Agritopia Farm – A family tradition |

Building a Brand Around a Working Family Farm (2020–Present)

Project Details

Client: Agritopia Farm
Services: Creative Direction / Brand Management / Brand Identity / Illustration / Packaging Design / Environmental Design / Apparel Design / Wayfinding

The Problem

Agritopia had land, history, and a growing cluster of businesses. A farm, a farm store, restaurants, a coffee shop, a brewery, an ice cream shop and more, but no unifying visual identity holding them together as one collective. Working with Katie, the Farm’s director, I took on full creative direction across every phase of the farm rebrand. Collaboration was key in making sure the integrity and intent of the mission was always our focus.

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The Insight

I built the identity around the actual history: a family farm established in 1927, worked by the Johnston family since the early 1960s, now anchoring a neighborhood Joe Johnston himself designed around it. Restaurants and small businesses inhabit several repurposed farm buildings and Joe’s childhood homestead creating a unique mix of commercial and residential spaces. The brand needed to read as lived-in Americana, not generic farm-to-table styling. This is urban Agriculture on a boutique scale, fully USDA certified organic farming and the centerpiece of the community.

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Farm Logotype 2

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1927 Badge

Farm logotype

The System

A full identity suite was created, from logos, badges, custom typography, icons, and multiple variations of lockups and small illustrations. All this was built around the Johnston family’s core values and the farm’s organic, multi-generational character.

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The Expansion

I took the system into the Farm Store: window graphics, banners, a custom vintage-style blade sign at the entrance. I prototyped a sign myself and made it in-house before having it fabricated by Smithcraft the following year. Additional mural artwork depicting the farm’s produce, honeybees, dates, and other crops was installed across the entire rear wall of the store. A Neighborhood Grocery illustration piece doubled as promotional art and eye-catching installation. On top of that, I hand-painted a mural on the exterior of the farm store to activate courtyard and provide a backdrop for selfies and family photos.

World Building

From the branding assets, I expanded into packaging labels for 40-plus products, including a seasonal produce line and the farm’s honey. Illustrating each label in a vintage line-art style, built to work across different container types. From there I created custom corrugated produce boxes, retail shopping bags, installation art behind the checkout counter and a hand-painted mural on the corrugated exterior entrance to the farm store.

Retail Expansion

The farm store is equal parts fresh produce offerings and a boutique destination shopping experience. I built an apparel line of 30-plus designs around the farm’s products and mission statement itself. Using my playful design style to offer a mix of standard branded products and colorful character designs, keeping the brand lively and balanced in scope and execution. This balanced approach reinforces the brand and creates a welcoming environment for families and visitors to support the mission and represent this unique place.

Call to Action

The brand assets evolved to the point where components could adapt to new advertising use as collateral for web, print and environmental design.

Wayfinding

Creating an illustrated wayfinding map of the property, styled like a theme-park map, gives visitors a sense of the farm’s scale and attention to detail. The map folds up cleanly and fits into a brochure rack for portability. Isometric drawings were completed for each building before constructing the map and the “Arrived magazine” cover was designed based on this map including a “Where’s Waldo” style hidden image search.

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The Results

The rebrand has anchored Agritopia as a name recognized across Arizona, and initial sales growth followed the launch of the new brand system. Foot traffic to the property has grown enough that on-site parking is now a regular constraint, a sign of sustained demand across the businesses this brand ties together, from the Farm Store to Fire & Brimstone to 12 West Brewing and Cream of the Crop. The identity system created in 2020 has held up through five years of expansion without needing a rebuild, extending cleanly into every new business added to the property since inception.