Duration: June 2011 - December 2011
Role: Designer
About: Local Hawaii boutique FITTED HAWAII hosted a design contest back in June 2011, at the time I was an engineering major at UNLV. I've always had an interest for design and with passion I entered the contest. Not knowing anything about Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop at that time, I went back to the basics and colored in the template that was provided with colored pencil.
Being born and raised in Hawaii and being able to have the opportunity to work with a local brand that has world recognition and distributing deal with major cap company New Era, I felt it was only right to keep the roots of my design concept Hawaii related. Being a strong follower of the brand, I researched what has been done and what hasn't. There was nothing made that included the ocean, marine life and nourishment combined. I decided to base my hat design around the Yellow Fin Tuna, also known as the "Ahi". Using the colors of the fish, I distributed them around the hat that appropriately reflects the prize winning fish. Being that the Ahi's body is majority silver/grey, I decided to use that color for the crown. The top of the fish can fade to a black from that silver so I chose to color the bill black which also assisted on the contrast on the crown. Throughout the fish you'll notice a blue/turquoise color that runs in between the black and silver. I decided to use that blue for the threading on the bill and the round eyelets which pops out on the hat as it would on the fish. Lastly I used the yellow on the button and under bill of the hat. The Yellow brings everything together on the hat, adding that pop! When the fish is seen swimming in the ocean and as the Hawaiian sun shines, the yellow and blue glimmers in the water which helps fisherman identity the fish.
