Pōhala
Create a way to transfer ancient wisdom in a modern context.
When we connected with Ke'oni of Pōhala, he had a growing community and online store but nothing that could carry people beyond once-off seminars and products.
Ke'oni held a lifetime of esoteric Hawaiian wisdom without a way to share it over a long-term online format, alongside a book he wanted to self-publish. He needed digital infrastructure that could hold a months-long communal journey and a book designed and published from manuscript through to print.
Creating from the inside out.
Before building anything, we entered Pōhala's world as a student and participant. We understood early on that something this sacred and ceremonial could not be created well from the outside.
We took Ke'oni's existing visual identity and elevated it, creating a deliberate contrast for a new and premium offering. Aloha Mā was built as a gated members' space on Squarespace rather than a course platform. Community thrives on two-way exchange and cohorts needed to engage with each other rather than work through a library of recordings alone. We designed custom pages using illustrations, graphics and sound throughout to make complex philosophical teachings easier to integrate over a months-long journey. 'ULU was later built on the same foundations and process.
For the book, we designed the interior, exterior and illustrations, letting the symbolism of 'ULU carry the meaning. In an 'ULU practice, body movements are circular, spiralling and repetitive. The cover holds a spiralling spinal column in an ink texture, rendered in the blue of the he'e, the octopus, which ancient doctrines hold as the sole surviving species of the previous universe.
Wisdom found its people.
All three cycles of Aloha Mā sold out with an ongoing waitlist. What began as one-off seminars has become an ongoing community that Ke'oni still gathers weekly today, years after launch. Ke’oni’s first book ‘ULU Mū Hawaiian Spinal Technology: A Guidebook reached a bestseller list and is available on Amazon across fourteen countries.
