The eight of us ladies made it out to Chai’s Bistro at Aloha Tower for a lovely lunch. Boy was it a journey to get there! Melinda’s birthday is on Monday and we wanted to surprise her…we had a plan to decorate the restaurant and surprise her with balloons and a cake. Lets just say it didn’t go as planned!

Knowing Mel, she knew something was up. She was suspicious from the start. We had to put our acting to the test.

Originally we were going to have a surprise potluck at the office. Plans changed when Melinda told Kelly “shss! I am surprising the team with lunch today! You guys can’t pull anything sneaking like a surprise birthday for me” she said.

Well…although it wasn’t much of a surprise we still all contributed to the party.

As we sipped on our plantation teas, we exchanged stories, laughed and enjoyed the company of each other.

Kristin provided us with some humorous entertainment and Melinda told us stories of her younger days…what a wild child!

Lauren, who originally wanted to be a cake and pastry chef, brought a delicious “tres leches” cake…she even made the wip cream!

Kelly presented Melinda with beautiful lei. After she gave Mel the lei she told us of the story of her and her sister sneaking through yards in Haleiwa collecting Pakalana flowers, one of Mels favorites.

I brought a hand made bouquet from my garden…full of mums, strawflowers and the first sunflower that popped up yesterday.

Cheers to Friday, celebrating Mels birthday, and Halloween! What a great way to end the week and start off the weekend!

We take Halloween seriously here at OrangeRoc! Halloween is just another excuse for us to be wild, and creative.

The team was challenged to each bring a pumpkin into OrangeRoc for our annual pumpkin competition. I knocked on every office door asking people to participate in the voting process with a bowl of candy to bribe the voters to come to our suite vote.

“I’ll be right up! I look forward to your pumpkin contest every year!” said a worker from Hawaii First.

From charming, to dog-gone spooky! Which pumpkin masterpiece is your favorite?

Likes us on Facebook and vote!

If there’s one thing that makes creatives’ cringe, it’s when someone poaches their work. Even worse, when no credit is given.

Bill Gardner, CEO of popular and well-respected LogoLounge, announced today that the site’s archives were pillaged in February 2010 and linked to an account in John Williams’ name, president of LogoGarden. An undisclosed number of LogoLounge members’ logos were snagged, subtly altered, then put up for grabs on LogoGarden. Several designers came across their work on Williams’ site in early August and requested removal, but it’s believed that hundreds of copyrighted logos are still up on his site and being offered for sale.

We encourage you to check if any of your work was compromised.  And if you notice any logos that may belong to fellow designers, take a screen shot and give them a head’s up. Trust us, they’ll thank you for it.

For more insight, see what Gardner has to say in his personal blog.

They say when parents serve time, so do their children and the guardians left behind to care for them.

Keiki O Ka ‘Aina was the proud sponsor of 2011 SFAI Summit: Strengthening Families Affected by Incarceration held on September 30, 2011. Mayor Peter Carlisle, The Honorable Judge Mike Town, Former Lt. Governor Duke Aiona and keynote speaker Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng – to name a few – joined forces in support of developing stronger partnerships, programs and resources for children of incarcerated parents.

Existing programs like SKIPP, Supporting Keiki of Incarcerated Parents, received praise for their commitment to family reunification, developing positive parenting skills and reducing recidivism. Some of the highlights included personal stories from the participants of the Ohana Resiliency Panel, a touching song by Charmaine Heanu in memory of her daughter and inspirational hula performances from the women of Total Life Recovery, WCCC and the junior mentors of Camp Agape.

It was an honor to be among an audience of strong, positive and resilient individuals working to help change the outcomes and futures of the families affected.

The 15th Annual Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard Race was held on July 31, 2011 and OrangeRoc was there to capture some great photos of the event.  Dr. Michael Bennett, founder of OrangeRoc’s client Retina Institute of Hawaii, was a participant in the standup paddleboard division of the race.  He was there supporting both RIH and Project VISION Hawaii, a nonprofit mobile screening unit that provides free vision screenings and education about ocular and overall health. Congratulations to Dr. Bennett and all of the participants in the race!

