Event Promotional Graphics
Lā Kūkahekahe 2026
A hand-lettered identity celebrating Hawaiian Language Day
Event Promotional Graphics
A hand-lettered identity celebrating Hawaiian Language Day
Overview
Lā Kūkahekahe is Hawaiian Language Day — an annual celebration of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. I designed a complete promotional identity for the 2026 event hosted by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, carried across print, digital, and merchandise.
The system is built around original hand-lettering and a dense cultural illustration — kūpuna storytelling, hula, honu, voyaging canoes, and native plants — all tied together under the theme Ka Leo O Ke Ola: The Voice of Life.
The Challenge
Build a cohesive set of event graphics that honor Hawaiian language and culture — balancing celebration with cultural respect — while creating one visual system flexible enough to live across a poster, flyer, tote, social post, and event page.
The Artwork
The title is fully hand-lettered, with traditional kapa-inspired geometric patterns drawn inside each letterform. The triangles and linework reference ancestral textile arts, making the type itself part of the cultural story.
At the center, a kūpuna (elder) passes ʻōlelo to a young hula dancer — surrounded by honu, voyaging canoe, conch shell, pahu drum, mauna, and native plants like kalo and ʻōhiʻa lehua.
Visual Identity
Earth tones drawn from the Hawaiian landscape — volcanic soil, terracotta, golden sun, native foliage, and natural kapa cloth.
Deliverables
Deliverable
A 1080×1350 portrait post adapting the system for Instagram, shown in feed.
Deliverable
A 2160×1080 banner built to sit cleanly above the event details on the Eventbrite page.
Merchandise
A 12×14 portrait composition redrawn for fabric, with the cream-interior lettering treatment.
Reflection
This project pushed me to balance creative expression with cultural responsibility. Every choice — from the kapa-inspired lettering to each element in the illustration — was made with respect for Hawaiian heritage. Adapting one visual system across five formats taught me how to hold an identity together while designing for each medium on its own terms.