Mahouna Farms empowers smallholder farmers in Africa by connecting them to better agricultural knowledge, financial support and international markets. To increase their impact, they needed a brand identity and digital presence that would build trust and clearly communicate their mission. Our brief was to design a cohesive visual identity and user-friendly website that would support their growth and outreach.
Key information
- Client: Mahouna Farms – a family-owned business with a mission to transform the realities of agriculture in Africa by combining traditional knowledge with technology.
- Industry: Agriculture
- Project scope: Website and visual identity.
- Main deliverable: A functional and graphic design for the website, in both desktop and mobile versions; a new visual identity for Mahouna Farms.
- Project language: English
- Partners: Tech To The Rescue – a non-profit organization that connects organizations in need of digital support with tech companies capable of providing it.
- Project timeline: August – September 2024 (currently in the implementation phase).
- EDISONDA team members:
Mariusz Nowak – Visual Product Designer
Mateusz Kosma – Senior Visual Product Designer
Grzegorz Żarnowski – Senior Product Designer
Irina Jackiewicz – Senior Project Manager
The context of African agriculture
More than 90% of Africa’s food is produced on small farms, where the majority of the work is done by women, often single mothers who support themselves and their families through manual labour. Farmers (more precisely, women farmers) rely on traditional methods that are not always efficient, resulting in insufficient harvests to feed their families.
Mahouna Farms supports smallholder farmers in a number of ways to help stabilise their livelihoods:
- It provides scientifically validated knowledge on effective soil management, including the use of fertilisers to achieve the best possible yields.
- It is currently developing a health insurance system based on barter, where farmers pay for insurance with part of their produce.
Why is the website a key asset for Mahouna Farms?
To secure funding for the farmers, the founders of Mahouna Farms need to find markets for their produce. They attract buyers mainly from Western countries and promote their work at various events. A trusted brand identity and professional website serve as their calling card, allowing them to effectively present their mission, offerings, business model and opportunities for collaboration.
Challenges
Mahouna Farms needed a partner who could not only create a new brand identity and website, but also translate their mission into a cohesive and professional image. They came to us through their work with Tech To The Rescue, a platform that connects technology companies with non-profit organisations in need of support, where they could rely on expert guidance in brand strategy, UX and design.
Their previous branding was not aligned with their brand strategy, making it difficult to communicate effectively. The lack of consistency in messaging made it difficult to reach new audiences and grow their business. The website was underperforming – navigation issues and a non-intuitive design made it difficult for users to engage with the platform.
Why EDISONDA?
Our experience in creating functional, aesthetically pleasing and effective digital products enabled us to develop a solution that enhances the user experience and builds brand credibility.
Client’s feedback
„The project is having so much impact, and this is thanks to you. The farmers are so excited to see what this new year has in store for us, as are we, and the entire team, which has got bigger thanks to you as well.”
– Adam Amoussou, Mahouna Farms
How the collaboration developed – stages, tools and methods
Stage: Understanding the client’s needs
Objective: To gain an insight into the company’s business and communication needs, as well as their expectations for the new website and visual identity.
Methods: Business Needs Workshop – a meeting with the business founders to identify key challenges and project requirements.
Stage: Visual identity concept
Objective: To develop a cohesive visual system that reflects the values and character of the brand.
Methods: We began the process of creating the Mahouna Farms visual identity by designing a mood board – a collection of images and visual inspirations that help to outline the right direction and capture the essence of the brand. Its purpose is to express the emotions, atmosphere and values we want to embed in the visual identity.
The Mahouna Farms logo is a symbolic composition that integrates the brand’s core values: care, growth, locality and respect for nature. Based on simple yet clear forms, the emblem incorporates five key elements:
- The central leaf represents growth and development. Its shape also resembles a heart, emphasising care for people and the environment – the essence of the Care & Grow philosophy.
- The rays of sunlight emanating from the back of the leaf symbolise sunset, the safest and most typical time to work in the African fields. They reflect the natural rhythm of life, warmth and optimism.
- Rounded lines at the base of the emblem evoke cultivated fields – symbolising work, the land and a deep connection with nature.
- The overall shape of the emblem resembles a pineapple, a subtle reference to the exotic local fruit grown in the region.
- The combination of these elements creates a harmonious, closed symbol that is simple, recognisable and rich in meaning.
The chosen colour scheme reinforces the meaning of the logo:
- Green and brown as primary colours reflect the hues of plants and cultivated land.
- Functional colours – tonally consistent shades used for positive, negative, warning and informational contexts.
- Black, beige and white as complementary colours enhance legibility and provide visual balance to the materials.
Typography: The visual identity includes two typefaces:
- Fraunces – an elegant typeface with character, used for the brand name and dedicated to headlines in the interface. It blends classic aesthetics with an organic form that is well suited to the ideas of tradition and nature.
- Plus Jakarta Sans – a modern, legible sans serif typeface that supports digital communication and everyday applications.
The Mahouna Farms logo is more than just a graphic mark – it is the brand’s visual identity, encapsulating naturalness, localness and care in a simple and memorable symbol. Through a deliberate approach to shape, colour, meaning and typography, the logo serves as a solid foundation for brand communication – both on packaging and in digital spaces.
Stage: Website concept and design (desktop & mobile)
Objective: To create an intuitive navigation and a visually sophisticated, responsive website in line with the new brand identity.
Key actions:
- Information architecture – design intuitive navigation and site structure (sitemap).
- Content strategy – defining key content and its placement on the site.
- User Interface (UI) Design – Developing high fidelity designs for the homepage and key sub-pages (desktop + mobile).
- UI component system (UI style guide) – creating a set of interface elements for consistency and ease of implementation.
- Interactive prototyping – Creating a prototype to evaluate the concept and test the design before development.
Stage: Implementation support
Objective: To ensure the correct implementation of the project by the development team and that the final version of the website is in line with the original design vision.
Key actions:
- Deliver files & guidelines – Provide UI files and specifications to the development team.
- Implementation support – consulting with the IT team, resolving concerns and adapting the design to meet technical requirements.
- Final Adjustments & QA – Review design QA and compliance, inspect staging version, perform visual and functional audit and report on necessary improvements.
Result – what makes the project successful
As a result of our work, the Mahouna Farms initiative has gained:
- A new visual identity that improves brand consistency and recognition among potential customers.
- A responsive and visually appealing website that works seamlessly across devices, free from technical debt.
See for yourself how Mahouna Farms is changing the lives of farmers and the future of farming in Africa: https://mahouna-farms.org
