have been given to me by my parents (lamps etc), while others have been purchased by me (chair, cushions, etc)
3. ^
4. A – but have not had the permanent space or money to do so yet really
5. Watched a documentary in the Abstract Design series recently on interior design which was inspiring. Also I definitely get inspiration from my parents who are very specific about interior design.
6. I don’t tend to follow particular brands, although Ikea is often my first choice because it’s well designed and cheap

1. (In order from favourite to least favourite)
1. A appeals because of its simplicity and functionality and I personally enjoy minimal spaces with only a couple of key things to draw your attention.
2. C has the kind of colour palette that I would like to have in a living space, however I am not particularly keen on the slogans and the way that it is marketed.
3. B uses an aesthetic that I couldn’t particularly imagine enjoying in a designed interior – it just reminds me of consumerism and popular culture and when you’re in a personal space you often want respite from that – however it’s not my least favourite because I do enjoy art in this vibrant style and could imagine having one piece of artwork like this somewhere in my place
4. D I think is trendy and forgettable – it doesn’t have any consistent aesthetic for me
2. ^
3. ^
4. Instagram ads often have this effect due to the fact that they are specifically targeted and the format of Instagram is perfect for selling things based on their visual characteristics. Otherwise I am pretty much never drawn in by advertising and try to stay as far away from it as possible

DANIEL 

1. State your gender, age and sexuality, and your profession or what you are currently studying.

Dan Long, 25

Account executive

 

2.  Do you personally own any of the furniture you use or have in your room/home?

 

Yes

 

3. If yes, do you own them through:

A personal purchase?

B being given them by other people?

 

4. Are you interested in interior design and/or curating and investing in your space?

 

A Very

B Somewhat

C Not really

 

5. If you chose A or B, where do you look for inspiration on the design for your space?

Instagram art pages but have more of an interest in architecture and the interior design as the whole like the Palais bulles.

 

 

Are there any brands related to interior design or furniture that you follow or have particular interest in?

 

Snarkatecture

 

 

6. Whether you buy your own furniture or are looking to in the future, which brands or stores do/will you buy furniture from?

 

Gumtree or ebay

 

From the picture groups below, connect each group with the words you feel are most reflective of that group by dragging the words into the group boxes. You do not need to use words you feel are not relevant for any group.

1. From the picture groups above, which design aesthetics appeal to you as visual identities for furniture companies? List in the order of your favourite to least favourite aesthetic.

 

C

A

B

D

 

 

2. Summarise why you have chosen your most favourite.

 

Sleek and modern, which embodies what characteristics I want my home to be

 

3. Summarise why you have chosen your least favourite.

 

Too unison, you want your house to have some variety, although follow somewhat of a consistent pattern but you have to find the right balance

 

4. Out of the following promotional outputs, which strongly engage you and encourage you to take further interest in the brand advertised? Highlight all that apply:

 

A Posters/Billboards

B Instagram Account

C Facebook Page

D Website

E Leaflet through your door

 

Summarise your choices:

 

I would want a premium brand so would only want these to advertise through premium means, Facebook, websites and leaflets all to me, are associated with advertising less premium brands.

 

If there are any promotional outputs not mentioned that have this effect, please write them below:

 

Magazines

 

LEON 

INTERIOR DESIGN QUESTIONNAIRE

 

1.     State your gender, age and sexuality, and your profession or what you are currently studying.

MALE 23 GAY

GRAPHIC DESIGN STUDENT

 

2.        Do you personally own any of the furniture you use or have in your room/home?

No

 

4.       Are you interested in interior design and/or curating and investing in your space?

A Very

 

5.       If you chose A or B, where do you look for inspiration on the design for your space?

Mainly look at the world of art for inspiration like galleries and on Instagram as I like artistic designs and handmade/personalised stuff

Pinterest, Magazines, Movies

 

Are there any brands related to interior design or furniture that you follow or have particular interest in?

I love Posterzines as a piece of decoration

 

6.     Whether you buy your own furniture or are looking to in the future, which brands or stores do/will you buy furniture from?

IKEA, Wilkinsons, Argos

 

7.       From the picture groups below, connect each group with the words you feel are most reflective of that group by dragging the words into the group boxes. You do not need to use words you feel are not relevant for any group.

8.      From the picture groups above, which design aesthetics appeal to you as visual identities for furniture companies? List in the order of your favourite to least favourite aesthetic.

