Mahi you can stand behind.

Role

Deliverables

• -Design-level name direction check across TUWHIRI and ARONUI
• -Up to three initial logo concepts exploring ozone, molecule and optical forms
• -Final logo suite - primary, horizontal, stacked, icon-only, one-colour and reversed
• -Accessible colour palette and typography direction
• -Print-ready pin and sticker files (vector, transparent PNG, PDF)
• -Mini brand sheet with usage notes and small-format guidance

Outcome

A resolved, culturally reviewed identity delivered ahead of the kickoff meeting - built on the ozone molecule and the initiative's three-part collaborative structure, with production files supplied directly to pin and sticker supplier specification.

Role

Deliverables

• -Exterior whare artwork - tāniko across the maihi; taniko and haehae window frosting
• -Interior entrance artwork - poutama and tukutuku
• -Interior wall artwork series, including the Tuakiritanga identity wall
• -Culminating ninth artwork - Kia Tipu, Kia Ora te Rangatahi
• -Design, artwork production, and installation-ready files

Outcome

A whare manaaki transformed into a culturally affirming environment - one connected te ao Māori narrative across exterior, entrance, and interior surfaces, developed with mana whenua, intended to help rangatahi step toward restoration, support, and belonging.

Role

Deliverables

• -60-card deck with 6 colours × 10 Ihi values, each a unique Toa warrior
• -7-row Taonga board with formation-based claiming
• -War / Whawhai turn-based battle system with boost tokens
• -13 Rautaki strategy cards (Pūkaha, Taniwha, Wā Kai, Nekeneke)
• -Eight atua-aligned avatars with runtime perks, plus Māui boss and New Game + final boss
• -Gauntlet mode and built-in Learn to Play tutorial
• -React 19 + TanStack Start edge-deployed web build with i18n architecture for te reo Māori

Outcome

A polished single-player strategy card game that holds cultural depth and tactical richness in one product - establishing a distinctive original IP for Māui Studios that fuses Māori mythology with contemporary strategy gaming through self-determined cultural expression.

Role

Deliverables

• -Custom-built Fortnite / UEFN level aligned to hauora education goals
• -Narrative and learning objectives linked to real health challenges affecting rangatahi
• -Multiplayer for up to 50 concurrent players plus single-player usability
• -Cross-platform access (PC, Xbox, PlayStation, iPhone, Android, iPad, tablets)
• -Two rounds of revisions and bug-fixing; basic facilitator/educator support documentation
• -Milestone structure across initiation, midpoint approval, and final delivery

Outcome

A scoped narrative-led hauora experience where rangatahi encounter and think through real-world issues inside the game world - a reusable, multi-context tool designed to remain operational as a longer-term digital hauora resource.

Role

Deliverables

• -5:54 short documentary profile for Te Papa's He Toi Whakairo exhibition
• -Cinematic documentation of Sam Hauwaho's carving process and teaching legacy
• -Exhibition-ready edit tailored to museum visitor flow
• -Integration of archival and contemporary material for intergenerational storytelling
• -Public-facing digital story for exhibition audiences

Outcome

Delivered a cinematography-led portrait that functions as an interpretive layer within the He Toi Whakairo exhibition (2026–2027), recording an active teaching lineage at a moment of transition and strengthening Māui Studios' standing in culturally grounded artist documentaries for museum contexts.

Role

Deliverables

• -Primary tohu drawing together pouwhenua, the hiwi of the waka taua, and the korowai
• -Wordmark, full lockup, and standalone logomark
• -Primary colour palette with monochromatic treatments and typography system
• -Per-pou colourways for Te Taiao, Hauora, Kaupapa Māori, and Rangatahi
• -Brand collateral - letterhead, digital watermark, pull-up banners, email signature, display picture, favicon
• -Brand guidelines deck with alternative layouts and image-treatment guidance

Outcome

A cohesive kaupapa Māori brand system that honours whakapapa and place while signalling growth - flexible enough to express the trust's five pou through dedicated colourways, and ready for application across letterheads, banners, digital channels, and signage.

Role

Deliverables

• -Original short-form brand film (approx. 3 minutes)
• -Narrative script and voice-over treatment
• -Archival selection and re-grade of prior project footage
• -Bilingual title and caption design
• -Social and presentation-format exports
• -Coordinated release across the studio's owned channels

Outcome

Delivered a public-facing celebration of indigenous storytelling that now functions as a brand asset, a tribute to collaborators and indigenous leaders, and a proof asset for proposals and procurement - and a reference piece for the studio's storytelling thesis that holding fast to culture and tikanga is itself the path to success.

