Over the past 30 years, I’ve had the pleasure to work on creative projects encompassing a range of design disciplines (web, graphic, space and product), marketing, and project management with the following companies and organizations:

—  Selected Hawaii Projects

American Savings Bank, Clark Little Photography, Coldwell Banker, Hawaii Museums Association, Honolulu Museum of Art, Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center, Jean Charlot Foundation, King Kamehameha Golf Club, Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Manao Radio, Maui Film Festival, Maui Public Art Corps, University of Hawaii, Westin Kaanapali Resorts 

—  Selected US Mainland Projects

Apple, Bay Photo, Crazy Shirts, Epson, Facebook, Fashion Image Institute, Hewlett Packard, Jacobs Medical Center (UCSD), Marchon / Dragon Alliance, Marvel Comics, Nike / Hurley, Penguin Random House, Rick Griffin Designs, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Smithsonian Museum, Starbucks Coffee, Verizon, Whole Foods Markets

Background

Rich Tully

Born in San Francisco. Raised in Hawaii and Japan. Lived in Japan 15 years. Loves water sports, the arts, and partaking in adventures.

The Crossroads of Culture & Adventure

Not long after graduating from university, I caught the design and marketing bug while working in the advertising industry in Tokyo. It was the 1990s, right after the burst of the Japanese economic boom.

I was hired by the leading Japanese visual production company—not necessarily for my artistic skills, but for my obsession with extreme sports, alongside a knack for navigating two very different creative cultures and languages. It was an unconventional hire, especially for a Japanese company.

But this company was anything but conventional.

Defining 90s Cool

That company was Japan’s premier commercial visual production studio, Amana Visual Solutions.

Through its creative division, PHOTONICA, Amana was a leading force in international advertising and editorial design during the 1990s and early 2000s. Its imagery—characterized by saturated color, stylized composition, motion blur, and experimental framing—became part of a recognizable premium aesthetic widely used in global campaigns, publishing, and brand communication.

Within advertising and design circles, the “Photonica look” became associated with a distinctly 1990s visual language: polished, cinematic, and highly constructed, often favoring mood and abstraction over literal representation. It reflected a period when commercial imagery was rapidly evolving alongside new production technologies, digital retouching, and globalized creative exchange.

By the mid-2000s, industry consolidation brought Photonica’s archive into Getty Images—ending its independent run and folding one of the era’s most distinctive image libraries into a global visual system.

A Relentless Pursuit of Perfection

As the only foreigner in the Tokyo headquarters and studios—among a powerhouse of over 300 photographers, CGI artists, designers, and producers—it was a truly unique experience.

I was immersed all day, every day, in a world of master-level Japanese design aesthetics, an intense work culture, and a relentless pursuit of perfection. It was crazy, exciting, and it pushed my limits to the edge.

Returning to Hawaii

After working in Japan for most of the 90s, my wife, Inger, and I returned to Hawaii in 2000 and started Tully Studio and Websites Hawaii , offering design, marketing, and management services for unique projects.