Everything You Need to Know about How to Create Agriculture Logo Designs

The Need For Branding With Your Agriculture Logo Design

Branding is important for any business venture. Your branding tells the audience who you are, what you do, where you come from, and what your values are. It gives the audience a promise, and good branding includes your ability to follow through on that promise.

Branding could be even more important for businesses like farms and supply stores. To put it simply, anything that involves our food needs to be trustworthy!

The need for good, honest branding goes up even higher when it comes to organic and sustainable business, such as with ranch and organic farm logos. This links back to every aspect of the agricultural industry, from basic supplies to food deliverables and supply chains. Companies like Organic Valley and Cargill North America are able to use their reputations for responsible, sustainable farming and food supply to great effect, at every point of marketing. This means a lot of research, compiling statistics, and proving sustainability, but it has an impact on their ability to brand effectively.

On a similar front, an in-depth study on organic farming, called Organic Farming Brand Identity: Meeting Trends, Building Trust highlights how the very concept and popularity of organic farming “plays a significant role in contemporary market competition in European and other economies.” In other words, running an organic farm, creating trust and reliability, and making sure that it is communicated in your branding can give your company a significant boost over your competition.

Along those same lines, proving your farm’s ability to gain an OF (Organic Farming) certification or, in the US, being certified as USDA Organic gives you a visual symbol which should be incorporated in your branding, helping to build trust even further.

Of course, that symbol won’t be directly included in your logo; but it’s a good idea to make sure that wherever your company name is, your certifications aren’t far behind.

Your farm logo design and overall branding can reinforce those certifications, as well.

Ultimately, your brand is tied up in what your company does and how they are viewed, rather than just a logo or name. It’s about the brand personality — the type of person your brand would be, if it could walk and talk.

We will talk a little more about what specific design elements of agricultural logos can do for your messaging a bit later. First, let’s get to the nitty-gritty on how to design your agricultural logo.

How To Design An Agriculture Logo For Your Business

Logo design, regardless of the market or niche, tends to follow a certain path. From market research, to rough drafts, to prototypes, and beyond — these four simple steps will help you with the basics of agriculture logo design.

Step One:

Know your brand, your target audience, and your competition. This requires a thorough knowledge of the new company, whether you’re starting it up yourself or just working on the branding for a client. Who will the company appeal to? Who is the target market? Brainstorm ideas and keywords. Based on the brand’s personality, think of objects, animals, personality traits, and other keywords that exemplify the brand. What do competitors offer, and what do their agri business logos and branding look alike? This is important to avoid copying a logo, which can cause confusion in your audience and result in loss of customers.

Step Two:

Sketch it out. Get a blank piece of paper and fill it with little sketches of your potential ideas. Don’t worry about perfectionism. The point is to get a vague idea that will lead to something greater.

Step Three:

Select a few and develop them further either by hand or digitally. Work on them until you start to see them shape up into something that might fit the brand well.

Step Four:

Compare the designs to your brand to help you choose the one that fits the best; get feedback from unbiased observers. These will not be your last draft, but they will help you get there!

As design studio founder Neville Brody says, “Digital design is like painting, except the paint never dries.” Don’t be afraid to mix it up and try new things; you want to get it right, not settle. Edit and refine until you’ve got the result you want.

Sometimes this process can get stuck in the middle, meaning that you will have to go through a few of these steps multiple times. But remember your ultimate goal — the best agricultural logo for your business. Be persistent, and you’ll get there!

Agri Logo Design Elements

The effectiveness of a logo is determined by the individual elements and how well they work together. Some types of logos, certain colors and graphics, and even particular fonts complement the industry and give you a leg up in accurate messaging

.

Here, we will take a look at some specifics. We’ll also cover a wide variety of different agricultural industries, including elements that could be helpful for an effective logo under that particular category.

Best Type Of Logo For Agriculture Business

There are different logo types; depending on who you ask, there are three, to ten, or more. So what’s the best logo for an agro-based company?

Well, let’s take a quick look at a run-down of logo types.

