 host Barbara DeLuca, president and co-founder, along with Marisol Ruiz, our vice president and co-founder. We're the voice for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii. Today we have an awesome guest. He's also a member of our chamber, Mario Patino. We'll be discussing his award-winning patino graphic designs and taking your business to another level. Mario Patino is the owner of Patino Graphic Designs. We're very excited to have him here. He's going to talk to us a little bit about himself. Mario, please. I want to hear who you are. Where did you come from? How did you get started in this? Tell us everything good about you, please. Hi. Thank you guys for having me, first and foremost. As you said, my name is Mario Patino, owner of Patino Graphic Design. I'm originally from San Francisco. I moved out here 12 years ago. Yeah, January would be 12 years. When I moved here, I was always in graphic design through school and everything like that. Then when I decided to move to Hawaii, I made the choice to just leave my job that I was with, which is a design firm too, and just start my own thing. As soon as I landed here, I just said, hey, this is going to be it. I'm going to make it happen. We started Patino Graphic Design and just been slowly building it throughout the years. It's been a while, so yeah. Were you that child? Because it's art, right? It's a graphic art. Are you good at painting, drawing? Were you that kid that was always into that? Because it's a completely different field. How did you get into that? Are you that artistic person? Yeah, exactly. All throughout school, I was always the kid who was drawing on the desk. He used to get in trouble for drawing on all over my desk and all that stuff. I didn't really know what graphic design was, but I grew up in the inner city. We're exposed to careers such as graphic design, so I didn't even know that that was a thing until I went to college. Then one of my friends had Photoshop on his laptop. We were in the dorm room, and then he showed me what Photoshop was, and he just blew my mind. I was like, whoa, what is this thing? I need to learn everything I can about this program. That got me started, and I just started teaching myself basically all the tools and whatnot. That led to me designing flyers and little party event posters and stuff for school, and then just kept building it off of that. Did you initially, sorry, just kind of going back? I always think it's fascinating to hear from people like, you might have a certain path that you're going to start on, and you end up somewhere else. When you said in college, you got exposed to the Photoshop on your friend's laptop. Did you have a different major? Were you undeclared? Were you going to take a completely different direction? Now, thank goodness we have you here. If so, what was that direction? I was actually going to do Latin American studies. That was my first idea. My idea was to work with the community and do outreach type of work, but the art was always there for me. It was always a passion of mine, and then it wasn't until I actually figured out that you can make a living off of graphic design that I started really pursuing that lane, and I never turned back from that. That's a great point. This is an awesome segue because it seems that your career path has led you to be able to use your graphic design and incorporate it into working with the community and Latin America. We're so happy that you joined the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii, that you reached out to us. Let's talk about your work with not only the Hawaiian community, but the Hispanic community. Recently, you did a beautiful campaign for us for the Latino Business Expo and created our logo. The whole campaign was cohesive. If you go to our website, LatinBizExpo, you can see the fact that we had the event flyer that you created to the VIP event with the Taramana, which was also a fundraiser for Maui. We had a lot going on. We even had an after party. Thank you so much for your work with us on that project. Yeah, of course. No, thank you. It was truly an honor to be involved in that. When I first discovered the Hispanic Chamber, I said, oh, this is a group of like-minded individuals that I've been searching for my whole time out here. When I started going to the meetings and stuff, it just made sense for us to say, hey, we're going to try to help out with the logo and the branding. Because it was the first Latino Expo. That was a big deal for us to put our stamp on that. With any project that we create, we start with the logo and then all the marketing materials and the collateral that go with that need to have a cohesive look, which is what you mentioned earlier. We had that in mind when we were designing the logo. It was like, how are we going to do the poster and the banners and the flyers that are going to lead up to this social media post and all that stuff. Like I said, it was a whole campaign that we were thankfully able to bring to life. It was a great turnout. It was awesome to see a lot of Latino businesses out here, more than I honestly expected. That was pretty surprising. That's true. That's why we founded the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. There's over 700 Hispanic-owned businesses out here that employ 5,600 people. We contribute $500 million to $1 billion in sales to our economy. It's a growing community. We're so excited to work with you and for this to be a bigger and better event next year. Yeah, totally. No, I'm excited. Sign us up for the next one, for sure. Yeah, you're actually our guy. I don't know if we shared this behind the scenes. I didn't realize actually and I have a greater appreciation for, you know, because you'll look at a flyer or you'll see an ad and you'll see the beauty of it, but I don't think one realizes like what really goes on or what the creative process is like because we had some before you came. We brought you on board. We tried really hard to come up with some logos and flyers and I mean it is a night and day and it was like we're so grateful and they're so beautiful, but it's a lot of work and to capture that vision, I mean it really does take artists to be able to do that. So thank you. We're so pleased with you and look forward to working with you, me personally as well. Yeah, thank you guys. I'm glad you mentioned that because