The Redesign That Put Funny Farm Foods Back on Whole Foods’ Shelves

How can a food brand make more inclusive products? Funny Farm Foods uses a different kind of dairy better suited for those who are lactose intolerant or who choose not to consume cow’s milk. Essentially, they're making food that more people can love.

When Epic Source Food acquired Funny Farm, they weren’t happy with the packaging, so they sought out Moxie Sozo for a redesign. The previous packs were outdated, and the Funny Farm team was eager to give the Boulder-based design agency a clean slate to rebuild the brand, including strategy, logo, branding, website, and packaging. That meant heaps of opportunity to hone in on a new eye-catching design that would embody Funny Farm’s mission to create great-tasting products that bring everyone to the table.

“Funny Farm’s goal was to kick off something that was a little more fun and approachable that conveyed stand out taste, fun, and health,” said Claire A’Hearn, account director at Moxie Sozo. “They also focus on small batch and being digestive friendly, since it gets made with A2 goat's milk versus cow's milk.”

Goat milk sets Funny Farm Foods apart from its competitors. It’s still dairy, but it’s A2 dairy rather than A1 (which a lot of cow milk is), which studies show is easier to digest. People who experience lactose intolerance might not have to sacrifice the rich flavors of dairy with products like Funny Farm’s macaroni and cheese or ice cream.

“More people will be able to enjoy this product because it’s made with goat milk,” said Sophie Bailey, senior graphic designer at Moxie Sozo. “There's this idea of bringing more people to the table, which is one of my favorite lines from the strategy. The big idea one that of inclusivity.”

The team emphasized how important it was to avoid anything that appeared too juvenile yet still seemed undeniably fun. With the goat illustration, for instance, the team went through a few iterations to tweak the way it looked, that way it didn’t appear childish or off-putting.

“With goats, it's all in the eyes,” said Nate Dyer, creative director at Moxie Sozo. “That’s what makes the goat really creepy, so once you get rid of the crazy eyes, I think you're pretty safe. And you don’t want the horns too crazy, either, so we didn’t want those big curly corkscrew horns or anything like that. To get the details where we wanted them, we kept the eyes very simple, and the rest just fell into place since we could do a lot with the personality from the style we landed on.”

Funny Farm sources their goat milk from their co-op of family farms, so Moxie Sozo wanted to highlight the small-batch nature of these products on the packaging. For inspiration, they turned to hand-painted signs. The logo is a prime example—it has character and variety, and the versatile graphic in the middle can be seen as the top of a windmill, a flower, or a shining sun. Bespoke signage played a significant role in the fonts for the packaging design, giving the brand a handmade and unpretentious yet endearing look.

The original plan was not to create a custom font, but as Sophie was building the brand, she couldn’t find any that achieved what she wanted with the space she had. She created The Funny Farm Font in a range of weights, ligatures, and styles, making it easy for the brand to take the font in-house to work on future extensions.

“I started by hand drawing everything without the intention of creating a font, but it ended up being helpful to have a font for them to use, so that’s the route we ended up going,” she explained. “The brand lends itself to something handwritten and truly unique without being too exclusive. They’re not an exclusive brand at all, but they needed something distinctive to them, too, so there’s a balance.

“That was a fun part of the design, for sure. I had no real parameters because that’s what fits with the Funny Farm brand—being a little quirky and funny.”

The redesign has been such a positive step up from their prior packaging that Whole Foods, who previously removed the brand from the store, reaccepted Funny Farm Foods into their lineup. The Moxie Sozo team agreed that the goat image and font really capture people’s attention, and the rest of the pack informs consumers of the wholesome ingredients and benefits of goat’s milk. Everything from the font to the cartoon goat and farm-centric motifs, or the whimsical logo to the welcoming color palette, tells the consumer that this is a product for them regardless of dietary restrictions—and bringing more people to the table is what the brand is all about.

“The design is so friendly and warm, and we call out that it's made with goat milk, and therefore lactose-friendly and digestion-friendly, pretty loudly and proudly,” Sophie said. “More people, even if they have dietary restrictions or preferences, should be able to enjoy this food.”

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