Wall to Wall

Wall-to-Wall Studios is pleased to announce the addition of Celeste Chikamori as Director of Account Operations and Charles (Ka'a) Kihe as Interactive Developer to the firm's Honolulu, HI office. Celeste received a BS in Business Administration/Marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her prior professional experience includes working as Account Operations Director for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, CA, and as Account Executive at Milici Valenti Ng Pack and Matsumoto & Clapperton Advertising, both located in Honolulu, HI.  Prior to joining Wall-to-Wall Studios, Ka'a was a senior programmer at Digital Medium / HiRez in Honolulu, a web developer/architect at Bigger Bird Creative and a website and database specialist at Kamehameha Schools, all located in Honolulu, HI.

Creative Interactive Developer (Pittsburgh, PA 15233 / Honolulu, HI 96817)

Wall-to-Wall Studios (W|W) is looking for a lead developer to fill an immediate position.

Apply Now

Responsibilities Include:

• Develop high-quality Web applications while improving and maintaining an existing MVC code base in PHP
• Make Photoshop mockups come alive in a web browser with master-level HTML, CSS,and Javascript skills and an eye for detail
• Develop high-quality Web software in a collaborative environment with a team of talented designers

The ideal candidate will:

• Be well-versed in object-oriented programming and have intermediate to expert level skills in a language like PHP, Python or Ruby
• Not be afraid to write SQL queries
• Care about building well-designed, user-centric software
• Excel in an open, fast-paced work environment
• Have 3+ years of solid professional experience

Our technology stack includes PHP, CakePHP, Zend Framework, MySQL, Git, jQuery, OS X, Linux, Ruby, Rails, automated testing, continuous integration and more. This is a position in which self-starters and people passionate about the Web will thrive.

Experience in the following a plus:

• A PHP framework such as CakePHP, symfony or Zend Framework
• Django
• Ruby on Rails
• NoSQL
• Acceptance testing and behavior-driven development
• Continuous deployment
• Linux system administration

Perks include:

• A top-of-the-line development setup
• Great learning environment
• Benefits including medical, dental and vision
• Guinness on tap

Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.

Wall-to-Wall Studios is pleased to announce the addition of self-proclaimed craft beer connoisseur, Mr. Jim Hargreaves to the firm's Pittsburgh, PA office.  Prior to joining Wall-to-Wall, Jim worked as a designer at Barnhart Communications and Ellen Bruss Design, both located in Denver, CO. Jim received a BFA in Art Studio from Gettysburg College in PA, followed by a MA in Graphic Design from Savannah College of Art and Design.

Cities x Design is a 30-city trans-media research trip across America that is examining the connections between cities, local culture and people, and how investments in design can change perceptions, boost economies and create unique places. Cities x Design visited Wall-to-Wall Studios' Pittsburgh office to learn more about the company's approach to neighborhood branding and development, in particular, the successful campaign for the community of Lawrenceville, the 16:62 Design Zone.

View the Cities x Design video featuring Wall-to-Wall Studios.

View the Lawrenceville 16:62 Design Zone case study.

Wall-to-Wall Studios' Partner Larkin Werner donated the design for Haiti Rising, a fund-raising event to help rebuild Haiti's St. Damien Hospital and Orphanage, which provides free pediatric care.  Haiti Rising will include more than 30 performers, Haitian art auction and Haitian food and cocktails.  The event:  
Sunday, February 21, 2010
4:00pm - 10:00pm
Map Room Grill and Bar

Please attend this free event and support this worthwhile cause.
 

Communication Arts, the premier source of inspiration for graphic designers, art directors, design firms, corporate design departments, advertising agencies, interactive designers, illustrators and photographers—everyone involved in visual communication, featured Wall-to-Wall Studios partner and creative director Larkin Werner in its Insights column which provides inspiration and ideas from well-known/established creatives that other creatives can use in their own careers.

Read Communication Arts Insights.

The Honolulu Chapter of AIGA held its bi-annual HAWAII’S 5-O DESIGN AWARDS SHOW at the Pauahi Tower, Downtown Honolulu on November 6th, celebrating the State’s best in Print, Environmental, Packaging and Web design. This year’s national judges were: Robynne Raye (co-founder, Modern Dog Design, Seattle WA), Alan Dye (Creative Director, Apple’s Graphic Design Team, Cupertino CA), and Joshua Chen (founder, Chen Design Associates, San Francisco CA). Of the 43 awards presented, Wall-to-Wall Studios were selected for the following 15 honors:

Hawaii’s 5-O Top 3 Web Designs, Best of Show Judges' Selections:
“Hank’s Haute Dogs Website” www.hankshautedogs.com 
“Hawaiian Modern Website” www.hawaiianmodern.com  
“Heroes & Villains Website” thegiftfoundationofhawaii.org/2007

Hawaii’s 5-O Design Awards of Excellence:
“Artists of Hawaii Microsite” www.artistsofhi.org   (Honolulu Academy of Art)
“Artists of Hawaii Program” (Honolulu Academy of Art)
“Asian Sensation Brochure” (Honolulu Academy of Art)
“Asian Sensation Mailer”  (Honolulu Academy of Art)
“Black Tie Blue Jeans Microsite” www.btbjhawaii.org  (American Heart Association)
“Chinatown Chase Website” www.chinatownchase.com  (Hawaii Theatre Center)
“Heroes & Villains Invitation” (GIFT Foundation of Hawaii)
“J.J. Dolan’s Logo”   (J.J. Dolan’s)
“J.J. Dolan’s Signage”  (J.J. Dolan’s)
“J.J. Dolan’s Website” www.jjdolans.com  (J.J. Dolan’s)
“The Bean Counter Signage” (Shidler College of Business, Univ. of Hawaii)
“Wagnervision Website” www.wagnervision.com   (Brett Wagner)

The AIGA Honolulu Chapter is comprised of professionals and students in the fields of design and advertising. AIGA’s mission is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force. 

