Running Springs Farmers Market & Artisan Faire · Brand identity case study
We refreshed the Running Springs Farmers Market & Artisan Faire’s logo without losing what locals recognized, built a brand system around it, and launched a marketing website on that brand in under three weeks, ahead of the market’s 15th season.
The Running Springs Farmers Market & Artisan Faire is the oldest certified farmers market on The Rim. For more than a decade it grew on word of mouth, but newer markets had since opened on the mountain, and the original needed to look like the established destination it is.
We treated the market as one brand across every touchpoint, starting with the logo and ending with a website built on it.
Phase 1April 2024
We reviewed the market’s existing logo, channels, and event photos, and looked at the newer markets on the mountain so the new brand would stand apart from them.
Key deliverables
Phase 2April to May 2024
We explored several directions and recommended the one that kept the most of what people knew.
Key deliverables
Phase 3May 2024
We built the chosen logo into a complete identity the market’s volunteers could apply without a designer.
Key deliverables
Phase 4March 2026
When the chamber’s Farmers Market Committee asked for a site of its own, we designed it around the brand and the four reasons people visit, and refined it with the committee.
Key deliverables
Phase 5March to April 2026
We prepared the site for the public before opening day.
Key deliverables
We redrew each vegetable from the market’s original logo as clean, consistent artwork and set them in a single crate. We added a beet to balance the colors.
Because every piece comes from the original, the new logo reads as the same market at a glance, only clearer, more confident, and easier to use.
The main logo works on signs and flyers. An arched badge holds up on photos and color, an alternate logo fits narrow spaces, a submark adds a handwritten touch for merchandise, and the crate icon works as a favicon or social avatar.
The guidelines show the brand in use, from a market banner with the season’s dates to square social posts. The illustrated produce doubles as a pattern, so volunteers can make on-brand graphics from a small set of parts.
Square templates in the brand’s green, cream, and produce colors give the market a consistent look in every post.
RunningSpringsFarmersMarket.com opens with the market’s story in numbers, then sends each visitor down the right path: planning a Saturday, finding this week’s vendors, applying to sell, or making a day of it in Running Springs.
It includes an interactive map and parking guide, drive times from across Southern California, a vendor list that updates itself each week from Farmspread, step-by-step vendor applications, and a sponsorship section. It links to Visit Running Springs, which we also built, so a morning at the market can turn into a day in town.
Before
After
The refreshed brand now represents the market on its website and in its materials. The website went live in under three weeks from the first concept, ahead of the market’s 15th-season opening day on April 25, 2026, and the market announced it to its mailing list as part of the season kickoff.
For the first time, shoppers, vendors, and sponsors have one place to find everything about the market, presented as the established, high-quality destination it is.
| Goal | What we delivered | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Keep the recognition the market had built | A logo redrawn from the original produce, in a cleaner and more flexible system | Process documented in the 2024 brand guidelines. |
| Stand apart as The Rim’s original | A distinct badge, palette, and illustration style, and a website that leads with the market’s history | The site opens with “The Rim’s Original Certified Farmers Market · Est. 2012.” |
| Give shoppers, vendors, and sponsors one place online | A marketing website with paths for visitors, vendors, and sponsors, and a vendor list that updates itself | runningspringsfarmersmarket.com, live since spring 2026. |
| Launch before the 2026 season | First concept to launch in under three weeks | First concept in late March 2026; launch announced April 12, 2026; opening day April 25, 2026. |
Sources: project messages and design files, April to May 2024 and March to April 2026; Running Springs Farmers Market & Artisan Faire branding guidelines (2024); the market’s 2026 season announcement, April 12, 2026; runningspringsfarmersmarket.com, October 2026.
We continue to work with the Running Springs community, including the Running Springs Area Chamber of Commerce and Visit Running Springs.
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