a lot of clients don't really understand what goes into a design and what all the different variations and drafts and stuff that we come up with before we even show you anything. So we kind of go through our process of the creative of where we're going to take this design to and sometimes it's a direction that we don't like personally so we have to scratch that, try a different avenue until we get you know somewhere along the right path and then we present it to the client and then we take it from there with some revisions that went up, but yeah there is a lot that goes into design. Well let's talk about your work with the Hawaiian community. How did you get involved with the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center? Yeah, so they are one of our big clients right now. We're super thankful for all the trust they put into us. Before we came along they didn't really have a dedicated design firm or marketing department. Everybody was just kind of doing their own thing like all the different departments were basically doing their own flyers and all kind of DIY type of stuff. So when we came on board you know we were asking for files, we were asking for logos and none of these things were around so we were kind of like well okay we need to take a step back and assess the entire you know Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center as a whole and not just the department that we were initially brought on to work with. And they were super receptive with that. We started off with a few projects with them just to kind of get you know our feet wet and that just didn't it has been leading to so much things that we've been doing with them including that shuttle bus that you guys just showed which for us was you know it's a prideful thing because we're able to bring beauty to the west side with the shuttle bus designs before we touched those buses. The buses were blank so they just had like a small logo. They were very unassuming, no branding, they were you know they didn't stand out. So we started creating a design that would kind of bring pride to the people of the west side when they are on these buses. Something that they can you know feel attached to and it represents them and the you know the area. So we chose different photography that highlighted you know the west side and different you know aspects of the beauty that is around here and it's just a bus that looks gorgeous going down the road and people are proud to be you know on these buses and using them and you know these things are on the on the road all day so it was a that was a special project for us just to kind of get back you know we can as far as artistic view into the you know to this community that we are a part of actually too so we're located in Macaw so it was a it was special to our heart to to work on those projects. Right I thought I saw a mobile bus um where you can go get healthcare or is that a bigger bus? Yeah yeah exactly so with this project there was four shuttle buses that we designed and wrapped and then with the help of Han Blue who was in Star and then the big one was the mobile clinic bus. Now that is the first mobile clinic bus that is on the west side operating and it's full you know they have a bed in there there's all kinds of medical equipment stuff that people can use um so it's something that can go to rural areas that might not have access to the center so they can bring a clinic to them and that was a big project it was the biggest vehicle that we've ever wrapped so that was definitely a challenge because we were kind of going into it with you know unknown so just learning that entire process and dealing with that kind of vehicle was quite the experience and came out great the blessing we went to the blessing they invited us to that and you know there's a really great story behind the name of the bus that I can explain later but yeah overall it was an incredible experience to be a part of and super super thankful for them. How long does a project like that take or to even wrap wrap a bus like that I mean you said you're getting it is a little unfamiliar territory initially how long does it take? Yeah well that one was actually um it was a pretty long process because um from the initial concepts that we that we showed well first we start with the dimensions right so installer will come out take the dimension of the bus they'll give us a template of what the bus looks like with all the contours and all the shapes and everything else because it's a 3d object right so it's you know from every side top and bottom and whatnot it's not just the flat like a flyer so you have to take that into consideration where how things are going to fit around you know all these different shapes so from the time we showed our first concepts and those go through you know the proper channels of you know revisions and whatnot that one took a few months because it was such a large project and it meant so much the community so it was a it was a pretty long process and then the actual wrapping was another I think a week and a half or so like that and then you have to you know bring it back and do the logistics of who's going to drive it because you need a licensed driver to do those those types of vehicles so it was uh yeah it was quite the uh quite the journey on that one but it came out great so we're super thrilled on that one yes so let's talk about your next project in peace yeah in peace is a is a community organization that does great work um they help out a lot in the community they're also a um a west side based um organization in maili they also have offices in couple a as well but they basically help uh community members try to either get kids into preschool help them with you know different types of assistance programs and whatnot um so they they have their hands in a lot of things and within peace um we've been producing a lot of their products so one of the our big parts of our business is promotional products and bringing products to clients that they normally wouldn't have access to here on the island um just because it's so restricted on what's available here so we design products for them such as uh table covers pop-up tents um merchandise giveaways like if they go to trade shows and whatnot things that they give out to their you know to their constituents and their customers and whatnot like that um so