Role

Deliverables

• -Completed graphic novel publication
• -Print-ready PDF files
• -Digital distribution version
• -Cover artwork
• -Selected promotional visuals

Outcome

A narrative-led science translation delivered as a fully illustrated print and digital publication - landing during the UN International Year of Quantum Science and Technology and aligned with Te Whai Ao's outreach mission across schools, museums, and public audiences.

Role

Deliverables

• -Live festival-booth concept with large LED display and player controllers
• -Matariki-themed virtual marae built in Fortnite (tukutuku styling, posters, voice and audio, approved character assets)
• -Hybrid play: 2–6 in-person players and up to 50 players online in a single session
• -Cultural quality-assurance review
• -Published Fortnite island (Island Code 4815-1223-7172)

Outcome

Delivered a published, accessible Fortnite island that held the spatial and relational logic of a marae while retaining the playability of Fortnite - a functioning civic activation for Tīrama Mai 2025 that extends beyond the festival as a living digital asset.

Role

Deliverables

• -Two bilingual books in Te Reo Māori and English
• -18-page illustrated graphic novel
• -Custom cover artwork and back-cover layouts
• -4–6 pages of introductory / contextual content
• -A4 web and print-ready layouts
• -Reusable illustration asset base

Outcome

A culturally rich, visually compelling bilingual learning resource - an 18-page illustrated graphic novel with publication-ready digital and print layouts, plus a reusable illustration library that extends the commission into future maps, activity books, and classroom tools.

Role

Deliverables

• -Illustrated Comic Book - script, character and world design, full illustration, page layout
• -Print-ready files and digital version
• -Scientifically reviewed narrative co-developed with Te Whai Ao researchers
• -Public-facing asset for school and museum deployment

Outcome

A complete, scientifically reviewed illustrated Comic Book - giving Te Whai Ao and Tūhura Otago Museum a high-quality public-facing science communication asset, and modelling Comic Books as a legitimate format for frontier-research engagement.

Role

Deliverables

• -Fully playable browser-based 2D educational game
• -Interactive storytelling system and gameplay progression
• -Character and environment design across multiple cultures
• -Curriculum-aligned educational content integration
• -Cross-device web deployment for NZ schools

Outcome

Delivered a fully playable, curriculum-aligned browser game deployable across NZ primary schools without specialist installation - the studio's largest and most technically complex digital production to date.

Role

Deliverables

• -Bespoke visual design system rooted in iwi identity and whakapapa
• -Content architecture co-designed with the iwi
• -Custom website build with CMS for iwi-administered content
• -Cross-generation accessibility and device compatibility
• -Content population and deployment

Outcome

Delivered a fully operational, culturally grounded website - giving Ngāti Ranginui a digital home with mana and administrative autonomy over their own digital presence.

Role

Deliverables

• -Bespoke animation - concept, storyboard, character and environment design, animation, sound integration
• -Illustrated Comic Book - script, character design, illustration, layout, publishing
• -Cultural consultation embedded throughout both productions
• -Print-ready and final export files

Outcome

Delivered two complete, culturally grounded creative productions on separate timelines, demonstrating the studio's ability to serve an iwi client across multiple formats within a sustained creative relationship.

Role

Deliverables

• -Four interactive UEFN learning levels mapped to training modules (10508, 18275, 20092, 18038)
• -Four custom companion activity books aligned to the same modules
• -Four module-aligned learning pathways
• -Staged production structure across concept, production, review, QA, and launch

Outcome

A playable vocational learning prototype with a 1:1:1 architecture (module → level → book) that turns structured industry knowledge into modular, outcome-linked interactive educational infrastructure.

Role

Deliverables

• -Bilingual 2:55 short film (English and te reo Māori)
• -Narrative development weaving mātauranga Māori with earth science
• -On-location and green-screen cinematography (Sony FX6)
• -Edit, grade and delivery for emergency-communication audiences
• -Cultural guidance from pou tikanga and mana whenua

Outcome

Won the EMPA New Zealand Award for Excellence in Emergency Communication 2024 (Readiness and Resilience) - recognised as a benchmark for culturally grounded emergency communication that holds scientific credibility and cultural integrity together.

