Building the Foraged Brand
Foraged began with a simple idea: make wild foods more accessible while supporting the independent foragers who harvest them. The platform connects chefs and home cooks with a network of foragers across the country, creating a marketplace built around transparency, seasonality, and community. Rugged worked with the founding team to develop the brand identity and creative direction, building a system that could support the marketplace while also telling the deeper story behind the people and landscapes that make wild food possible.
Marketplace Experience
The brand system was designed to live seamlessly within the digital marketplace, balancing clarity and warmth while highlighting the unique products and stories of individual foragers. Typography, color, and photography work together to create an experience that feels both modern and grounded in nature.
Documenting the Foragers
To deepen the brand story, Rugged produced a documentary series following foragers across the country. The films highlight the people, landscapes, and traditions behind wild foods, bringing the community that powers the marketplace into focus while expanding the cultural footprint of the brand.
Brand Identity System
The visual identity balances natural textures and modern typography, creating a system that feels both contemporary and rooted in the outdoors. The identity was designed to scale across the marketplace, packaging, editorial content, and future brand extensions.
Celebrating the Ingredients
The way ingredients are presented across the Foraged marketplace reflects the intimate relationship between foragers and the natural world—a knowledge built through careful study, observation, and time in the field. The visual system draws inspiration from watercolor botanical illustrations commonly used by botanists and naturalists to document plants and fungi. Rather than relying on a fixed set of illustrations, the same visual tone informed the product photography across the marketplace, allowing each ingredient to feel like part of a broader field guide to wild foods.
Illustration Style
The illustration system for Foraged is rooted in curiosity, discovery, and the layered stories behind wild food. The collage-style approach blends hand-drawn botanical illustrations, photography, textures, and found objects into compositions that feel both archival and alive. Elements overlap and interact, reflecting the layered knowledge and intuition inherent in foraging. Rather than presenting ingredients or ideas in isolation, the illustrations create connections between people, place, and landscape, allowing the brand identity to remain flexible while maintaining a tone that feels curious, grounded, and human.
Outcomes
The launch of Foraged helped establish a national marketplace connecting chefs and home cooks with independent foragers across the United States. Through brand identity, storytelling, and digital experience, the platform built a strong community around wild food and the people who harvest it. As the business matured, the founder was ultimately able to exit the company, marking a successful chapter in the evolution of the platform.
Food & Beverage
Next Project:
Far Out ›
