Oso Sound Healing
Summary
Helping The Sound Healing Studio evolve into Oso Sound Healing through brand development, educational design, experiential creative direction, and firsthand participation in its growing training community.
The Vision
When Avery Whitmore brought me into The Sound Healing Studio in 2024, the organization was helping sound healing practitioners access high-quality instruments and develop the knowledge needed to work with them confidently and responsibly.
The studio needed more than a recognizable identity. It needed a cohesive creative system capable of supporting instrument sales, training programs, educational resources, events, and a growing community of practitioners.
I worked with Avery to develop the brand and create educational materials that reflected the quality and intention behind the organization. As the work progressed, Avery’s vision began expanding beyond the physical studio. Trainings were moving into immersive natural settings, creating a deeper relationship between sound, learning, community, and place.
That evolution inspired the transition from The Sound Healing Studio into Oso Sound Healing: a more expansive brand shaped by education, shared experience, and connection to the natural world.
My Role
I have worked closely with Avery since 2024, helping shape the visual and educational experience of the organization while guiding its ongoing evolution into Oso Sound Healing.
My role has included:
Creative direction
Brand strategy and development
Logo and identity design
Educational and curriculum design
Illustration and infographics
Editorial and layout design
Training-module packets
Teaching guides and chord sheets
Social campaign design
Photography integration
Retreat and training facilitation
Photo-shoot coordination and art direction
Studio environment development
Ongoing brand stewardship
The Creative Direction
Sound healing brings together technical knowledge, intuitive practice, creativity, and personal experience. The visual system needed to hold those dimensions without becoming overly clinical or relying on familiar spiritual imagery.
Across the identity, curriculum, and communications, I developed a visual language using organic forms, strong typography, illustration, photography, and information design. As the organization evolves into Oso Sound Healing, that language is becoming warmer, more tactile, and increasingly connected to the natural environments where the work now takes place.
Learning From Within the Experience
My understanding of the organization deepened when I joined an Oso retreat and training at Spirit Camp in Mendocino, California.
I participated as one of the facilitators, helping share sound healing practices, drum making, a cacao ceremony, and guided meditation. Being immersed in the retreat gave me a direct understanding of how people experience Oso’s work: through learning, ritual, creativity, community, and connection to place.
I also helped coordinate and creatively direct the retreat photo shoot. Working alongside the photographer allowed us to capture genuine moments of teaching and participation while communicating the relationship between the retreat and the redwood environment around it.
That experience continues to inform the Oso rebrand and the redesign of the physical studio. Natural materials, organic forms, and environmental references are helping connect the studio in LA with the experiences now taking place beyond its walls.
The Work
Retreat facilitation and creative direction by Matt Canale. Photography by Nicholas Zvolensky.
The Impact
The work has created a more cohesive experience across the organization’s education, communication, and community programs.
Students receive thoughtfully structured materials that support learning during the training and provide useful resources for continued practice. Complex concepts are presented through a combination of clear language, illustration, infographics, photography, and editorial design.
The organization also has a more flexible creative foundation for promoting courses, presenting teaching materials, documenting experiences, and building a recognizable relationship with its community.
The continuing transition into Oso Sound Healing is bringing these elements together under a more complete identity, connecting the organization’s curriculum, retreats, photography, digital communication, and physical studio.
Reflection
This project has shown me how much stronger creative direction becomes when it grows from direct experience.
By participating in Oso’s training as both a creative partner and facilitator, I came to understand that the identity, curriculum, photography, retreat setting, and teaching experience are not separate pieces. Together, they shape how people encounter and understand the work.
My role has been to bring clarity and consistency to that experience while helping Avery create a brand that feels grounded, welcoming, and true to his vision.
As The Sound Healing Studio becomes Oso Sound Healing, our work continues to evolve. The goal is not simply to create a consistent brand. It is to create an honest expression of what it feels like to learn, practice, and connect through sound.