Handwriting: A mark of good style. The BMW Handwritten Beauty Survey.

Munich. People who communicate by keyboard are in a bad spot whenever they want to write about love. A fountain pen makes handwriting look good, but hardly anyone has one with them. A ball-point pen is always at the ready – if you happen to be a woman! On the other hand, almost everyone is pleased to receive an elegant pen for Christmas. On behalf of BMW, GfK found out if, how, and with what Germans still put pen to paper “for the joy of writing.”

Love is … hand-written.
More than half (52 percent) of those surveyed indicated that they enjoy writing by hand. Among women the number is in fact 62 percent – but they are especially happy to receive something handwritten to read: 82 percent of women surveyed in the BMW Handwritten Beauty Surveyconsider it a sign of personal appreciation when a letter has been handwritten rather than printed from a computer. Only 10.5 percent of all men and women believe that an e-mail or text message would make the same impression. Incidentally, public officials rely on handwriting more than any other professional group (62 percent).

Clandestine star: The fountain pen.
Even though the fountain pen is the first choice of only five percent of Germans when they need to write something, it remains an object of desire: 57.4 percent of all people surveyed can imagine giving an elegant fountain pen as a gift and would be happy to receive one themselves. Among women the figure is 63.4 percent, and 70 percent of ladies give gentlemen an excellent reason to get hold of a fountain pen. They believe that handwriting is significantly more attractive if it has been done with a fountain pen.

For one special date the fountain pen trumps all other writing utensils: According to the the BMW Handwritten Beauty Survey, more than half (51.8 percent) of married Germans signed their marriage certificates with a fountain pen. Nevertheless, for many this is a fleeting moment: 36 percent of those who are widowed, divorced, or separated cannot (or don’t want to) remember anymore…

Short notes instead of longer texts.
To the chagrin of romantics, love letters are not the main reason people reach for a stylus these days. Nevertheless, 39.5 percent of people overall (49.5 percent of women) prefer to write their letters by hand. The frontrunners among handwritten texts are daily notes: 89 percent say they handwrite them as reminders.

Number one: The ball-point pen.
The inventor of the ball-point pen was the Hungarian Lászlo József Bíró, who had it patented in 1938. A good idea – as it remains the writing instrument of choice even today: 89 percent of those questioned in the BMW Handwritten Beauty Surveyindicate that they reach for a ball-point pen when something is worth taking note of. Regarding the question of whether people regularly have “something to write with” with them (71 percent do), a ball-point pen was named as the most common companion. Incidentally, women are more likely to have a writing utensil with them than men. And freelancers and independent contractors can’t go without. Even in the age of laptops, tablet PCs, and smartphones, 83 percent of independent professionals rely on an analogue writing device when they are out and about. 

Data: The BMW Handwritten Beauty Survey was performed by the Consumer Research Association (GfK) on behalf of BMW. A total of 1,000 people ages 14 and up were polled throughout the Federal Republic of Germany.

Fashionable, high-quality writing instruments from the BMW Lifestyle Collection are available at select BMW dealers and online at www.bmw-shop.de.