My cousin, who moved to Dubai nearly 20 years ago, has always kept in touch and recently witnessed the growth of our business during the Waitangi Day celebrations in Rotorua. Impressed by our work, she offered me a digital design project for a fitness challenge called Hinemoa Swims within the app The Conqueror Challenge.

I was responsible for creating elements for the first quest, “Hinemoa's Swim,” which tells the story of Hinemoa swimming 3.5 kilometers to be with her love, Tutanekai. Participants who complete the swim would receive a heru (a traditional hairpiece) as a reward, instead of a traditional medal for finishing. I initially created a prototype for the heru but later determined that a digital design would be more effective for collaboration with an Asian third party manufacturing the physical product.