Walking Dharma is the mindfulness brand of Kristen Coyle, an expert level yoga instructor based in California. Under the umbrella of Walking Dharma, Kristen leads a rapidly-growing podcast, yoga classes & retreats, yoga teacher training courses, and bodywork.

Logo

I hand-drew the Walking Dharma logo then refined the geometry digitally. It encodes several esoteric yogic and spiritual inspirations such as lotus, triangle blade/chalice, dreamcatcher, diamonds, third eye and more. It also features repeating Ws and Ds on a subliminal level.

The lines that appear straight actually flex subtly, and gently bend more as the mandala comes out from its concave diamond center, giving the impression of the yogic path.

The style and coloration of the lines was taking from anecdotes of Kristen’s own artistic preferences, as she used to create murals of vivid color, paint over with violet black, then relief line work to reveal the color below.

This is the first logo for Walking Dharma and thus we were working from scratch. A series of interviews between Kristen and I conveyed the information that produced the logo. It clicked instantly for both of us, and only some tweaks to the form, coloration and type were necessary after the first draft was presented.

Typography

The type is customized from the typeface Co of foundry Dalton Maag, re -drawn and -styled to feature a lighter weight matching the icon and rounded caps.

Day & Night

As with many of my brand designs, I created a ‘day & night’ profile for the Walking Dharma logo set.

This creates more versatility for the usage as well as a more living quality to the branding that mimics the dichotomous quality of nature,.

Splash Image

To introduce the logo and to create and splash image for the Walking Dharma website and services, we worked from a photograph from a shoot for a yoga magazine that Kristen was feature in.

I collaged this image where she sits in lotus position on a Hawaiian black sand beach, with the tide rushing up on her as she sits in bliss. I enveloped her in the unique piece of geometry that her company now owns, and turned the beach into the cosmos.

Business Card

One of my favorite first implementations of a logo and branding – especially for a personal brand – is a high-level business card. Kristen’s was especially gratifying, seeing how well the brand assets that we had put together plus the subject suited the format.

I designed the business card to have a slimmer profile (3.5” x 1.75”), giving the hint of a yoga mat. For the back the orientation switches and features our wonderful photo collage of Kristen.

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