Farms for Life

Design Challenge: Farms for Life needs a way to convey their mission statement and show what they do to potential donors and partner organizations through visual story-telling.

My Role: Graphic Designer & Copy Writer

Created graphics for the landing page and marketing material
Wrote initial copy to accompany the graphic elements
Provided visual guidance for the Web Designer
Strategized with Farms for Life stakeholders on how to portray the mission of Farms for Life through visual story telling

Team: Me, Product Manager, Project Manager, Subject Matter Expert, Web Designer

Timeframe: 3 weeks

Tools: Adobe Illustrator

FARMS FOR LIFE OVERVIEW

Every season, fresh produce goes to waste because small farms cannot afford to harvest all their produce. Farms for Life purchases the excess produce from partner farms providing extra income to farmers.

Farms for Life donates the produce to organizations that provide meals to people in need. Populations that otherwise may not have access to healthy foods receive the proper nutrition they need.

KICK-OFF MEETING

Meeting with Stakeholders:

In my first meeting with Farms for Life Stakeholders, I met with their Product Manager and Subject Matter Expert to discuss what visual elements they needed in the website redesign. They already had wireframes for the website redesign and wanted visual guidance on their hero image, creating custom graphics and writing initial copy to complement the graphics. To entice potential donors, they needed a way to visually tell their story in a concise manner. The targeted users include potential donors, partner farmers, and stakeholders of non-profit organizations that provide access to produce for those in need.

Early mock up of the wireframe created by the web designer. I was tasked with creating the graphics below the hero image to replace the placeholder icons.

Style Guide:

I was provided with a style guide to inform my color decisions and stay consistent with the branding.

VARIOUS ITERATIONS

Version 1:

The initial set of graphics I created did not convey the correct tone. There were also some inconsistencies with their mission and what they do. I received feedback from the product manager and subject matter expert:

1.) "I would prefer to see the farm icon portray something closer to a farm image – field / crops or vegetables?"

2.) "The comical/cartoon images are throwing me a bit. I would say we are more eco-friendly realistic-like farm-to-table?"

3.) "What if all the icons had the same underlying theme of the sunshine rays"

4.) "We do not offer any fruits and no grains. Only local veggies from small (no grain silos) farms"

5.) "We don't transport anything, so no FFL truck."

For inspiration, I was provided with example graphics below that was more consistent with their branding, message, and tone.

Version 2:

The second version of the graphics was more consistent with their branding. The color palette was muted to make it less cartoonish. The rays/fields were added based on the Farms for Life style guide and draws inspiration from the Farms for Life logo. The second graphic depicts more of an open farm concept. The truck was removed and a farm to table concept was added for the 4th graphic. The drops depicted show only vegetables. Below was the feedback I received for version 2:

1.) "My first reaction was one of joy! I really like the idea of having our own, custom set of icons. Could be used for all sorts of marketing materials, in our newsletters, etc."

2.) "These are very cool. I really like the green field theme across the four images."

3.) "I am not sure about the barn. A barn suggests livestock to me. I'd prefer a tractor or someone working in the field"

The FFL logo inspired the green field theme in the icons to provide cohesion and strengthen the branding.

FINAL GRAPHICS

Version 3:

For the final graphics, I added more color based on suggestions from the stakeholders to make icons pop more. I also separated the icons from the text and provided individualized icons to provided greater flexibility for the web designer to use the icons across different pages and for marketing to use the graphics for marketing material.

Final Product:

The graphics are featured in the "What we do" section of the redesigned Farms for Life homepage and in the hero images of the following pages: "Farms", Community Agencies", and "Donate".