![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg display="block" role="presentation" viewBox="0 0 1120 282" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g d="M 0 0 L 1120 0 L 1120 282 L 0 282 Z M 21.76 153.395 L 0 175.1 L 0 260.295 L 21.76 282 L 143.45 282 L 165.02 260.295 L 165.02 229.953 L 141.064 229.953 L 141.064 258.093 L 23.966 258.093 L 23.966 177.301 L 141.065 177.301 L 141.065 205.442 L 165.021 205.442 L 165.021 175.11 L 143.451 153.395 Z M 201.652 153.395 L 179.892 175.1 L 179.892 259.928 L 201.652 282 L 323.353 282 L 344.924 259.918 L 344.924 175.1 L 323.343 153.385 L 201.652 153.385 Z M 320.947 177.301 L 320.947 258.104 L 203.849 258.104 L 203.849 177.301 Z M 393.105 153.395 L 349.456 282 L 374.874 282 L 383.86 254.207 L 478.275 254.207 L 487.261 282 L 512.679 282 L 469.03 153.395 Z M 453.274 177.301 L 470.422 230.31 L 391.673 230.31 L 408.821 177.301 Z M 537.52 153.395 L 515.76 175.467 L 515.76 207.94 L 537.52 229.646 L 656.825 229.646 L 656.825 258.093 L 539.727 258.093 L 539.727 243.934 L 515.76 243.934 L 515.76 259.918 L 537.331 282 L 659.042 282 L 680.791 259.928 L 680.791 227.454 L 659.032 205.749 L 539.727 205.749 L 539.727 177.301 L 656.825 177.301 L 656.825 191.461 L 680.791 191.461 L 680.791 175.477 L 659.221 153.395 Z M 852.483 153.395 L 685.95 153.395 L 685.95 177.301 L 757.233 177.301 L 757.233 282 L 781.2 282 L 781.2 177.301 L 852.483 177.301 Z M 877.493 153.395 L 833.844 282 L 859.262 282 L 868.248 254.207 L 962.653 254.207 L 971.639 282 L 997.047 282 L 953.398 153.395 Z M 937.662 177.301 L 954.81 230.31 L 876.061 230.31 L 893.209 177.301 Z M 1028.6 258.093 L 1028.6 153.395 L 1004.64 153.395 L 1004.64 282 L 1120 282 L 1120 258.093 Z M 323.462 104.699 L 206.006 104.699 L 206.006 0 L 182.039 0 L 182.039 106.523 L 203.61 128.605 L 325.858 128.605 L 347.429 106.523 L 347.429 0 L 323.462 0 Z M 508.076 128.605 L 529.647 106.523 L 529.647 62.746 L 467.946 62.746 L 467.946 86.653 L 505.69 86.653 L 505.69 104.699 L 388.582 104.699 L 388.582 23.907 L 505.69 23.907 L 505.69 44.878 L 529.647 44.878 L 529.647 21.715 L 508.076 0 L 386.385 0 L 364.625 21.705 L 364.625 106.533 L 386.375 128.605 Z M 688.863 128.605 L 710.434 106.523 L 710.434 62.746 L 648.733 62.746 L 648.733 86.653 L 686.477 86.653 L 686.477 104.699 L 569.369 104.699 L 569.369 23.907 L 686.477 23.907 L 686.477 44.878 L 710.434 44.878 L 710.434 21.715 L 688.853 0 L 567.172 0 L 545.402 21.705 L 545.402 106.533 L 567.162 128.605 Z M 892.662 104.699 L 751.597 104.699 L 751.597 72.671 L 848.984 72.671 L 848.984 48.765 L 751.597 48.765 L 751.597 23.907 L 892.662 23.907 L 892.662 0 L 727.631 0 L 727.631 128.605 L 892.662 128.605 Z M 1103.79 106.533 L 1103.79 21.705 L 1082.03 0 L 905.535 0 L 905.535 128.605 L 1082.03 128.605 L 1103.78 106.533 Z M 1079.82 23.907 L 1079.82 104.709 L 929.491 104.709 L 929.491 23.906 L 1079.82 23.906 Z M 0 0 L 0 128.605 L 23.966 128.605 L 23.966 79.662 L 94.544 79.662 L 122.297 128.605 L 147.069 128.605 L 119.315 79.662 L 143.262 79.662 L 165.021 57.957 L 165.021 21.705 L 143.262 0 Z M 141.065 23.907 L 141.065 55.765 L 23.966 55.765 L 23.966 23.907 Z M 1079.82 184.054 C 1068.9 184.054 1060.02 192.918 1060.02 203.806 C 1060.02 214.693 1068.91 223.558 1079.82 223.558 C 1090.74 223.558 1099.62 214.693 1099.62 203.806 C 1099.62 192.918 1090.74 184.054 1079.82 184.054 Z M 1079.82 220.841 C 1070.41 220.841 1062.74 213.196 1062.74 203.806 C 1062.74 194.416 1070.41 186.771 1079.82 186.771 C 1089.23 186.771 1096.9 194.416 1096.9 203.806 C 1096.9 213.196 1089.23 220.841 1079.82 220.841 Z M 1069.67 195.635 L 1069.67 211.976 L 1072.71 211.976 L 1072.71 205.759 L 1081.38 205.759 L 1084.91 211.976 L 1088.36 211.976 L 1084.83 205.759 L 1087.87 205.759 L 1090.64 203.002 L 1090.64 198.401 L 1087.87 195.645 L 1069.67 195.645 Z M 1087.59 198.669 L 1087.59 202.715 L 1072.71 202.715 L 1072.71 198.669 Z" fill="transparent" height="282.00000427246096px" id="r2Pe2kxx8" width="1120.0000146484376px"><path d="M 0 0 L 1120 0 L 1120 282 L 0 282 Z" fill="transparent" height="282px" id="XnZOBcUJN" width="1120px"/><path d="M 21.76 153.395 L 0 175.1 L 0 260.295 L 21.76 282 L 143.45 282 L 165.02 260.295 L 165.02 229.953 L 141.064 229.953 L 141.064 258.093 