Role

Deliverables

• -Brand identity system for Ko Māui Hangarau
• -Character design - Māui and Waihiko
• -Typography and wordmark using organic brush styling
• -Sleek visual design system for event and programme application
• -Brand application across summit, digital, and education touchpoints

Outcome

A distinctive, culturally grounded brand identity - Māui and Waihiko as character anchors, an organic brush typographic system, and a sleek visual system - capable of carrying the programme across summits, partner channels, education touchpoints, and digital deployment.

Role

Deliverables

• -Comic book / pūrākau introducing rangatahi to renewable energy
• -Story framework linking Atua, local assets, and infrastructure
• -Quest-based learning concept direction
• -Strategic vision for digital twin city learning

Outcome

Publicly cited by Orion New Zealand Limited in their June 2023 Climate Change Commission submission - an independent, documented endorsement of a culturally grounded framework now positioned for regional and digital-twin expansion.

Role

Deliverables

• -20+ minute immersive VR / MR animated experience
• -First-person narrative structure with user as participant and witness
• -Storyworld centred on Io, Tāne, and Whiro - a mythic arc of conflict, transformation, and restoration
• -Full production pipeline: illustrated concept, animatics, narrated sequences, motion-captured 3D characters, interactive gameplay, orchestral score, spatial sound
• -Built in Unreal Engine and delivered as an immersive showcase

Outcome

A showcase-ready proof of concept for immersive indigenous storytelling - combining high-end real-time production methods with symbolic narrative to demonstrate immersive technology used for culturally resonant, emotionally powerful storytelling rather than simulation.

Role

Deliverables

• -Digital storytelling platform architecture
• -Multimedia narrative content - video, illustration, and audio
• -Bilingual storytelling frameworks supporting te reo Māori and English
• -Cross-device web accessibility
• -Collaboration with kaumātua and whānau to guide narrative authenticity
• -Visual identity and experiential design language for the platform

Outcome

A platform that holds Māori narratives with care, beauty, and accessibility - establishing the basis for a living archive of memory and mana: a repeatable system for safeguarding, presenting, and extending Māori stories across generations.

Role

Deliverables

• -14:12 hero identity film (English and te reo Māori)
• -Creative direction, cinematography (Sony FX6) and POV drone work
• -Motion design, original composition, edit and colour
• -Coordination of mana whenua and community contributors
• -Bilingual long-form documentary delivery

Outcome

Delivered a cinematic multi-voice hero film that placed mana whenua and community at the centre of the identity story - produced as a creative partner within Designworks' wider identity programme, which was recognised with a Best Awards Gold for branding.

Role

Deliverables

• -Master brand tohu and visual identity direction
• -Conceptual narrative framework binding three kaupapa into one whakapapa
• -Facilitated wānanga sessions with the Te Ao Matihiko leadership
• -Cross-platform application guidance - social, digital, and print
• -Colour system: Matihiko Pink, Matihiko Purple, Matihiko Red, and Pō / Black

Outcome

A recognisable, culturally authoritative master brand that unifies three kaupapa streams into one coherent visual narrative - a living digital whakapapa expressed through a manaia-kaitiaki tohu, a confident wordmark, and a versatile colour system.

Role

Deliverables

• -One completed music video (4:55) through a full cinematic pipeline
• -Direction, cinematography, edit and grade
• -VFX and virtual-production technical support
• -Toi Māori design, set build, lighting and makeup
• -Director-led futuristic Māori worldbuilding

Outcome

Fused waiata, speculative visual storytelling, and toi Māori design into a single screen experience where te ao Māori is felt, seen, and heard in every frame - helping establish a stronger visual language for Māori futurist screen work.

Role

Deliverables

• -Consultation and editing across 1,600+ lines of dialogue for linguistic and cultural accuracy
• -Chin moko design inspired by Tūmatauenga, featuring mangōpare (hammerhead shark) motifs
• -Jacket patch art and visual references for base and legendary skins
• -Performance and animation workshops - facial expressions, gestures, body movement
• -A bespoke haka written for the character, featured in the 'Judgment' Stories from the Outlands trailer
• -User Guide documentation to support Respawn's implementation of cultural content

Outcome

A Māori Legend launched in Apex Legends Season 12 'Defiance' (February 2022) with cultural elements developed through genuine partnership - establishing Māui Studios as a cultural consultancy able to operate at AAA scale with a major international studio.