Farm Table Foundation

Nature, the Perfect Design

Brand Identity
Visual Language & Architecture
Messaging
Web Design & Development

The Challenge

One Thing Equals Many Things

When we met the passionate folks who own and run Farm Table Restaurant, Hungry Turtle Institute and the Hungry Turtle Co-op in Amery, Wisconsin, we were stunned and inspired by their unrelenting dedication to providing the freshest, most nutrient-dense food possible. Their support of local farming, restoring quality soil and educating the folks of Amery on how to eat well is what feeds their souls. Upon receiving their 501(c) status, our challenge was to re-architect their services and offerings as the Farm Table Foundation whose mission is to use education, training and research to shift people’s experience and understanding of food so that soil quality, small farms and natural habitat are seen as the true foundation to individual and community well-being.

The Solution

Be Your Local Self

Our design strategy called for a dynamic visual language to connect all their activities while leveraging the equity already established in the Farm Table Restaurant identity. We wanted to avoid category paradigms that often feed unwanted perceptions...perceptions such as, “yours is a hippy-dippy, grass-roots foundation without any knowledge of real agriculture and of what it takes to run a local family farm business.”

The founders of Farm Table Foundation are residents of Amery. We wanted to be sure to communicate that they had invested in the good of the community in which they lived, that this was their backyard too. Our mantra: Be local, talk local and host the local. Their community focus was a thread of continuity running throughout our messaging. From their manifesto, to persona development to imaginative, thought-provoking headlines, copy and even bite-sized captions.

We collapsed two websites into one. We relieved redundancies and unveiled opportunities. A new site map gave way to enhanced functionality and easier access to community minded events and important educational information.

The Approach

Be Natural.

Nature holds all the beauty necessary to engage and connect emotionally. Nature is the one thing that speaks to all of us. So we let nature speak for the foundation. Beautiful natural food. Beautiful open spaces where natural light floods in...where natural elements support structures. This is the truth of their local beauty. This is the truth of the Farm Table Foundation. What we’ve learned from the founders is their practices for restoring the soil to its natural quality is embedded in nature’s cycle. When we interrupt that cycle, we interrupt nature. We infect when we think we’re enhancing. Our approach was to demonstrate a love for the integrity of nature and the legacy of farming before it became known as Agriculture.

Simply, The Foundation exists to support nature because how we feed ourselves matters.

“The creativity drawn forth to farm and cook well is our eternal engine of ingenuity and culture. Join us in this adventure.”

Our Story. Farm Table Foundation

In Conclusion

“We re-branded our organization after we became a non-profit and called Duffy to help us with web-presence and language that would tell our complicated story and relate our mission. They have a wealth of talent and took the time to listen to our narrative, understand our program offerings and figure out how best to put that together with both assets and conceptual themes. From images to colors, to tones and fonts and programming, they have the skills to handle a complex set of ideas and render them beautifully and simply so the public can easily digest. And, they know what to look out for, what roads to not go down, which, when you are busy running an organization can be a time-saver and a cost-avoider. Professional from the word “go” and fun to work with, we greatly enjoyed and appreciated Duffy’s work.”