Monogram or lettermark logos

These use the brand initials, and are great as stallion breeding ranch logos or vineyard logo designs with three or more words or names in the title.

Wordmark or logotype logos

Similarly, wordmarks are also font-based and use the company name as the logo, often with a distinctive typeface. These are great for farm suppliers logos or farm house logos with shorter names, who really want the brand name to have memorability and a deep impact, especially if the business is new.

Iconic logos

These use a graphic that represents a real-world object, often tied in with the company’s products or personality. These work best for brands that can become quickly established, and require a steady creative hand to find an effective icon such as petting farms or logo for turf grass business.

Abstract logos

Also graphic-based, these logos are not immediately tied to a real-world object, representing a concept that is embodied by the company. You will find wellness center logos or similar health food logo designs featuring such graphics.

Mascot logos

It’s pretty obvious from the title what these are — they use a mascot, a person or an animal, real or fictional. These are very effective to build a bond between the audience and the brand, but uncommon in this industry. Some ideas are: Instead of a rooster logo, the business owner can use a mascot instead. Similarly, a lumberjack could do with wood or timber cutter logo mascot.

Combination mark.

Perhaps the most effective for a newer company, this type uses both a monogram or wordmark, as well as a graphic, combining words and pictures for a truly memorable agriculture logo. You’ll find cattle or cow farm logos as well as vegetable farm logos sporting such images.

So, with all of those in mind, how can you tell which type of logo is the best for an agricultural brand?

One of the most important things to consider is the specific type of business that you’re running. For a petting farm, for instance, a mascot logo could be very effective to develop that empathy between audience and brand, even though this type of logo is highly unusual in this industry.

If you’re selling agricultural products, like seed and tools, an iconic logo that uses symbols of tools, the environment, or other directly-linked will help to reinforce the purpose of your company in the mind of the audience.

And for any new agri or farm business a combination mark is heartily recommended, as these have the best of both worlds. They use the memorability of the graphic-based logo type, and combine it with the company name, which boosts name recognition instantly and further strengthens the tie between logotype and graphic.

Later on, once the brand is established, you may choose to use only the graphic as the main logo.

Best Agriculture Logo Symbols

Since graphics are so important for this type of company, the question arises as to what sort of graphics should be used.

The style really depends on the brand personality. But there are a few icons that are directly linked with the agriculture industry, which can give you a boost with brand recognition by building on preconceived links in the minds of the audience. Let’s talk about a few of them.

Tractor logos or old truck logo graphic. For a modern farm logo, sometimes it’s best to go vintage — a tractor or a vintage pickup gives a great, classic retro feel to a logo, and definitely has a kitschy appeal that lets the viewer know what your company personality is all about.

Home improvement logo. This might be less common among agriculture logos, but that can actually be a good thing. A lot of agricultural companies also offer farmhouse improvement and garden development supplies, and you can highlight those with an organic products logo that focuses on the home. For example, a simple house graphic, or stylized tools or paint brush logo.

Landscaping logo graphic. This is a classic choice for an agricultural logo design, for obvious reasons. It gets right to the heart of what you’re all about.

Farmhouse logo graphic. These can be similar to the home improvement logos mentioned above, but are also great as organic farming logos, for example.

Garden or lawn logo graphic. These are great choices, but it should be noted that it’s good not to have too much detail in your logo. If you take the wide-range view of these icons, there might be just too much to focus on; it’s best to keep it simple.

Leaf, plant, vegetable, and fruit logo graphics On the other hand, focusing on individual feature of the garden or lawn makes it easier to simplify the logo, creating a more memorable end product. Obviously, each of these have direct correlations to agricultural companies, but depending on what you market, a leaf might be more appropriate than a fruit, for example. If you sell fruits, using a graphic representation of a banana icon or an orange symbol would be ideal. But if you sell crop seed, like wheat or corn, it would clearly be better to focus on the plants or leaves icons of those products.

Windmill logo designs. Another great choice for an organic farming logo, as it really gives an environmentally-conscious feeling to the logo.