Mahalo to our Clients and Partners who made this work possible and so rewarding.

Wall-to-Wall Studios were guests of Shepard Fairey to his opening night reception at the Warhol Museum where Fairey offered, in person, his side of the great STEELEBABY brouhaha. In short, after looking at www.steelerbaby.com and the overall concept (and admittedly only after his overzealous lawyers shot the C+D letter at Steelerbaby), his quote back to them was, "You've got to be f#%&#g kidding me."

The Warhol exhibit contains a great retrospect of this prolific designer/artist. And no matter what side of the "fair use" fence you may fall, we can all agree that the work is beautiful. We encourage everyone to check out the show while it's there.

Click to view the City Paper article from May 2009 that frames the brouhaha.

Pictured above is Shepard Fairey, his daughter Vivian, Steelerbaby, and W|W partner Larkin Werner.

Wall-to-Wall Studios is proud to announce that Pete Popivchak has been named Partner of the firm. Popivchak joins co-founders James Nesbitt and Bernard Uy, CFO Brian Kaiser and Creative Director Larkin Werner in the company’s ownership group. Popivchak connected with Wall-to-Wall Studios in 2002 to lead sales and marketing efforts as the firm expanded its geographic reach and client base.

Prior to Wall-to-Wall Studios Popivchak was marketing/product manager/international marketing manager at Garden Way Mfg (Troy-Bilt), co-founder of Doc Smitty's Draft Cider in which he hired W|W as the creative agency, and sales manager at Bausch & Lomb. During his tenure, Wall-to-Wall Studios has realized strong annual revenue growth, seen its staff size double and expanded to Honolulu, HI with its second office. Noteworthy client collaborations that Popivchak has fostered at Wall-to-Wall Studios include Carnegie Mellon University, American Museum of Natural History in NY, Koppers, Advanta, Fallingwater, Western PA Conservancy, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Giant Eagle, among others. A Lawrenceville resident, Pete is active in the community and led this year's Art All Night in Lawrenceville. An avid outdoorsman, Pete and his wife Alison are expecting their first child in September.

W|W Co-Founder and Creative Director, James Nesbitt, was named to the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association Board of Directors.  An urban watershed located in Pittsburgh's East End, Nine Mile Run is home to numerous exciting projects and initiatives. Among them is the largest urban stream restoration in the U.S. completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

View photo of Nine Mile Run at dawn.

Creative Director and Partner at Wall-to-Wall Studios, Larkin Werner, returns to Robert Morris University this semester as part-time faculty member teaching a class on portfolio design and preparation. 

Hey, kids. Is it that time of the month already? Wall-to-Wall's First Friday Happy Hour. If you happen to be in Chinatown in Honolulu on August 7, after 6pm, come see what the build up is all about. www.wwffhh.com for more details.

W|W Co-founder Bernard Uy was a featured presenter on User Experience Design at TechHui, Hawaii's Science, Technology and New Media Community. The presentation focused on the role of user experience design in the exciting technologies being developed by Hawaii companies.

Learn more about TechHui.

The Honolulu Board of REALTORS® held their 2009 Summer General Membership Meeting in June. This year's theme "Fresh Tech, Fresh Thinking" featured many workshops and presentations, including Payton Dobbs from Google's AdWords as the Keynote speaker. W|W's co-founder Bernard Uy was asked to lead a breakout seminar on "Twitter 101" for about 250 realtors looking to tap into Twitter's social network juggernaut. When asked how the presentation went, Uy replied "RT @hicentral: @walltowall: That was cool, @wwstudios #hicentral http://www.twitpic.com/8tn0b"

Hey, kids. It's that time of the month again. Wall-to-Wall First Friday Happy Hour. If you happen to be in Chinatown in Honolulu on June 5th, after 6pm: if the house is a rockin' then you better start knockin'. Loudly. www.wwffhh.com for more details.

Pittsburgh, PA

Three employees and one Senior Manager at Wall-to-Wall Studios (W|W), Pittsburgh office, recently lost faith in the internationally recognized Body Mass Index (BMI), for years the gold standard in identifying obesity. While openly acknowledging health officials' concerns about "the epidemic of fatness in America," certain W|W employees openly questioned the validity of this so-called "benchmark." This broad self-selecting W|W group, who partook in the eight minute sit-down lunch meeting last Friday afternoon, cited anecdotal evidence refuting this scientifically based measurement. William Krowinski, Senior Designer, noted his Polish heritage and his grandmother's assurance that "big bones" run in the family. Developer Pat Collins quickly pointed out his four years of high school football and size eight head. Others in the committee nodded slowly as Co-Founder James Nesbitt solidified what would become W|W's official stance on the obesity epidemic after repeating what had already been already said, just in different words. The meeting ended with a prolonged silence, punctuated with an unnamed individual shouting out, "I wear EEE shoes!"

W|W Honolulu office had no comment.