Black Farmer Fund

What is Black Farmer Fund?

black farmer fund logo
Black Farmer Fund logo

Black Farmer Fund (BFF) is a non-profit organization and an emerging community investment fund that strives to support black food systems entrepreneurs in New York. BFF pursues community wealth building by not only providing financial resources and investment literacy but also actively developing a strong support network that connects black farmers with each other to discuss and create financing options and opportunities. BFF’s ultimate mission is to bridge black communities together to create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable food system that benefits those within and outside of black communities.

Vision for Black Farmer Fund
Illustration of Black Farmer Fund’s vision for their wealth building community

BFF’s Design Challenge 

Currently, BFF is in its early stages of development having recently:

  • Established an Instagram account
  • Launched a basic functioning website
  • Kickstarted its pilot program that provides funding and mentoring opportunities to the members

In order to raise awareness and support for the work that it does, BFF wants to focus on three components:

  1. Branding – emphasizing empowerment and system upheaval rather than charity and sympathy
  2. Communication – utilizing various channels to reach farmers, investors, and allies
  3. Personal Stories – presenting anecdotal stories from the pilot program entrepreneurs and community members through dynamic media forms

 

“How can we help Black Farmer Fund build a cohesive and dynamic aesthetic through branding, communication, and storytelling in order to promote its mission and values?”

 

Process

Our Team

Our Stakeholders at BFF

Our ProcessUX Process

We went back and forth through these five stages of design thinking to

  1. Understand the context and situation
  2. Polish and redefine the problem
  3. Brainstorm and plan various ideas
  4. Edit and modify our prototypes

All while bringing in the team at BFF, our primary stakeholders, each step of the way by consistently asking for their input and feedback.

 

EMPATHIZE: Existing Knowledge and Stories

black farm ownership declines from 15 million to 1 million acres

Throughout history, black farmers have made great contributions to innovative, sustainable agricultural practices yet have constantly faced discriminatory policies and land theft. Structural racism in the food and agriculture industry has resulted in limited access to land, financial assistance, and technical support, leaving black farmers marginalized.

 

You can learn more about the movement with these articles, some of which BFF was featured on:

 

Research Methods

By speaking with the founders Melanie and Olivia and interviewing one of the pilot program candidates, Claudia, we were able to gain a better understanding of the topic and build our empathy with the stakeholders.

The two-part infographic comics serve as a production of transmedia knowledge and embodies the personal stories and hopes of all the stakeholders, which include the BFF founders, board of directors, and its team as well as the pilot program members.

REDEFINE: Proposals to Address BFF’s Needs

From our discussions with BFF’s team, we discovered most of the needs focused on wanting to reach a wider audience to convey their narrative of creating a ground-breaking new economy for black farmers and cultivating momentum for the movement to #MakeFarmersBlackAgain in order to support the renewed interest in farming among both the returning generation and new generation. 

  • WHO – Black farmers within the agriculture community, potential investors, and allies for the mission

  • WHAT – Share BFF’s stories of their mission, future vision, current initiatives, resources, and opportunities to connect

  • WHERE – Social media (starting with Instagram) and own website

  • WHY – To inform and increase engagement and involvement with the organization

  • HOW – Different mediums of digital culture that democratize media activism and advocacy

Forms for Transmedia Knowledge

  1. Launch an Instagram social media campaign containing call-to-action infographics 
  2. Redesign their website to improve navigation and content discoverability for different stakeholders
  3. Design an annual report template to provide interested people information about BFF’s activities

IDEATE & PROTOTYPE: Going Forward with the Deliverables

Giving Tuesday on Instagram

With the ever-changing media landscape, social media has become a critical medium for storytelling, with Instagram in particular emerging as the forefront of the social media marketing world. In order to leverage Instagram’s platform, BFF must breakthrough the overwhelming amount of information and outlets and tell its story in a new and interesting way that grabs the audience’s attention immediately and evokes emotions. Instagram Stories provides people with many different opportunities to engage with a story and is a great gateway to get people to be curious and want to learn more about BFF.

The Outcome

After being shared with 10 influencers, BFF received a lot of attention and raised over $8,000 in donations!

 

Personal Touch to BFF’s Website Redesign

Now more than ever, it is important for organizations like BFF to have their own website to establish credibility, solidify branding, and update those who want to be kept in the loop. With so many interesting stories, such as its beginnings, its mission and vision for the future, and those of the pilot program members as well, BFF has a lot to share with the world.

Outcome

The website now has

  • A more unique and personal look that matches the many personal stories BFF has  
  • Improved navigation to make all of the content more visible and accessible to the users 
  • More content documenting all of the latest activities since the website was first created
Comics on Homepage
Infographic comics on the Home page
New banners for the pages
Navigation
Navigation tabs reorganizedCall to Action ButtonsConsistent call to action buttons

Annual Report as a Living Document

Through this first annual report, BFF wants to
  • Highlight their mission, progress, and impact
  • Thank volunteers and supporters
  • Make a case for donating to the organization
We made this document not only visually compelling but also aligned it with BFF’s brand, featuring photos and other visualizations to make it more readable, personable, and relatable while also building trust with the various different audiences.

Outcome

The annual report will be available on BFF’s website soon under the News tab. And to ensure the annual report remains a living document, we have handed off the template we created to BFF’s team so they can continue using it and making their annual report for future years to come.

 

Sharing with the World

We created a Youtube video sharing our process, what we learned, and other insights from working with BFF and utilizing transmedia for media activism.