Animal logos. Your company may be a cattle ranch, or a poultry farm, or something directly involved with the animals, or it could be a supply company for other farms. Either way, an animal logo design is a great way to go. We instinctively like animal logos and are frequently drawn to them, and they could be absolutely appropriate for your company. For example, of course you could use a chicken logo design for your poultry farm — you could also use a chick, or even egg logos, and get the same effect of connection with the audience.

Sun logo designs. Sun graphics are commonly used across a wide variety of markets, not just in agriculture logo design. But they’re also a good way, like windmills, to spread a message of environmentally-responsible farming, helping with your brand messaging on a micro level.

Font Choices For Agricultural Logos

If you have decided to use a combination mark to help your new brand gain name recognition, what font should you choose?

This is a pretty big decision, and might take you a little while — according to some estimates, there could be somewhere around 550,000 or more different fonts in the world!

So how do you know what’s right for you?

One of the important ways to approach this decision is by paying attention to the psychology of fonts. Just like with colors (which we’ll get into next), fonts tend to be viewed a certain way, or give a certain flavor to the text. For instance, a big, bold font definitely attracts more attention than a smaller, thin script, which can be more difficult to read, and which people may see as superfluous. That psychology also ties into the hierarchy of fonts, which is important in branding and messaging.

So let’s take a look at the basic types of font, and what they’re commonly used for based on the psychology of fonts.

Serifs. These are classic, traditional fonts that are often used to establish trust and authority with the audience; they are more formal.

Sans-serif. These fonts are more modern, often creative, but can carry a big impact with a heavier weight. They’re more frequently found in branding

for tech or fashion companies, but make it easier to establish a personal connection with the audience due to their informal nature.

Cursive or script. Elaborate, elevated, and sophisticated, these are often used in food branding or in creative endeavors.

Based on those three very basic run-downs of fonts, the psychology of font would likely suggest that a sans-serif typeface would be most advantageous for your agriculture logo design. And an analysis of existing agricultural logos would tell us that many designers have thought the same thing!

Ultimately, as with any of these element choices, it should go back to the personality of the brand. But the trend is definitely towards sans-serif fonts for agriculture logos.

What Colors To Use In An Agriculture Logo

Agriculture is so tied into the landscape, it’s obvious that color is an integral part of the logo.

Again, we can look at the psychology of color for further inspiration and education on which colors will work the best for this market. As branding firm Ignyte (The Psychology of Color in Branding) comments, “color is among the fundamental visual stimuli in the human sequence of cognition, [so] these questions are important.” And it’s more than just choosing a certain color, it’s also about choosing the appropriate shade. For instance, when it comes to choosing a shade of green, which is a popular color in this area, “the specific way in which a brand utilizes color can literally mean the difference between sickness and health.”

Here are some common colors from Pantone Color Finder for branding in the agricultural industry, and what they tend to mean to the audience.

Green: Restful, easy on the eyes, green is also the color of life and vitality, often associated with the environment, making it a perfect choice for agriculture. It suggests peace, growth, and a connection to nature. Compare Pantone 2272 to Pantone 4017 to get an idea of how some greens reinforce nature and life on a deeper level.

Brown: A warm, rich tone that works well as an accent, it also ties back to deep agricultural roots. It imbues authenticity, reliability, and support. Pantone 7553 is a great example of a warm, deep accent color.

Yellow: This color can be especially effective in small doses, as it is seen as a very cheerful tone, and closely connected with the sun. It suggests optimism, warmth, and happiness. Check out Pantone 107 for an example.

Orange: Another warm color, orange also needs caution in use — the wrong shade can suggest alarm, rather than a welcoming, friendly tone. For instance, compare Pantone 158 to Pantone 165.

Of course, if your brand personality warrants a different color, there’s no rule that says that these colors are the only acceptable choices for an agricultural or farming logo. Take the time to look further into the psychology of color, and what your choice might mean for your brand.

Agriculture Logo Inspiration — Getting Into The Specifics

We’ve gone through a lot of details on different elements of an effective agricultural logo, but what about putting them all together?

