Bookstore, Rainbowtique announce 'HI Pride' T-shirt design contest winner

The UH Mānoa Bookstore and Rainbowtique, the official store of the University of Hawaiʻi, have announced that UH Mānoa Communications senior Mark Rulona is the winner of the Official 2012 “HI Pride” T-shirt design contest. 

For the first time ever, the annual “HI Pride” spirit T-shirt for UH is student-designed. The contest was open to all University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa students, who were asked to depict what “HI Pride” means to them.

After more than 3,000 votes were cast in the form of “likes” on the Mānoa Bookstore’s Facebook page, Rulona’s design emerged as the winner. His design is an ambigram, a graphic illusion combining two words that can be read from different viewpoints. If you tilt your head to the left and read up, the design says, “Aloha.” If you tilt your head to the right and read down, it says, “HI Pride.”

Explaining his design, Rulona said, “To have true HI Pride means to live aloha. As I depicted in my design, aloha and HI Pride are inseparable. Both words exist separately, but at the same time are intertwined as one.”

For his winning design, Rulona won $200 worth of textbooks from the UH Bookstore, a Rainbowtique prize pack, and the first T-shirt off the printing press.

Rainbowtique anticipates creating a full HI Pride collection in the coming months. “We were very impressed with the talent of all the entrants,” said Rainbowtique Manager Tricia Ejima. “We had always been considering a full collection that would be designed and voted on by students and the public. The amazing designs we received, along with our Facebook fans’ positive feedback, easily reinforced that decision. We’re excited about the future of this HI Pride collection as well as all of the new styles arriving now at Rainbowtique.”

The HI Pride shirt is available now for $14 at Rainbowtique stores, the UH Mānoa Bookstore, and online at www.uhrainbowtique.com. UH students with a valid student ID may purchase it for a special price of $7 at the UH Mānoa Bookstore and Rainbowtique stores. The design is also available on a baseball cap for $20.