First of all hello! I’m Chanelle, the newest designer at OrangeRoc. I started working here in July  and so far it has been such a rewarding experience. One of the challenges that was given to me was to evolve the concept of an “inkblot” for this years 2009 Hawaii International Film Festival marketing campaign. As designers, it’s always a privlege when opportunities are presented to us with creative freedom! We got to work right away and had some serious fun creating the inblots-it reminded us of our days in elementary art class. It was hilarious, we’d playfully argue over what we all could see within the ink blots. It made us think about what it reflected in our personalities. What you see above on the top is where we started making inkblots during our initial discovery process and then the final image on the bottom is what will be used in HIFF’s marketing and advertising campaign. The question we pose to you is… What do you see?

Coming from the “Industrial” world and entering the “Creative” World I’m learning so many new things. I have learned that in the world of creative design media is used to reference things like, newspapers, magazines, television and not media as in aquarium substrate and bio media filtering systems. I have learned that materials in the creative world are actually supplies such as ink, paper, pencils, and pens not concrete, rebar, gravel, glass, and everything else used in the industrial world. I have also learned that even after the incident with the 75 promotion bags for INPEACE, I still have not learned to ask the right questions. I, being tech savvy, had been recruited to clean up a database and create a mail merge for Hawaii First, Inc. The client needed to send out a few invitations to a seminar and OrangeRoc designed the invitations and envelopes. So as a team we worked together to get the job done. The database got cleaned up and the mail merge completed, labels were ready for print. I had completed my task that was sure to have been a big help to the creative team. Word to the wise, calling in sick and not making sure that your task is 100% complete or making sure that someone else knew the process of completing the printing will lead to countless phone calls. Also that if you don’t hear your phone ringing and don’t call back, there will be text messages to follow. So as I sat in study hall cramming for a final trying to figure out whose phone was ringing and why that person hadn’t turned their phone off like they’re suppose to, the calls kept coming in and I eventually realized that it was my phone that was ringing and that I was that person. So I ended up walking Kristen, an awesome part of the creative team, through a step by step on how to recreate the labels. But that wasn’t the worst of it. I think I forgot to mention that there were 1,446 labels that were created from that database, and each invitation needed to be labeled and postage stamps applied to all 1,446 invitees. My punishment for calling in sick and not answering numerous calls, completion of labeling, stamping, binding, and then dropping in the mail, the remainder of the invitations. I learned a lot those two days but my biggest lesson is that OrangeRoc is a team and we all help each other out and if my fellow Rockers didn’t pitch in on the day that I was out of the office, I think I just might still be sticking address labels and postage stamps on Seminar Invitations. Lesson learned this time around, in the world of creative minds, the word few actually means a day’s worth of labeling and not just 50 or 60 labels. A couple of anything always means at least 75 of anything and not just 2 or 3. When you get the chance really means I need this by the end of the day, I need this before you (meaning me) turn into a pumpkin today means I need it asap, and my all time favorite you will learn to embrace [insert task here] really mean, learn it and learn it well for you will be taking responsibility for it from this point on. All kidding aside, there is a bunch of terms that I have yet to learn and everyday here at OrangeRoc is always a learning experience for me.

All of us Hawaii residents prepared for a big one, however, Hurricane Felicia sputtered out to a mild rainfall. (Thank heavens…. but it would have been a little fun, right?) But here at OrangeRoc we face a daily hurricane of a different sort — the deadline hurricane. We have become a team of highly trained creatives adept at dealing with the onslaught of deadlines. We work with precise precision and keep a backup supply of necessary supplements (granola bars, aspirin, and caffeine). So bring the deadlines on! We’re ready for ‘em!

I just purchased a new car, an overall wonderful experience.  I got a Kia Soul. I am turning in my very loyal yet road weary Kia Sportage.  It has over 100K miles in 8 years. I purchased the 1st Kia out of necessity, but this time it was my choice. Why?

Two reasons stand out.

With every experience I have had with the dealership, I have gained trust. So when it came time to purchase, I knew I could trust them.  When dealing with current customers, never under estimate the power off trust. If they do not trust you or your company  they will not come back.

Image, Kia has grown up in its image, they have gone from simple econo boxes, to cars that have style, cars you want to own.  They have a mission to provide cars that are dependable, stylish, and  very affordable. It pays it keep your brand fresh, it keeps you relevant in your current customers mind.

The more I spend time on this planet the more I realize that with all things and with all circumstances and with all people there always seems to be another side of the story that we don’t know about. We tend to see things based on limited amounts of information or skewed perspectives or just hunches when in reality there may be an entirely different way to look at something or if we had all the facts surrounding and issue we may react differently. I find this to be the case more and more with personal and work related items. We recently started working for a new client, Kilimanjaro Rifles, who manufactures and sells big game hunting rifles. Before meeting with the client some of us in the office had preconceived notions about what big game hunting was all about. After meeting with our very knowledgeable and articulate client, he gave us a tutorial on the sport and after the meeting was over we all had a completely different perspective. Going into the meeting I had very little knowledge of big game hunting and I was honestly kind of creeped out by the thought of killing defenseless animals. We discovered in the meeting that hunters only select the oldest male of the species who is close to the end of his life cycle. They try to take down the animal with one shot for a quick death and the meat is always used for food by people in the area. My whole notion of hunting was changed because I had the full picture and a different way of looking at the sport.

On a more personal note – Lately I have been in the company of very large toads. A few weeks ago I started to see a gigantic creepy looking toad on my daily walks with my dog Chloe. Every day the toad would be hanging out on our usual walking path. This toad, which was the size of an oversized grapefruit and ugly as sin,  seemed to be following me and it gave me the willies. Then one day Chloe and I came upon the Toad squashed by a car at the side of the road. “Thank God,” I thought. But just when I thought the toad ordeal was over I woke up a couple weeks later to discover an equally ugly and equally huge toad on my lanai. It was sitting right my by sliding glass door just looking at me. Now I was really creeped out. It made a home for itself on my lanai for a few days and then suddenly it was gone. Was I being cursed? Is this my own personal plague? I called a friend and told him about my toad trouble and he said, “Mike don’t you know that in many cultures the frog is a symbol of good luck and money?” Instantly my fear had changed to excitement. I googled this tidbit of knowledge and sure enough the toad, especially in Asian cultures, is a good luck symbol. So now I’m thinking I should rethink my thoughts on toads. And I’m on the lookout every day for my Publisher’s Clearinghouse Check to show up. I know that check is going to show up cause I’ve been stalked for almost a whole month by toads. Now I actually am on the lookout for more toads. Who knows? But it just goes to show you that when you look at something from different or all angles you may just find your fears, anxieties and prejudices will just fade away.

Here is a look into the sketchbook that I use while I work, it’s filled with little notes as well as a couple sketches. Every once and awhile I just need to let my thoughts wander and doodling often clears my mind and opens up my thoughts.