Here are some great sources of inspiration for a variety of different types of agricultural companies, letting you see how some of these elements actually work in action.

Preston Organic Farm And Winery

This organic farm logo uses a vintage-inspired black and white landscape drawing, capturing the feeling behind the farmhouse.

Stanislaus Farm Supply

A very simple, stripped-down wordmark graphic that uses a unique but legible font, and largely includes a green palette, with yellow highlights.

Nelson Poultry Farm

This logo combines an animal logo and a sun logo to create a joint graphic that is very striking, in warm colors of red-orange and yellow.

John Deere Tractors And Tractor Supply

Of course, everyone knows this agricultural tool and supply company; the logo is absolutely iconic. It highlights an animal logo and uses green with yellow accents.

Agro Logo Design And Branding Case Study — Capay Organic

This company is worthy of special mention, because the branding is so effective. The branding company that worked with Capay Organic focused on the history of the farm, the goal that they had set at the time they started, as well as how they adapted over the years, while still holding true to their original mission statement.

It became obvious, through the actions of the company, that they weren’t just about supplying produce to those around them — they had developed the more important goal of “transform[ing] agriculture in America by connecting local farms and communities in a method that is environmentally and economically sustainable.”

The Capay Organic logo was adapted and upgraded to fit their modern profile, while still keeping the historic inspiration behind the original logotype.

The logo was the inspiration behind the rest of the newly rebranded packaging and website design, keeping all of the branding on-message and harmonious.

It’s clear that the Capay Organic Farm logo uses a combination mark, combining the sans-serif typeface of the original logotype with a vintage-inspired landscape logo, also including a farmhouse graphic. It’s a simple, effective, and beautiful example of how well a logo can serve the brand it is attached to.

What’s The Difference Between Organic Farm Logo Vs. Regular Farm Logo Design?

Organic is a big trend in farming these days. Does an organic farm have a different logo than a regular farm logo?

The quick and simple answer is that the logo itself doesn’t need to be any different — unless you are using a logotype or combination mark that specifically uses the word “organic” as part of your logo.

But as far as the aesthetics and elements, the same choices would work for an organic farm or a non-organic farm.

However, as mentioned before, if your farm has an organic certification, you will almost certainly want to extensively include that in your branding. You may not use it directly within your organic farm logo, but you will want to use it in multiple places throughout your branding materials. If you achieved that certification, make sure that your audience knows it!

Along with this question, there could be a difference between organic farming and an industrial farm. Industrial farming is, by its nature, far more extensive and intensive, and branding for an industrial farm has a harder fight for the interest of the public than branding for a smaller, organic farm. For an industrial farm, it’s best to highlight the positives of what the company is doing, to combat possible unfavorable public opinion about chemical use or treatment of animals, for example. For that reason, it would seem as though an industrial farm would choose to use an “organic” type of logo, something that highlights a connection to nature, with icons such as the sun or plants.

However, a basic analysis of many of the bigger industrial agriculture companies reveal that the logos are commonly very plain and simple, often wordmarks or lettermarks.

Industrial farms often have other arms of the business as well, such as farm lands and properties so they typically use industrial farm logos and real estate logos that will work well across all fields, tying their name together and keeping their branding in line. That means that there’s often quite a big difference between an industrial farm logo and an organic family farm logo, but of course there are always exceptions to the rule.

Growing Your Agricultural Business Via Good Logo Design

Ultimately, the design of your logo rests with you — but it should primarily reflect the personality, message, and mission of your brand.

Certain elements, like leaves, gardens, and the color green, are very commonly found in these markets. So make sure to do your research, so you don’t end up with a logo that is too much of a look-alike for your competition.

It’s always recommended that you look for inspiration before you start on your design. Between the logos linked here and any others you find, you’ll likely develop a good idea of what works and what doesn’t. Just remember to stay true to the brand! With that at the forefront of your agriculture logo design process, you’re sure to end up with the best representation of your company.

Reviewed by Zaheer Dodhia, CEO and Founder LogoDEsign.net

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