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“For the Hawaiians, this is a deeply spiritual event, and we always want our designs to honor that spirit. The posters have become a big part of the event and are always very well received,” says Clive Piercy, founder and partner of Ph.D, the Santa Monica-based design studio. Piercy was the art director, designer and illustrator for this project.

“This year was the fifth time that we have designed the campaign for this legendary paddle board race,” says Piercy, “32 punishing miles across one of the most dangerous passages of water in the world.” Through annual responses to this design challenge, Piercy has come to a deep understanding of the inner workings of this intense event. “Every year, I approach the design differently. This year, I decided to use illustrative type as the direction, for practical reasons”—reasons that included a tight budget. Handling a project with limited resources is a routine task for this acclaimed designer and, as always, Piercy solved it skillfully. His handwritten, illustrative type is perfectly proportioned to the shape of the long board, which sits classically yet intensely in the middle of the cream-colored page. by Jinsoo Seo