Also, a special congratulations to new RIH partner, Jamie Mitchell, who won his record-setting, 10th consecutive Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard Race title!  He did in record time as well, finishing the race in 4:40:31.

Filled with fun and delicious food — our OrangeRoc BBQ was a sizzling hit!

Chanelle brought me in a treat. She’s always asking me about different foods to see if she can expand my palette. I had traditional Chinese foods which I have never tried before. Manapua looked like a delicious bread roll, but I was happy to find meat baked inside. I would have to describe it as a surprise sandwich. I also was surprised to find out that manupua’s have small paper wrappers on the bottom. My only warning to those inspired to try manapua: DON’T EAT THE PAPER. The next treat I tried, was pepeiao-a steamed veggie dumpling. One word: Delish (If Rachel Ray allows me to say so). And last, but not least, pork hash. When Chanelle shared the buffet list, I promptly told her “pork ass” is a terrible name and the menu should be changed! Everyone had a good laugh and a delicious treat.

I look forward to the two days a week I get to come into the office and work on projects, so last Friday when I had to miss work due to a school field trip to the Contemporary Museum I was a bit bummed out.  Not to fret I was told, make the museum a learning experience and consider it an outside project for OrangeRoc.  With a new task on hand I went on my field trip with a mission to capture photos (which aren’t allowed in the gallery by the way!) and to report back my findings.  The museum located on Makiki Heights is a beautiful place full of great art pieces.  Below are some photos of my experience.  It’s interesting to see the influences that “art” has on graphic design, which is also a form of art.  The constant questions you have to ask yourself designing a project are similar to the questions “traditional artists” must question as well; Is my composition strong enough, are my elements on my screen/canvas placed in the most effective way, is my color palette the right choice for the mood I am trying to achieve…All these problems must be solved by the artist to convey the strongest and most appealing piece to the viewer.  Overall it was a great experience visiting the museum and I’m sure some of my upcoming pieces will have a bit of inspiration derived from the works I saw.  –Mahalo

Hello Everyone, My name is Mario and I have been interning at OrangeRoc this summer as a designer.  I have loved every minute of it and there never seems to be a dull day in the office.  Today I walk into an excited and cheerful office telling me it’s Manapua day and I must try it for the first time!  I was a bit taken aback by the level of enthusiasm for “manapua” something I had never heard of before, (having moved to Honolulu only 6 months ago from San Francisco) so of course I said sure lets try this Manapua thing you guys are so excited about!  I walk into the lunchroom and see a box of Pork Buns! I quickly said, “ Oh those are pork buns!“ Everyone quickly corrected me….  Manapua they said; is the right name. So as they say in life, you learn something new everyday.  Never again will I call them pork buns, they are now forever Manapua, and they are delicious!  -Mahalo

The team here at OrangeRoc bids adieu to longtime intern and friend – Anne Maire Carter as she dives into the next steps of furthering her design education at HCC. Here are some words about the time she spent with the team:

“ To have the opportunity to be an intern at OrangeRoc is a privilege. It was an absolute honor to be surrounded by such inspiring and creative people each day! Being a novice and very green to the industry, I think I had some kind of idea in my mind about what a design firm might be like. For some reason, I pictured a very stark, serious, and non-engaging atmosphere…  I couldn’t have been proven more wrong. Although the team is very serious about the work they do, the atmosphere is coupled with great enthusiasm, uplifting energy and exceptionally positive vibes. It was really interesting to shadow everyone in the office I had the opportunity to look over shoulders and ask questions at will, to participate in current projects, and to be an integral part of discussions and critiques. The team at OrangeRoc is most certainly unlike any other.” – Anne Marie Carter

We’ll miss you Anne Marie! We’re cheering you on and wish you the best!