B C A D

 

9.     Summarise why you have chosen your most favourite.

Love the artistic approach to the graphic design, however it doesn’t feel like a furniture company but I quite like that, it feels instead much more like an identity

Love the use of colour and photocollage to create like interesting images as opposed to being too minimal

 

10.  Summarise why you have chosen your least favourite.

Doesn’t really tell me a story about furniture or identity and I don’t feel drawn to anything about it visually, especially in comparison to the other options

 

11.   Out of the following promotional outputs, which strongly engage you and encourage you to take further interest in the brand advertised? Highlight all that apply:

B Instagram Account

D Website

 

Summarise your choices:

Instagram accounts allow a sense of identity and personality to be curated and can add a layer of communication between the audience and the company

Website is always great for fully showcasing product range and allowing it to be browsed

 

 LINA

1.       State your gender, age and sexuality, and your profession or what you are currently studying.

 

21, Female, Heterosexual

Politics Student

2.        Do you personally own any of the furniture you use or have in your room/home?

 

Yes

 

3.       If yes, do you own them through:

being given them by other people

 

4.       Are you interested in interior design and/or curating and investing in your space?

 

somewhat

 

5.       If you chose A or B, where do you look for inspiration on the design for your space?

Pinterest/ 90s magazine archives/ Instagram / Tiktok

 

Are there any brands related to interior design or furniture that you follow or have particular interest in?

Not really

6.       Whether you buy your own furniture or are looking to in the future, which brands or stores do/will you buy furniture from?

 

Thrift/ Second Hand stores

Antique shops

 

7.       From the picture groups below, connect each group with the words you feel are most reflective of that group by dragging the words into the group boxes. You do not need to use words you feel are not relevant for any group. 

1.       From the picture groups above, which design aesthetics appeal to you as visual identities for furniture companies? List in the order of your favourite to least favourite aesthetic.

B, D, A, C

2.       Summarise why you have chosen your most favourite.

Attracted to vivid colours and interesting visuals. Collage like aesthetic is different to any other category, and the intensity of the colours evokes more emotion

 

3.       Summarise why you have chosen your least favourite.

 

Completely forgettable design- probably have come across similar visuals several times across different platforms. Boring colour palette and use of graphics

 

4.       Out of the following promotional outputs, which strongly engage you and encourage you to take further interest in the brand advertised? Highlight all that apply:

 

A Posters/Billboards

B Instagram Account

C Facebook Page

D Website

E Leaflet through your door

 

Summarise your choices:

 

Increased engagement on popular social media (hence Instagram over FB as IG relies way more on visual engagement). Posters are also practical and can be used as decoration / repurposed

-          Not as likely to respond to leaflets

 

If there are any promotional outputs not mentioned that have this effect, please write them below:

Ø  Zines

ANALYSIS

> All respondents look to vintage shops and second hand platforms such as ebay for their furniture, which means they are the appropriate target audience to understand on branding the Lofty's furniture 

> Not many of them have any inspirational pages that I could have looked at for reference on what appeals to them directly in this subject of design, but generally they are inspired through Instagram pages on different creative areas, which reiterates the importance of creating a well designed Instagram account 

DESIGN AESTHETICS 

> Interestingly despite all individuals answering this questionnaire being similar ages, all creative and within the same music communities, they all had very different ratings for the different aesthetics, some placing the Sushi Snob bright collage first (as I expected), and others placing that last (unexpected)

> Use of old images in the Sushi snob collages made those who placed it last feel like it was outdated rather than a contemporary design style

> Initial Idea with bright playful collage aesthetic should avoid any old imagery and this makes the target audience associate it with more vintage, old connotations 

> Heterosexual men preferred minimal, more muted colours, more simple aesthetics 

> Woman and Gay man preferred more vibrant, loud, exuberant designs 

> Need to find balance between loud vibrant collage aesthetic (which connotes consumerism to Dan) and simplicity and functionality. Interesting that Dan mentioned he would have a piece of art in the collage style on his wall (linking to posterzine idea), but not representing a furniture shop. Does the aesthetic need to scream interior design? Or could it, like Leon mentions, be more of an identity that the target audience can relate to or find appealing? The shop itself isn't necessarily a brand, more of a place where many people can go to find their pieces to fit their own identities and styles 

> Bright colours in the furniture warehouse are bright but not to the extreme of the collage aesthetic, this balance between the two could be found to appeal to all consumers who answered this questionnaire 

OUTPUTS 

> Every person showed a strong preference for Instagram for the form of advertising that would engage them and appeal to them the most. Despite leaflets being the main intention of this brief, no one picked it as a strong promotional output and even showed avoidance towards it, with one mention of leaflets connoting cheap and unfashionable brands 

> Additional suggestions for strong promotional outputs centred around other printed forms, eg. rather than a leaflet a zine or magazine, possibly because these have a more premium connotation with the amount of work that goes into them and are common outputs in the art and design world 

> Magazine would be too much work but a small zine could be a good alternative to the leaflet, and could be stocked at the warehouse almost like an ikea catalogue? Could also be put through doors? Designer mentioned looking to posterzines for inspiration, what if this zine is a poster zine? Encourages customers to put publicity pieces inside their own homes, design work would become part of the interior design and reflect literally the topic of design 

> Designer also put website and recognises it's a good way to showcase furniture, but more client based individual asserted websites don't feel premium? Which doesn't seem completely true, however others didn't place websites at all as appealing outputs and so collectively it shows that they as a target audience do not actively engage with websites as much as other platforms if viewing a new brand

> Posters and Billboards were shared by over half as another output which is engaging however so these should be made as they are a more public output that a larger audience will see