Home
Blog
Vintage
How to design unique vintage farm logos for farm brands
In 2020, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization reported a 68% or $3.4 trillion increase in value of the agriculture sector.
This boom was good news for designers.
The booming farms realized the importance of branding to stand out from the competition. And many started investing in their brand logos. Unfortunately, the logo design results produced leave a lot to be desired.
In the exact words of Jesse Frost, a Vegetable Farmer, the designs are:
Too simplistic and lacking in individuality.
”Why do you think this is so?
Why are a lot of farm logos out there ‘lacking in individuality’?
It’s because of the trend taking over the design industry. I’m referring to the trend where logos are of sans-serif font, minimalist looking, and flat. This results in logo homogeneity. To showcase this point, here’s what you get on Google if you query it with the keyword ‘farm logo design:’
Notice how most of the designs have the same theme?
That’s the problem.
Thankfully, this era seems to be coming to an end and as Bill Gardner, Founder of LogoLounge, said,
What are designers now turning to?
Retro/Vintage logos that are very expressive:
Creating unique farm logos like the ones above lets you achieve two things:
Achieving both is why vintage design enthusiasts are turning to a vintage logo maker like Kittl. It has lots of vintage design assets you can manipulate.
Hear it from Stefan Schuling:
But let’s go back to vintage farm logos. Curious to see more visual examples?
I’ve gotcha.
A significant characteristic of a farm logo is the symbol used e.g., animals, fruits, farm equipment, etc. So, I’ve grouped the farm logos below according to similar symbols.
McPherson family farms, an Oklahoma-grown brand, is an excellent example of a vintage farm logo with an animal symbol. As you can see above, their logo has different animal types, a vintage frame, and typography that takes us back to the good ol’ days even though they just established the brand in 2018.
This logo is one of Kittl’s own and is available for free customization on the app. I included this design on this list because it is unusual to see a bird farm or, in this case, a Quail farm.
Also, the color and texture of this logo are a cross between vintage and modern. It is a brilliant logo to emulate if you want to design a logo for a farm brand that chooses to veer off the full vintage route.
The Victory Garden farm is a small-scale and local farm, and they convey that message well in their vintage-styled logo. This logo is faded but not washed out, which is important to note when designing vintage logos.
Using farm trucks, tractors, or other equipment gives that retro vibe to logos. As this piece by Logodesign puts it,
“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.”
”The logo for Buhrmann Farms, created in a design contest on Designhill, fits this mold perfectly. I particularly like the white splatters on the green ribbon. It shows attention to detail:
The client, John Buhrmann, was so impressed with this vintage logo that he left this feedback:
“I could not have been happier with the design, or the designer for that matter. Original artwork for my logo that will attract attention, and convey the message I am putting out about my business.”
”Again, this proves why you should consider creating vintage and original logos for your clients in the agricultural sector.
Confession. This has to be my favorite logo on this list.
And no, it’s not because it’s a Kittl design. It’s because of how the design elements work well together for the intended purpose. First, the color is old-fashioned, but in a good way. The frame and windmill are artistics, and the typography is beautiful.
However, I felt this logo would still be great if the overall texture was brighter. So I tried manipulating it in Kittl with this result:
I achieved this brighter look in less than a minute:
Here’s another farm equipment logo with a beautiful flowery design:
Coop’s blooms vintage logo was designed by DIX LIX MIX, a top-level designer, and it looks great. Who said vintage had to be boring?
This is a farm market logo with a fruit and vegetable symbol and the vintage car crowning off the quaint look. The logo is not colored but shows how black and white colors can also work to give a picturesque vibe.
Another Kittl’s design rounds up this list. This design adopts the customary green color common to agricultural brands, but doesn’t feel cliché. That’s probably because of the vintage element and texture. The logo stands out and can even fit on a brand’s label.
I was going through the farm templates in Kittl, and came across this stunning logo:
As you can see, it is a diner vintage style logo.
And I thought, “Why not transform this logo into one suitable for a small chicken farm?” I did just that, and I’ll show you the process below.
Fair warning though.
My design skills are rudimentary at best. But it’ll be a great test of how Kittl is easy to use for beginners and experts alike, as users have testified:
The first thing I did was to create a new document and import the design template of my choice:
Then, I decided to change the background color to “9c4a28”. I got this color code from another Kittl vintage design I admired:
I was satisfied with the current color scheme, so I just changed the brand name. Since it is a chicken farm, I named it “Anna’s Coop.” I know it’s not the most imaginative name, but let’s run with it, shall we?:
Then edited the other text fields and deleted some elements:
And voilà! We have the logo for Anna’s coop, a small chicken farm:
What do you think? Looks great?
I did this without any design experience. With your experience, I’m sure you can design something much better in Kittl, so why don’t you give it a try?
When you’re done designing, don’t forget to share a copy of your design with the Kittl community to inspire others:
Now, let’s look at what makes an original and unique logo.
Symbols
One of the first elements of a vintage farm logo is the symbol. These symbols include a tractor or old truck, animals (cows, pigs, chickens), old buildings or barns, windmills, fruits or vegetables, etc. So when creating a farm logo, use a symbol relevant to the brand’s offerings.
Elements
Design assets such as ornate badges, banners, or ornaments herald a good vintage logo. These assets contribute to the vintage feel of the design.
Colors
Green is the agriculture industry’s favorite when it comes to design. An analysis by 99designs of over 200 agricultural logos revealed ‘Green’ dominated by 64%.
Despite these results, you don’t have to use green for your farm logo design. Other notable vintage farm colors include blue, orange, brown, and red.
Typography
Finally, for a farm logo to be considered vintage, it must have a vintage font. Not modern fonts like Sans-serif, but rather like Bevan, Signmaster Pro, London News, etc., all of which are available on Kittl.
You can check out our vintage logo design guide for more information about the characteristics of vintage logos.
You’ve seen all the fantastic design manipulations you can achieve with Kittl.
To make it all better, Kittl is 100% free to use. Of course, there are paid plans, but if you would like to explore all the tool has to offer without spending a dime, the free option can work for you:
Hear it from other users: