Every once in a while, when you’re working with a client, you’ll run into a situation that gives you a choice. You might rethink how you’ve been doing things, or you might just carry on as if each professional experience doesn’t carry lessons to integrate. It’s simply part of life as a consciouspreneur, as someone who’s aware of the impact of their work. I say you should learn to welcome this message, if you notice it. You can pause, decipher what it’s telling you, measure it against your way forward, and assimilate it. If it feels right, of course. The point is that your perspective will be broadened.
Too often, we work head-down without bringing our gaze to the horizon. If I didn’t have Athena to keep me level, I’d have no balance between the two viewpoints. I assure you.
We at least make time to reflect on each experience we undertake as a studio, especially when we finish working on a client project. We reflect on what it was like from start to finish, workflow-wise, in hopes of improving the next time around. We go down the list of measured particulars, like time spent on each deliverable (piece of the project) and number of revisions needed. The givens of any creative consultancy, really.
But we just wrapped up one of the most formative assignments of our time as a studio, and we feel like the studio’s changed for the better.
In 2024, Athena took the TBM Manifestation Challenge, an annual digital workshop that, through guided mediations and writing exercises, seeks to bring participants closer to their soul’s unique desires. Athena was “calling in” a dream person to work with. Even before she finished the Challenge, she could feel Sydnie orbiting her periphery.
Not long after the Challenge ended, Sydnie messaged Athena on Instagram, interested in our energetic marketing services. She’d been referred to us by her friend (and someone we’ve worked with earlier this year), Amanda MacGillivray of The Birth of You. The beginning of any working relationship is to be noted for future reference, and this meeting seemed divinely guided.
Working with Sydnie Kenoss of Kae Paché brought us tons of insight about how we want to work with others in the future. The thing is, there was so much levity and ease in the process that a-ha moments just… appeared. And we took note of them that way. For instance, we quickly became sure of Sydnie being someone we wanted to keep in touch with after we finished working with her.
Of course, we look for collaborators who share our values. But we felt like we wanted to help her with challenges outside the scope of our project. For that reason, we realized we had to think of our clients as accounts, investments to be nurtured. Hence, we decided to pursue future collaborations as prospective accounts. A change in language that caused us to think differently about relationships.
And even when we were working on the last deliverable for her, which were her Canva templates for social media, something magical happened. She messaged us on the BSS / Kae Paché Telegram channel in hopes that we could answer a couple of layout questions. I hopped into her Canva file, and edited the layouts she’d been working on, explaining my process while she was viewing the file as well. In the past, I would have fixed her templates and messaged her when they were ready for her, without her involvement.
But I realized that there was an opportunity to show her how my designs reinforced her brand identity, and she understood with enthusiasm. And now, I can’t wait to have design consultation sessions with future clients – er, accounts. Working so close-knit was a way I fell in love with what I do at BLAK SALT. So, two more things were incorporated: the creation of encrypted messaging channels for our accounts, and one-on-one design sessions if need be.
Sydnie already had a visual identity for her flower essence brand, then named KAE PACÉ. In that, her labels featured a spiral with two small dots at either ends of the shape. Even the smallest element holds a portion of the brand coding, and that spiral was the jumping off point for expanding her use of symbolism. During our kickoff call, Sydnie expressed desire for a brand that looked almost mysterious, so attuned to the inner world that its depth wasn’t measurable.
It made sense; the power of her flower blends lies in their ability to communicate when we’re completely open to them. And she wanted her brand to evoke a feeling of ancient connection, which led me to ask her about her lineage. What I discovered was that she had roots in several places around the world, most notably the Philippines and Japan.
What’s magical about Filipino tattoo art, known as batok, is that the patterns are comprised of symbols with different qualities. The sun, one of the most powerful reoccurring symbols in the practice, represents both concepts (life, influence, divinity) and motifs (the different provinces or tribes). The scales of a serpent, long and winding, are both calming and fierce, representing wisdom and connection to the spirit world.
I studied the ingredients in Sydnie’s flower essence blends (of which there were 13), listed out their unique potentiative qualities, and illustrated those qualities as icons. Such considerations were the flower incorporated, what it stood for, and where it was harvested. These icons became a set of hieroglyphs that represented what Sydnie’s brand champions, and a suite of three specific icons are used on each blend’s label.
The wordmark was originally going to be illustrated in block lettering, appearing anonymous so the icons could be front and center. But after studying Babayin, a pre-colonial Filipino writing system, we decided it would be a great complement to her icon library. The forms were done with a calligraphy brush, to maintain an imperfect hand-made quality throughout, and they were simplified over time for readability. Interestingly, there’s no way to translate “Kae Paché” in Babayin, which means “Pure Peace,” because in the Philippines, peace is pure as it is. An image comes to mind of how pure peace feels, lying in a bed of flowers under the sun, which was captured by photographer Sarah Wainright for Sydnie’s photoshoot in California.
With those elements clearly defined, and true to her own Self, we established the ways those elements would work together harmoniously. The labels came next, as the wordmark was laid on the top left corner with the blend name on the bottom, and three unique icons arranged vertically along the opposite side from the bottom. That grid created a sort of container for the typeface (Hypatia Sans, a versatile Humanist sans serif) to adapt cross-channel. And the colors, inspired by deep earth tones, were featured on the website.
Not long after the website was started, Sydnie and Sarah Wainright had their photoshoot together, which produced a myriad of vivid imagery for use in promotional materials in all media. And while the other deliverables were coming together, I was incorporating them into a brand guide that included everything from the safe size her logo should be used to the do’s and don’ts for her colors. The goal was to provide a robust support system for her so she could walk and work uninhibited in the brand we’d developed for her, with guides based in her foundational brand principles to fall back on.
Ultimately, here’s what the project brought Sydnie:
An illustrated wordmark
A suite of icons, for digital and printed use
A proprietary palette of primary and secondary colors
A set of labels for each blend, including one for custom formulas
A series of art directed shots by Wainright
A simple set of shipping boxes for packaging
A robust e-commerce website, with an online quiz and an introductory email campaign
A comprehensive brand guide that informed Sydnie how everything ties together
A group of Canva templates for Instagram Posts and Stories
A social media strategy tailored to her personal energetics
This transformative partnership with Sydnie did more than redefine a brand; it redefined our entire approach to creative collaboration. Even though we’d built BLAK SALT on nurturing over transacting, we still unearthed steps to a more profound, integrated way of working that fosters lasting relationships and deeper impact.
The most powerful work happens when we allow ourselves to learn and adapt alongside those we work with. Thanks for being there, Sydnie.
Ready to launch a brand that’s uniquely tailored to your vision, purpose, and energetics? We’re accepting applicants for 2026. Email us at we@blaksalt.studio
In reverence for the process,
Alex Konsevick
Creative Director
