History and heritage can have a considerable impact when designing a visual identity for a brand. This study aims to analyse the visual identity of The Swedish Handicraft Association, Hemslöjden, an organisation with a long and sometimes conflict-ridden past. Using a semiotic analysis method and theories of cultural branding, heritage branding and myth-building, the study seeks to examine how heritage, history and future relevance is tackled visually. The study shows that even though Hemslöjden could be considered a cultural and heritage brand, there is an ambivalent use of history and heritage in the organisation’s visual identity. The study theorises that the ambivalence and avoidance of history is partially due to a fear of being irrelevant for younger audiences but also to avoid acknowledging problematic aspects of the organisation's history. The latter could suggest a stewardship of the brand to avoid negative use from external, nationalist groups but could also via mythbuilding purify a conflicted history.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-68773 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Milewski, Astrid |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för konst, kultur och kommunikation (K3) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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