Sae Design Only Outer Island Pele Winner

The Modern Honolulu Brand illustrations for Aqua Hotels & Resorts was a Pele Gold Award for Sae Design. Courtesy of Sae Design.

By Sonia Isotov

Winning 6 awards overall, Sae Design, a Wailuku-based graphic design and marketing firm, was the only outer island company this year to be recognized at the 2012 American Advertising Federation Hawaii Pele Awards.

The 2012 Pele Awards show was held April 21 at the Royal Hawaiian Village in Waikiki was themed “Olympics”. Awards ranged from print advertisement displays to television commercials.

“I love branding, digging deep and understanding the goals and personality of any business. The biggest reward is seeing the results in a client’s business, whether it be stronger awareness or increased sales,” said Saedene Yee Ota, founding owner of Sae Design.

“My team of designers and staff continue to be committed to building strong relationships and producing quality work from the island of Maui.”

Maui Memorial Medical Center new logo design was a Pele Gold Award Winner for Sae Design. Courtesy of Sae Design.

The awards Sae Design took home to Maui this year included:

• Gold Award for Aqua Hotels & Resorts, “The Modern Honolulu In-Room Collateral” (specialty advertising category)
• Gold Award for Aqua Hotels & Resorts, “The Modern Honolulu Series” (illustration category, image provided)
• Gold Award for Maui Memorial Medical Center, (logo category, image provided)
• Silver Award for Hotels & Resorts of Halekulani, “Master Chef’s Gala Dinner” (special event materials category)
• Silver Award for Aqua Hotels & Resorts, “The Modern Honolulu” Brochure
• Silver Award for Maui Thing, (websites, b-t-b html/other category)
• Bronze Award for Bright Light Advertising, “Hawaii Tourism Authority Schedule of Events” (travel and tourism – print category)

Launched in 1999, Sae Design will add these to their 34 Gold Awards, 50 Silver Awards and 41 Bronze Awards they have already received.

In addition to these, they have also been acknowledged for two Best of Shows, two Hawaii 5-0 Top 5 in Print and Environmental Design, one SilverADDY Award and Saedene’s Hawaii Advertising Federation Woman of the Year Award in 2004.