Bismarck Farmers Market

logo & brand identity redesign | June 2025

Bismarck Farmers Market came to me with a challenge: refresh an outdated logo and bring clarity, consistency, and credibility to their visual identity. As the original farmers market in Bismarck, they needed branding that honored their legacy while standing out from a growing pool of competitors. I was tasked with creating a simplified, hand-drawn word mark and brand suite that felt as rooted and welcoming as the market itself—one that could flex seamlessly from promotional material and signage to digital ads, stickers, and more.

Strategic Overview

Bismarck Farmers Market isn’t just a seasonal event—it’s a community fixture built on decades of trust between local growers and their neighbors. Unlike trendier markets, BFM is rooted in tradition: multi-generational farms, regional staples, and a no-frills setup that puts people and produce first.

Their core audience is hyper-local—loyal regulars who show up for their bread lady or their favorite tomato guy. so The goal of the rebrand was to honor that legacy while creating a clean, consistent identity that feels handcrafted, grounded, and unmistakably Bismarck.

Logo for Bismarck Farmers Market with a dark green background, stylized text, and a carrot illustration.
Logo for Bismarck Farmers Market with a dark green background, stylized text, and a carrot illustration and decorative vegetables and leaves over a background of people shopping outdoors.
Sunflower with large green leaves on a dark green background with white text and a carrot illustration for Bismarck Farmers Market
A wooden sign words 'Farmers Market' written on it, partially covered by a dark green sign with the words 'Farmers Market' in white, and fresh rosemary herbs in the foreground.
Wooden sign with the Bismarck Farmers Market logo written on it in white chalk, with a beige cloth napkin and green leaves on the right side.
Close-up of a beige reusable shopping tote bag with the Bismarck Farmers Market logo in black, with green leaves scattered around and part of a smartphone visible on the right side of the image.
White t-shirt with 'Bismarck Farmers Market' logo featuring a carrot, beside a green basil plant, and two smartphones displaying social media pages for the Bismarck Farmers Market.
Business cards, a bowl of gooseberries, and leaves promoting the Bismarck Farmers Market, which runs from July 1 to October 31 at Ace Hardware North in Bismarck.

Visual Identity

Logo Design

The Challenge

Bismarck Farmers Market needed a logo refresh that honored its long-standing legacy while improving clarity, scalability, and usability. The previous logo was visually cluttered and inconsistent, making it difficult to use across signage, merchandise, and digital platforms—especially at smaller sizes or in limited-color applications.

The Approach

I created a custom hand-lettered wordmark that strikes a balance between handcrafted charm and practical function. The letterforms are intentionally imperfect, featuring subtle flourishes and swashes that nod to the handmade goods and homegrown produce sold at the market. The typography evokes both tradition and warmth, giving the logo a rooted, human feel.

To bring in a pop of color and tie back to the market’s former logo, I added an illustrated carrot—both a recognizable symbol of farm-fresh goods and a playful element that helps set BFM apart from competitors. The customized swashes add a distinctive personality while maintaining legibility across different uses.

The Outcome

The result is a flexible, recognizable identity system that captures the spirit of the market—local, welcoming, and rooted in tradition—while maintaining consistency across every touchpoint. The wordmark also lays the groundwork for future brand growth, lending itself easily to a potential logo mark or alternate logo styles down the line—options that weren’t prioritized in this phase due to budget constraints.

Logo for Bismarck Farmers Market with a dark green background, stylized text, and a carrot illustration.

Supporting Elements

The Challenge

Due to budget constraints, a full visual system wasn’t feasible—so the focus shifted to building a pared-back, flexible foundation. The supporting elements needed to extend the logo’s personality into signage, print, and digital without relying on complex assets or costly execution.

color

A grounded, natural palette reflects the market’s North Dakota roots. The deep green anchor shade acts as a stand-in for black—sturdy and versatile—while soft neutrals and a punchy carrot orange add warmth, approachability, and local flavor.

Typography

The type system pairs a rustic sans-serif for headings with a clean, functional serif text for subheadings & body text. It strikes a balance between heritage and legibility, reinforcing the handcrafted aesthetic while remaining easy to use across formats.

A rectangular infographic with 5 segments in dark green, pale green, light grassy green, brown, and orange on a light background.
A gray background with a sample layout of text including a large heading 'Heading Example', a subheading 'subheading example', body text, and a highlighted example at the bottom.