For the past 30 years, I’ve loved adding my creative spin to projects worldwide. My toolkit combines various design disciplines—web, graphic, space, and product— together with strategic marketing and project management skills. Dedicated to accelerating great ideas and delivering impactful results.

I am honored to have collaborated with the following companies and organizations:

—  Select 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 

—  Select 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 a 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 traditional 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 iconic division, PHOTONICA, Amana was a leading force in international advertising and editorial design during the 1990s and early 2000s. Its cinematic imagery—characterized by saturated colors, stylized compositions, motion blur, and experimental framing—became the premium, recognizable aesthetic widely used in global campaigns, publishing, and brand communication.

Photonica’s niche collection became a vital resource for independent creative directors, graphic designers, and ad agencies working around the world to capture the raw, minimalist spirit of the Gen-X era and the forthcoming tech boom. International offices were strategically placed at the absolute centers of global design: New York’s Flatiron district, San Francisco’s SoMa tech hub, London’s underground epicenter in Camden Town, the Le Marais creative district in Paris, and the Brera design district in Milan.

Rather than relying on traditional corporate formulas, design firms licensed Photonica's atmospheric textures to construct the visual identity of the early digital revolution. Their imagery defined the aesthetic of the dot-com boom, the rise of the personal computer, and the birth of the consumer internet. This versatile library was used to build high-concept print campaigns for global tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Intel, IBM, HP, and Adobe, while anchoring the on-air identities of media networks like MTV and CNN.

It simultaneously served as the visual blueprint for Fortune 500 titans across global industries—from automotive leaders like BMW, Toyota, Ford, and Volkswagen, to consumer and travel giants like Nike, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Target, L'Oréal, The Gap, IKEA, and United Airlines.

Their imagery anchored the physical music media of the era, appearing on album packaging for global icons and alternative acts including Madonna, The Killers, Ace of Base, Tori Amos, and Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. Legendary typographer David Carson further cemented the agency's cultural status by heavily integrating its visual assets into the pages of alternative culture bible Ray Gun magazine.

By the mid-2000s, industry consolidation brought Photonica’s archive and international offices 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

Operating as a Global Integrated Producer—and the sole foreigner embedded within the Tokyo headquarters and production studios—I navigated a powerhouse ecosystem of elite photographers, illustrators, CGI artists, designers, and production staff.

My daily reality was defined by uncompromising international negotiations, master-level Japanese design aesthetics, and a relentless corporate pursuit of perfection. Beyond managing the financial infrastructure of projects, seeking out and recruiting elite artistic talent worldwide, and bridging the gap between visual artists and art directors, I wore many hats to steer a surreal, high-velocity creative environment that was expanding at lightning speed globally. This intense challenge didn't just test my capabilities—it continuously pushed my limits up to and beyond 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.

The adventure continues…