L 23.966 258.093 L 23.966 177.301 L 141.065 177.301 L 141.065 205.442 L 165.021 205.442 L 165.021 175.11 L 143.451 153.395 Z M 201.652 153.395 L 179.892 175.1 L 179.892 259.928 L 201.652 282 L 323.353 282 L 344.924 259.918 L 344.924 175.1 L 323.343 153.385 L 201.652 153.385 Z M 320.947 177.301 L 320.947 258.104 L 203.849 258.104 L 203.849 177.301 Z M 393.105 153.395 L 349.456 282 L 374.874 282 L 383.86 254.207 L 478.275 254.207 L 487.261 282 L 512.679 282 L 469.03 153.395 Z M 453.274 177.301 L 470.422 230.31 L 391.673 230.31 L 408.821 177.301 Z M 537.52 153.395 L 515.76 175.467 L 515.76 207.94 L 537.52 229.646 L 656.825 229.646 L 656.825 258.093 L 539.727 258.093 L 539.727 243.934 L 515.76 243.934 L 515.76 259.918 L 537.331 282 L 659.042 282 L 680.791 259.928 L 680.791 227.454 L 659.032 205.749 L 539.727 205.749 L 539.727 177.301 L 656.825 177.301 L 656.825 191.461 L 680.791 191.461 L 680.791 175.477 L 659.221 153.395 Z M 852.483 153.395 L 685.95 153.395 L 685.95 177.301 L 757.233 177.301 L 757.233 282 L 781.2 282 L 781.2 177.301 L 852.483 177.301 Z M 877.493 153.395 L 833.844 282 L 859.262 282 L 868.248 254.207 L 962.653 254.207 L 971.639 282 L 997.047 282 L 953.398 153.395 Z M 937.662 177.301 L 954.81 230.31 L 876.061 230.31 L 893.209 177.301 Z M 1028.6 258.093 L 1028.6 153.395 L 1004.64 153.395 L 1004.64 282 L 1120 282 L 1120 258.093 Z M 323.462 104.699 L 206.006 104.699 L 206.006 0 L 182.039 0 L 182.039 106.523 L 203.61 128.605 L 325.858 128.605 L 347.429 106.523 L 347.429 0 L 323.462 0 Z M 508.076 128.605 L 529.647 106.523 L 529.647 62.746 L 467.946 62.746 L 467.946 86.653 L 505.69 86.653 L 505.69 104.699 L 388.582 104.699 L 388.582 23.907 L 505.69 23.907 L 505.69 44.878 L 529.647 44.878 L 529.647 21.715 L 508.076 0 L 386.385 0 L 364.625 21.705 L 364.625 106.533 L 386.375 128.605 Z M 688.863 128.605 L 710.434 106.523 L 710.434 62.746 L 648.733 62.746 L 648.733 86.653 L 686.477 86.653 L 686.477 104.699 L 569.369 104.699 L 569.369 23.907 L 686.477 23.907 L 686.477 44.878 L 710.434 44.878 L 710.434 21.715 L 688.853 0 L 567.172 0 L 545.402 21.705 L 545.402 106.533 L 567.162 128.605 Z M 892.662 104.699 L 751.597 104.699 L 751.597 72.671 L 848.984 72.671 L 848.984 48.765 L 751.597 48.765 L 751.597 23.907 L 892.662 23.907 L 892.662 0 L 727.631 0 L 727.631 128.605 L 892.662 128.605 Z M 1103.79 106.533 L 1103.79 21.705 L 1082.03 0 L 905.535 0 L 905.535 128.605 L 1082.03 128.605 L 1103.78 106.533 Z M 1079.82 23.907 L 1079.82 104.709 L 929.491 104.709 L 929.491 23.906 L 1079.82 23.906 Z M 0 0 L 0 128.605 L 23.966 128.605 L 23.966 79.662 L 94.544 79.662 L 122.297 128.605 L 147.069 128.605 L 119.315 79.662 L 143.262 79.662 L 165.021 57.957 L 165.021 21.705 L 143.262 0 Z M 141.065 23.907 L 141.065 55.765 L 23.966 55.765 L 23.966 23.907 Z" fill="rgb(39, 39, 38)" height="282.00000427246096px" id="auQ3nDAie" width="1120.0000146484376px"/><path d="M 19.8 0 C 8.88 0 0 8.864 0 19.752 C 0 30.639 8.89 39.504 19.8 39.504 C 30.72 39.504 39.6 30.639 39.6 19.752 C 39.6 8.864 30.72 0 19.8 0 Z M 19.8 36.787 C 10.39 36.787 2.72 29.142 2.72 19.752 C 2.72 10.362 10.39 2.717 19.8 2.717 C 29.21 2.717 36.88 10.362 36.88 19.752 C 36.88 29.142 29.21 36.787 19.8 36.787 Z" fill="rgb(244, 63, 28)" height="39.50400000000002px" id="ELbb_RJ7c" transform="translate(1060.02 184.054)" width="39.59999999999991px"/><path d="M 0 0 L 0 16.341 L 3.04 16.341 L 3.04 10.124 L 11.71 10.124 L 15.24 16.341 L 18.69 16.341 L 15.16 10.124 L 18.2 10.124 L 20.97 7.367 L 20.97 2.766 L 18.2 0.01 L 0 0.01 Z M 17.92 3.034 L 17.92 7.08 L 3.04 7.08 L 3.04 3.034 Z" fill="rgb(244, 63, 28)" height="16.341000000000008px" id="B3WshVHjd" transform="translate(1069.67 195.635)" width="20.970000000000027px"/></g></svg>)