Something Real Out of Nothing
Brand Identity, Campaign & Launch. Zero Budget.
Company
Chimera Electric Vehicles
Role
Founding Brand Designer
Sole brand and creative lead, freelance alongside a full-time role at AccuWeather. Worked directly with a detail-obsessed founder who was deeply invested in every visual decision. Co-developed the campaign copy across many iterations and owned all visual decisions.
Brand Identity
UX/UI
Campaign Direction
Community Building
Visual System
Chimera needed to make the world take them seriously. On a near-zero budget, with an Indiegogo launch as the forcing function, I built the entire brand: identity, photography, campaign, app, and press kit. The community grew organically.
Brand Identity
The founder had strong, specific instincts about the mark and final say on the logo. I taught him Illustrator and worked iteratively with him while owning all surrounding visual decisions independently. The result: tight, geometric, with a technical edge that felt both engineered and street-credible.
Photography Direction
Product shots are focused, with dark backgrounds, dramatic lighting. Lifestyle images have grain and grit, subtly giving the feeling of a DIY zine. Hero images established the brand register immediately, the bike backlit against a warehouse window, specs overlaid in clean type. Technical callout diagrams were clean and minimal, echoing the ethos of the bike and giving press and community something they could easily read and share.
Blueprint Print System
Using the founder’s CAD technical drawings as a graphic language, I created a blueprint system: blue field, white linework, bold spec typography. It communicated in-house engineering expertise, differentiated Chimera from every other ebike aesthetic, and produced a campaign-ready visual system from assets that already existed with no additional cost.
Indiegogo Campaign
All campaign visuals: photography, edits, illustrations, GIFs, graphic elements were created by me. Copy was developed collaboratively through many iterations with the founder, his instinct was highly technical, the work was translating that specificity into language that converted. The campaign raised $111,065 against a $92,400 goal. Fully funded in 72 hours.
Controller App
The UX/UI design of the Chimera companion app focused on simplicity. One-click Bluetooth pairing, fine-grained motor control, battery profile management, range and temperature monitoring. UI consistent with the brand’s no-frills sensibility: direct, functional, nothing decorative.
Press & Community
No agency. No paid placements. A downloadable press kit and content that earned its own audience. Coverage in InsideEVs, New Atlas, AutoEvolution, Electric Bike Action Magazine, and TrendHunter. The community moment that captured what the bike could actually do: BMX champion Ryan Williams rode and flipped it at Nitro Circus in 2022, later confirmed when Williams commented on the footage on the Chimera Instagram.
Challenge
A philosophy professor built his dream electric BMX from scratch: custom frame, patented high-drive motor, hand-assembled in Los Angeles. The bike was extraordinary. The brand was nonexistent.
Approach
The constraint became the strategy. Technical with streetwear sensibility. The signature move was using the original CAD drawings as a graphic system, instantly giving the brand engineering credibility from assets that already existed.