Danielle Alling
Danielle Alling
Brand + Web Designer / Founder of Kali Creative
Salt Lake City, UT
www.kali-creative.com
instagram @kalicreative
dribbble
pinterest
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I create brand identities and websites for wellness professionals who want to live their purpose and connect with their people.”
I like to say that I help wellness pros live their digital dharma. I work with all kinds of holistic entrepreneurs who do things that are fully aligned with their values—this includes yoga teachers, health coaches, fitness instructors, Ayurvedic practitioners, artists, and anyone who’s passionate about the offerings they share with the world.
My aim with each project is not only to deliver a beautifully designed visual brand and website, but to empower my clients to step into their values and purpose with greater clarity and confidence. And when that happens, they’re able to connect with their community in a magnetic way and attract more of their kind of people.
WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW?
I’ve taken quite a meandering path to get here, but it’s been full of some really amazing experiences and wonderful people. I was always into art as a kid but I also really liked math and science, and I graduated college with a degree in engineering. But eventually I decided that wasn’t the path for me, so I joined the Peace Corps and spent two years teaching math and physics in Tanzania. When I finished, I spent five months hiking the entire Appalachian Trail before landing my first job as an in-house designer.
For the next couple of years I worked for a fair trade nonprofit called Serrv, and I have some really fond memories there. Their values and nonprofit model really spoke to me, and even after I left to hike the Pacific Crest Trail I continued to do freelance work for them. We’ve long maintained a wonderful relationship.
Fast forward to today, where I’ve been freelancing since 2016. For a few years it was a pretty casual thing and I had no real direction or even style, but after investing in my design skills and my business, things have really come together. I’ve found a way to bridge my yoga studentship and teaching with my design work, and that’s been incredibly rewarding. It’s a really amazing thing when you can align your personal and professional values in a way that is successful, sustainable, and healthy.
How do you stand out in your field?
One of the big things that sets me apart is that I just understand the wellness space. I’ve been a yoga teacher myself for many years (I started my practice in 2007 and have been teaching since 2014). I incorporate a number of wellness and self-care practices into my daily life, including Ayurveda, mindfulness, pranayama, and more. These practices are essential to me living my best and brightest.
So one of my strong suits is that I can connect my branding and marketing knowledge with my personal experiences of these practices. I help my clients to bridge wellness and business in a holistic, honest way. A lot of wellness entrepreneurs struggle to run an ethical business and many find the idea of marketing and promotion to be an icky thing. But the truth is that marketing is about forging connections, and it doesn’t have to be sketchy, dishonest, or manipulative. I try to educate my clients about this and help them step up with clarity and a full heart.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
Right now I’m continuing to refine my Semi-Custom Brand Kits, which is a more affordable branding solution for business owners on a budget. (Squarespace templates will come summer 2021!) I’m also investing in my coding skills so I can build websites that perfectly match my design vision, that are seamless for my clients to manage, and that are truly unique in the noisy world of digital offerings.
WHAT'S YOUR STYLE/PERSPECTIVE/TASTE? DO YOU HAVE A PROJECT THAT REPRESENTS THIS?
I’m all about bright colors, clean lines, and white space. I like to think of the brands I design as a symphony, where there’s not a single element that really steals the show. Instead, I prefer the essence of the brand to really shine when all the elements work seamlessly and holistically together.
WE ARE ALL SLASHIES WITH MULTIPLE SKILLS, WHICH ONE DO YOU WISH YOU COULD DO MORE OFTEN?
Honestly, I wish I could teach yoga more! With all my design work, two classes per week is plenty but I’d love to have the time to teach 4 or 5. I was teaching that much when I first started but I got burned out pretty quick and my home practice suffered. Maintaining my home practice and my own studentship is priority number one. It’d be wonderful to have enough free time to teach more frequently while also keeping up with all my branding and website projects.
WHAT IS FRUSTRATING YOU RIGHT NOW?
Marketing! Oh, gosh. I block out every other Wednesday to focus on this and I always feel like I need way more time! I write blog posts and make video tutorials, design the graphics to promote them, batch-create social media posts and write their captions, and lots more. It really does take soooo much time to do this well that I should probably just hire someone to help!
There’s also my constant frustration with local and national leadership, racism and social injustices, our climate crisis, and the state of the world… but I’ll save those for another time. :-)
IF YOU COULD HIRE SOMEONE FOR $20/HR, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE THEM DO TO MAKE YOUR DAY EASIER?
Some of those marketing tasks I mentioned above! Gosh that would be such a time-saver.