we've been doing a lot of product work for them lately and it's just another way of us you know providing another service to help out you know all these organizations that you know we're otherwise trying to do it on their own so we've kind of try to help fill that void and make their life a little bit easier so they can focus on what they do best you know the programs that says he's not at and then we can focus on the marketing and the branding and just making sure that they have the best products out there for you know to keep the brand going and have that strong visibility well speaking of giving away things and you know working with the community I saw one of your posts recently and you were giving away um mouse pads to a school in macaja that needed them what was that um how did you get involved with that um yeah thanks for bringing that up um we we've been doing a lot of like small donations um to macaw elementary um this past year and year and a half um it's usually something that we don't really you know talk about a lot because I feel like you know if you're giving something you should just give it out of it you know the kindness of your heart not expecting anything like in return but um it just kind of brought to me to like the attention that we can do more as entrepreneurs right we can use our resources to help out and to give back to the community so I wanted to do a post saying that one of uh one of our friends is a teacher at maca elementary she mentioned to us that the kids in the computer classes don't have mouse pads so they were having a hard time you know doing their homework because they're you know their mouse and one now just wasn't catching hunt so we were like hey you know that's exactly up our alley that's what we do um it's something that's you know pretty easy for us to get accomplished so we just took it upon ourselves to um go out get mouse pads made for them um I delivered them to them last week I believe it was um and the kids started usually just sending some photos the other day so the kids are like all using them they're all excited because they have new you know mouse pads and things like that um and we also donated t-shirts as well for the schools um when they go on the field trips they wanted to have like a cohesive t-shirt that all the kids could wear you know also to feel pride about where they come from and then when you know for the teachers it was good for them because they can see all the kids that they are with and it's easily to point out for safety issues so that's another you know example of things that we've been trying to do on our end to try to help out and give a little bit back to your community here on the west side so you had to start somewhere getting involved with the community what was your first uh project uh with iHS how did that happen and how did that open doors to working with other community members right so iHS is the Institute of Human Services um they're located in town and their main focus is trying to end homelessness in Hawaii they have shelters throughout the islands um they also do a lot of uh you know food programs and things like that they also help out homelessness with giving them uh close to work for interviews which we thought was pretty pretty interesting because you never think about that but they were one of our earlier clients and they kind of opened the door for us to step into these bigger accounts because they put their trust in us when we were just kind of just starting out so for us to get clients like that was a huge deal because we did some amazing things with them and they kind of opened the door of their program for us to kind of just help them out with all their marketing stuff we did newsletters we did brochures we did their giant 50th anniversary gala which was at the Hilton Hawaiian village so that meant a lot to me as a as a up and coming business owner just that you know a company that is this big can put their trust in us and we delivered and they kept coming back to us which you know is a sign of the great work that we've been putting in and all the hard work that we do um so we really take pride in taking these companies taking these brands and just kind of nurturing them as if it's you know our own because you know at the end of the day that brand is a reflection of us so the work that we put out is a reflection of the work that we put in on our ad most definitely we all have to start somewhere and that's what a great opportunity yeah and i like how you say you know uh you know who we're with or who you represent is a reflection of us right of ourselves or companies so yeah when you're you're out there and you're on these you know um i how do you call it Barbara on the on the staircase there at the mall everyone's seen do you get a lot of business from you know do you get referrals that way how do you get your business yeah um the funny thing is i don't really advertise at all really most of it is through referrals it's through doing good work for other companies um and you know it's a small item right so if you do good work for one company they'll definitely refer you to another one um and it's just been kind of building like that so it's really important for us to keep our name intact to keep the quality of design works that we do you know top notch um and you know it's it's it's just it's just been growing organically um and you know we have clients on the mainland as well um so it's just a lot of word of mouth and you know he's not lying we offered him a booth at the Latino Business Expo and he said save it for somebody else yeah which is a lot of good yeah thank you bro you support each other right and so you're talking about growing organically um can you talk a little bit about the lineup at Waikai what is that what is the lineup at Waikai what are you doing yes the lineup at Waikai is a new development and have a beach um you've probably seen it around they have a big surf pool um they have a bunch of activities or restaurants bars they have a huge lawn every Thursday they do a farmers market um with hundreds of vendors uh so we've been lucky enough again uh to get in on the ground floor with Waikai when they were first developing it so we've been with them from the start and it was really important for them to work with the local design agency they kind of knew the area knew the demographics you know knew