Orasi Design was the recipient of two Excellence awards from AIGA’s Hawaii’s 5-0 Award show. The first, for Turlte Bay’s S.E.I.S web site, showcased scenic North Shore spots with a large breadth of information and interactivity. Check it out here: www.turtlebayseis.com. The other award was given for Orasi’s stationery system, including the business card, letterhead and envelope.

Orasi Design’s vision is to help businesses create effective, visually-appealing, marketing collateral and websites to establish brand value and credibility.

That’s basically how Orasi started – one vision, with one computer, and one client – back in 2004. Since then the design company has grown to a team of five. Through its commitment to helping businesses implement the best approach to design, branding and technology, Orasi has helped many Hawaii companies achieve success.

When Portner Orthopedic Rehabilitation decided to redesign their website, we jumped at the chance to make this site Hawaii’s resource for orthopedic care.  Dr. Portner, the leading sports medicine and orthopedic specialist, had a vision to turn his static html site into a dynamic learning venue. Together with his radio show “The Moving Body” on KHVH, he is committed to life-long education of non-surgical treatment of the back, neck, arm and leg pain. The new site features an interactive glossary spanning over 300 words (and growing), a weekly blog, recordings of past radio shows, as well as a forum that Dr. Portner himself will moderate.

principal and creative director // stacie taira koike
Stacie is a graduate of the University of Hawaii system, with a Bachelor of Business degree in Marketing, as well as a Communication Arts degree. Working in public relations and as a graphic designer has helped develop her skills before striking out on her own in 2004 to create Orasi Design.

Loves
her kids, sleep, and a good massage (not always in that order)

Hates
apathetic people and birds

Her favorite drink is‚
water. (It’s lame, but really, she doesn’t drink much else)

Her superhero power would be
the ability to create something out of nothing. (“Oh wait, we do that already. Then I’d like the ability to poop gold.” she says)

On the weekends you might spot Stacie
cheering, laughing, scolding, zonking out in the car with the kids at naptime, then more scolding, playing, giggling, and finally breathing a sigh of relief that another day is survived

Her favorite quote is,
“You can be bitter, or you can be better.”

We asked the team to finish the following rhyme
Roses are red, violets are blue
Lighting’s faster than thunder… and pee is faster than poo
(adapted from Stacie’s 4-yr-old daughter’s observation)

senior designer // ikaika uchima
Ikaika is a Kamehameha graduate who joined the Orasi team after moving back home to Hawaii from Los Angeles. The majority of his time in Los Angeles was spent working as an in-house designer for the DVS Shoe Company. An Art Institute of California graduate, he has experience in a variety of design mediums and has freelanced with numerous firms and clients throughout his career.

Loves
simplicity. The whole is simpler than the sum of its parts.

Hates
the spinning beach ball right before adobe illustrator quits on you

His favorite drink is‚
almost anything on the rocks

His superhero power would be
the ability to absorb other super powers

On the weekends you might spot Ikaika
with your eyes

If he were an animal he would be
squid squid

We asked the team to finish the following rhyme
Roses are red, violets are blue
If you spotted me on the weekend I’d probably see you too

print designer // kyle higa
Kyle is a designer born and raised in Hawaii. He graduated from University of Hawaii at Manoa with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design in the summer of 2007. After some time as a book designer at Mutual Publishing, Kyle joined the team at Orasi Design as graphic designer.

Loves
the feeling when holding your open hand, palm up/down half in the ocean/pool and half out. To exist in both the aquatic and terrestrial world is something Kyle finds fascinating.

Hates
that laser sabers will continue to exist only as the product of post-production effects.

His favorite drink is‚
black coffee, preferably 100% Kona. No other coffee beats the smoothness of this locally grown bean. Why black coffee? He believes a decent cup of coffee should be enjoyed and appreciated without masking it with creams and sweeteners.

His superpower would be
the ability to manipulate gravity. Flight and levitation are just some of the possibilities with this power.

On the weekends you can spot Kyle
jamming with his bandmates. He has yet to learn an instrument so he chooses to sing. With aspirations to headline Wednesday and Thursday nights at Monterey Bay Canners in‚ Aiea, Kyle and his band practice every Sunday.

His entrance music would be
Roll With It by Oasis. It describes his mellow demeanor and willingness to roll with the punches perfectly.

We asked the team to finish the following rhyme
Roses are Red, Violets are Blue
Ghosts are scary when they say “Boo!”

web designer // rina soeda
Rina is a web designer from Honolulu, HI. She graduated with a BA in Visual Arts with an emphasis in Graphic Design from the University of San Francisco in 2007, and is currently pursuing an AS in Informational Computer Science. Prior to joining the team at Orasi Design, Rina worked as a in-house graphic designer for a parent company of a restaurant and multiple boutique stores as well for a Japanese advertising magazine.

Loves
streaming Netflix and how it has opened up a new world of B rated movies and tv shows she would have never watch before.

Hates
butterflies and doesn’t understand why this insect is such a popular design motif.

Her favorite drink is,
oolong tea. She claims, how can a drink that starts with “Oo” not be her favorite!

Her superhero power would be
the power of suggestion. She would have the ability to persuade anyone, animal or human to do anything. She would be able to persuade Stacie to poop gold for her, Kyle to take her for a ride, Ikaika to not absorb her power and persuade Sarah to freeze time so she can avoid traffic with her.

On the weekends you can spot Rina
at a golf course

Rina can speak the following languages:
English, K-9, HTML and Japanese

We asked the team to finish the following rhyme
Roses are red violets are blue
If I had a cookie I would share it with you.

business development // sarah stanley
Sarah Stanley is a an administrative professional and enjoys working for Orasi Design in their Business Development department. She graduated with honors from Mililani High School and went to school to study Aesthetics. Although she enjoys the skin care profession, she returned to the art of business administration and believes it is her true career calling to assist executives and organizations and strives to maintain organized harmony behind the scenes.

Loves
knowing that no matter what happens in her life, tomorrow is another day and she has been lucky enough to have wonderful friends and family behind her in everything she does. Oh, and pandas. She has an above average infatuation for these lovable bears and hopes the conservation efforts, to keep them from becoming extinct, prevail.

Hates
cilantro, party poopers and negativity.

Her favorite drink is‚
coffee in the morning, water throughout the day and pinot noir on occasion after the little one is asleep.

Her superhero power would be
the capability to freeze time around her. This would enable her to complete any deadline, savor the best moments in life, paint her nails in peace and quiet, avoid traffic, and fulfill any “to do” task that she doesn’t get to simply because there are never enough hours in the day.

On the weekends you can spot Sarah
spending time with her wonderful fiancee Kaholokai and their beautiful daughter, Dallas.

Favorite quote:
“The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind”

We asked the team to finish the following rhyme
Roses are red violets are blue
Put positive effort in all that you do

web programmer & app developer // corey taira
Corey is a Web Developer from Honolulu, HI.  He graduated with a BS in Information & Computer Science at the University of Hawaii.  He has been developing websites with companies as well as freelancing since 2001. He has worked on mobile apps such as Tetris and Sim City along with software tools for electronic health records.

Loves
saving money or finding big deals on things he would normally buy.

Hates
not being able to find things in a messy room.

His favorite drink is‚
any kind of juice… orange juice, pineapple-orange, strawberry-guava…

His superhero power would be
the ability to see the future and know what stocks to buy.

On the weekends you can spot Corey
working on his million dollar iPhone app

Corey can speak the following languages:
Javascript, PHP, SQL, Objective-C, Java, some English

We asked the team to finish the following rhyme
Roses are red violets are blue
if i’m a superhero, then you can be one too