Soap Creative Develops a New Brand for Rural+ in Support of Farmers’ Mental Wellbeing

With a tight turnaround of 2 weeks from brief to delivery, Soap worked closely with an existing client The Farming Community Network to create a fresh new brand identity for Rural+, a new training module designed to help young farmers tackle the pressures facing today’s farming industry. 

Already working with a number of clients within the Farming and Agriculture space, as well as being publishers of the well respected Farm & Country magazine, Soap Creative has a strong connection to the industry, and was therefore delighted to be asked by existing client FCN to support them on this timely and extremely worthwhile project.

The brief was to develop a brand for Rural+, to include a logo and visual identity to be used across a series of workshop materials including an interactive powerpoint presentation and bespoke printed materials.

Wishing to launch the brand as soon as possible and start to deliver the training modules in April, the team had just 2 weeks to turn their vision for the brand into a reality. As always Soap rose to the challenge, creating a fresh and vibrant new brand identity combining bold colours, gentle curves, and bespoke illustration to give an approachable and friendly feel that could easily be applied across a range of materials and assets.

The name itself, Rural+ was chosen to encourage young people to feel positive about rural life and utilise the great network of friends and support that comes with being a member of the Young Farmers’ Club.

The issue of mental health among the farming community has been an increasing concern of late, with the FCN seeing an increase in calls to their helpline (03000 111 999) over the past 12 months with a mental health component such as stress and anxiety. In fact, a recent study by the Farm Safety Foundation revealed that 88% of farmers under the age of 40 rank poor mental health as the biggest hidden problem facing farmers today.

With this in mind, the Farming Community Network, DPJ Foundation and National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs, further supported by The Westminster Foundation came together to support young farmers through the development of these new Rural+ training modules. The training itself focuses on understanding stress and anxiety; managing personal mental wellbeing; how to talk about mental health; seeking support and supporting others.

Now with a new brand in place, and a smart new set of training materials, the team at FCN are excited to begin training in April to the young rural community and believe this fantastic initiative will play a vital role in enabling the next generation of farmers to tackle the pressures facing the industry with a renewed resilience in the years ahead.

See more examples of our branded design work for Rural+ here.

To find out more about Rural+ and the great work of FCN, read the full press release here.

For full details on the training modules, visit the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs website.