the type of advertising marketing that was going to take to make this successful so they approached us which we were super thankful for again um and we've been doing a lot of cool projects with them including the escalator that you just saw on screen that's at the El Juana Center so we did a huge wrap promoting the lineup to tourism and not only tourism but also local um because we want to have local families you know go and visit and take advantage of all these amenities that they have there um you know I take my family they're all the time we were just there on Sunday with our daughter so it's a really cool place you can go check it out it's an ever beach um there's a lot to do there's outdoor I have a lagoon they have bars restaurants all kinds of cool stuff it's a great place Marisol and I met there yeah we met a client there remember have you got on have you done the wave pool Mario no no no I'll leave I'll leave that to that to this community hey you don't need them injured I got work to do yeah oh tell us about this um Pelle award ah yes so we won uh last year's uh bronze Pelle for logo design which is a really prestigious uh design award design marketing and advertising award here in Hawaii um so every every design company submits something to the Pelle awards every year it's kind of one of those things that it's like basically like our grandkids right so uh for us to win a bronze was a huge huge deal because we're going up against the massive design firms the huge agencies that are submitting work that have done you know projects for you know everybody and anybody so for us to go in there and win the award for logo design was just massive and that's really you know kind of helped establish us in the industry as well um so something that we were super proud of and look forward to winning more awards hopefully here in the future well Marisol I look forward to you helping us with our logos and our brands and our um the state business and me first me first the fact that you support women and and and designers and a predominantly male you know industry so let's let's talk about that yeah so um I'm uh what you call a girl dad right so I have a daughter um and it's very important for me to raise her in you know world and society that she knows she's going to have equal opportunity no matter what industry she goes into so a big focus of mine is to give young female young talented female designers a chance to kind of grow and learn about this industry learn about design that's usually traditionally kind of a male-dominated industry it's changing a lot throughout the years there's an amazing talented designers everywhere female but for me it's it's it's always been kind of a focal point to give young designers a chance to get in on the ground level um you know and learn as much as they can from me learn um and you know not only are they like employees of mine but they're all you know I take on sort of a mentorship role with them and I try to teach them about business try to teach them about entrepreneurship what it takes to own your own design firm um so hopefully one day when they're ready you know they have all the skills in place to go out into the world and you know start their own thing if they want to do if they want to do that they want to follow that route which is a very tough route because you guys know being in business so but whatever they you know whatever they decide to do with their career you know I want to be kind of a a vessel of information for them so that's always been very important for me on land you said something really important that you know entrepreneurship like for me personally I don't it's not for the faint of heart uh it takes a lot of you know uh to make it in whatever industry that is and not everybody's built for it right or has been exposed to it how did when did you make that shift from hey I'm a graphic designer artist to I'm gonna do my own thing and like where did that come from somewhere do you have a background in entrepreneurship or your spear yeah it's um it's all my parents uh both of my parents are entrepreneurs uh I grew up around it my whole life um my mom has always you know had her own business my dad's had his own business my whole life so it's all I've known um going to work was something that was kind of foreign to me I always wanted to start my own thing um I I always knew that I was in some way going to be involved in business somehow so that you know that role that I see my parents play in my life uh was super influential to me and it's something that you know sticks with me to this day um and hopefully you know my daughter is uh follows in that path but we'll see you know whatever she decides to to go into you know we'll support but yeah it's all it's always been part of my like DNA as you can say well we're glad to have you as a member of our chamber and a member of our community then in Hawaii and the Hispanic community as well thank you for joining us today Mario yeah you're such a bastard thank you so much thank you and everybody at the chamber um it's such a great thing that you guys are doing for you know the community here in Hawaii um like I said earlier when we started uh it was kind of a a journey for me to try to find like-minded individuals um out here because it is a little bit difficult but you guys were opening the door for something really really special and you know we're we're thankful to be a part of it can't wait to see what else you guys have planned and you know we're always there to support and help out all right Cinco de Mayo working on it yeah yeah it will be we'll do uh we'll do another one of those tequila tastings those are great oh my gosh we have about 15 cases of tequila left for sure right yes with Tehramana's permission they they told us we can go ahead and keep it and and promote it again at our next event so working on something I won't say no to a bottle of tequila that's for sure well um thank you for joining us today on Hola y Aloha and thank you to my co-host Marisol Ruiz we've been talking with Mario Patino with Patino graphic designs and you can find him on Instagram and on what is your website Mario uh mpatino.com letter mpatino.com great thank you to our viewers for joining us on Think Tech Hawaii I'm Barbara DeLuca president co-founder of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce adios y aloha adios