I’m actually considering hiring a more technically-inclined assistant to answer questions regarding website templates. The Squarespace templates won’t be ready until summer 2021, but I want to be sure anyone who purchases them gets all the support and attention they need. I just don’t foresee having the capacity to handle that kind of support on my own and would love to bring someone on to help.
LET'S BRING OUT THE TIME MACHINE. WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE TOLD YOURSELF, WHEN, AND WHY?
I’d zip back to 2016 and encourage myself to just CREATE. That’s when I started freelancing, and I was so focused on just getting work that I didn’t take the time to really develop my style. Anything I designed or created was done for the specific purpose of “building my skills” and I didn’t always find joy in it. But this year whenever my client workload has been low, I’ve done a lot more painting and designing for pure absolute fun and with zero intentions of sharing it. That sort of care-free, passion-fueled creating has done more than I ever imagined to develop my style and skills.
My imposter syndrome was SO real back then and I thought the only way to overcome it was to work, work, work… not create, create, create! I’ve realized that the more I give myself time to create, the more I feel aligned in the work I do every day.
IF YOU COULD TALK TO AN EXPERT TO GAIN MORE INSIGHT ON SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?
This has nothing to do with business or design but… I have always wanted a geologist friend to come hang with me in the Utah desert. I spend so much time deep in the wilderness (I’m an avid backpacker) surrounded by these ancient temples of sandstone and yet I know so little about them. I’d love to get more intimate and learn about their character, how they were formed, what they can tell us about history, and so much more.
WHAT KIND OF OPPORTUNITIES/PROJECTS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
I love working with wellness entrepreneurs who want a brand that connects. I’m passionate about letting the values behind one’s work shine bright, and crafting a system of logos and branding elements that showcase all that beauty and goodness. Right now building websites is my absolute favorite thing to work on, because once you’ve got a solid branding in place, there’s so much potential when you bring that to life with subtle animations and interactivity on a website.
Right now my dream clients include holistic health coaches, Ayurvedic practitioners, and yoga teachers who offer comprehensive online classes and trainings. I’d love work with them on branding, building a stellar website, and also ongoing work to create course workbooks and promotional graphics.
DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL JOB/CLIENT/COLLABORATION.
My dream client is someone who practices what she preaches and who really believes in the power of what she offers. She’s down-to-earth, honest, and relatable, and not someone who positions herself as higher-than-thou. I work with some very spiritual people but I’m not into spiritual bypassing or heavily coded language that makes practices inaccessible to modern-day folks.
One of my favorite recent projects was for my own yoga teacher, Christina Sell. We got her set with a beautiful brand that more accurately represents the quality of her offerings, built her an easy-to-use Squarespace website, and set up all of her online courses on Teachable. Christina is super smart and knowledgeable about yoga philosophy and asana, but presents them in a way that is grounded in reality and applicable to every day life. I really love working with people like that.
My dream client also highly values good design and hires experts she trusts. It’s really important to find a designer with a style and personality that resonates with you, rather than forcing your vision onto them. Those of us designers who incorporate strategy and research tend to have a lot of experience when it comes to marketing, and I want my clients to trust my judgement. Of course I am all for exchange of ideas and constructive feedback, and I encourage my clients to ask questions when they aren’t totally on board with my decisions. But each of those decisions was made for a specific reason: to build a brand that connects! So when I open a project with a new client it’s important to establish a relationship that’s grounded in open dialogue and trust.
Who is a creative that has helped you elevate your work?
There’s plenty of brand designers out there, but lately I’ve been finding so much inspiration from artists, interior designers, and photographers. Some of my favorites…
@noellephares - she’s a Denver-based painter who, like me, had a more technical background before she turned to art. I love the way she marries beautiful, natural landscapes with abstract geometric shapes.
@margaret.jeane - she’s a watercolor painter and I just love how colorful and bright her pieces are.
@teresacfreitas - she’s a photographer that makes some fantastic compositions with amazing coloring. I’m really into the palette she uses and the retro vibes each photograph gives out.
@markmaggiori - holy moly. This guy blows my mind with every piece he creates. I mean, just take a look at literally any painting and your mind will be blown too… those clouds!!! gah!!
HOW SHOULD SOMEONE APPROACH YOU ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER?
The easiest and quickest way is to head to my website, www.kali-creative.com and fill out the contact form there. We’ll then hop on a call and get to know each other before committing to work together!
HOW DO YOU STAY CREATIVE?
Watercolor painting, or a good long hike!
This member profile was originally published in January 2021.