Chime Store
Building Between URL and IRL
Role
Creative Lead | Product Design | Brand Activation | Social Strategy
FINDING DIRECTION WITHIN CONSTRAINTS
When I joined the project, the brief was intentionally constrained. Focus on color and typography for a mobile product design. While minimal in scope, this was an opportunity to uncover deeper creative foundations that could scale with the product as it evolves.
The Challenge was clear:
Establish a fresh, distinctive identity starting with visual design.
Balance usability with expressive brand personality.
Create a framework flexible enough to expand into future product areas.
To ground creative decisions, I began with user interviews. These conversations revealed emotional truths about how people engage with performance and reflection tools.
“Ultimately I want to enjoy the process and stick with it long term.”
These insights showed me that users don’t just want a space to record thoughts. They need a product that frames their experience in a positive, guided, and motivating way. The creative direction had to establish not only clarity and usability but also a sense of grounding.
UNDERSTANDING THE GAPS
The pain points were not simply design flaws. They were strategic issues:
EMOTIONAL DRAIN
Negative framing left users feeling demotivated rather than supported.
LOW ENGAGEMENT
Without delight or a sense of progress, users quickly abandoned tools.
FRAGMENTED VISUALS
A lack of cohesive design language mirrored the lack of cohesive experience.
These pain points underscored the opportunity to use design as more than styling. it became a framework to ground users and guide them forward from being overwhelmed to grounded.
REFRAMING THE JOURNEY
From these insights I defined a North Star for the product. The vision was to create a grounded and human centered design system that inspires calm, trust, and clarity. This North Star would not only guide the immediate design work but also serve as a reference point for future growth.
Color, typography, and iconography would be the first building blocks of this system. Their role was not to decorate but to establish structure, emotional resonance, and a consistent sense of guidance.
I led a cross-functional effort that brought together product design, digital storytelling, and physical production to turn Chime’s abstract ideas into tangible, wearable, shareable pieces.
I didn’t treat merch as an afterthought, I approached it like building a product. Every decision, from the cut of a tee to the mid-profile hat was designed to carry the brand’s energy into the real world.
This wasn’t about slapping a logo on a hoodie. It was about crafting ehnhanced brand expressions that people would actually want to wear, use, photograph, and share.
A COHESIVE BRAND EXPERIENCE ACROSS ALL TOUCHPOINTS
PRODUCT CONCEPT
& DESIGN
Led product ideation and design direction, from materials to typography, ensuring every item reflected Chime’s cultural tone and aesthetic precision.
SOCIAL & DIGITAL
INTEGRATION
Developed social media assets and campaign strategy to launch the merch as an integrated brand moment on their social channels, not just a store link.
PHYSICAL & PACKAGING EXPERIENCE
Oversaw the creation of product packaging, labels, and touchpoints that extended the brand's visual language seamlessly into physical form.
CROSS-DISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
Acted as the connective tissue between design, dev, production, and marketing teams. Ensuring consistency and clarity from concept to final product drop.
Chime merch blurred the line between merch, product, and cultural artifact. Generating excitement across Chime’s community and reinforcing the brand as more than just a digital space.
The drop sold out within minutes. But more importantly, it created something less transactional and more participatory a way for the community to wear the brand, live with it, and bring it into new spaces.
In a space where brands often feel scattered between screens and shelves, this project reminded me how intentional design across product, digital, and real life builds culture, not just commerce.
Additional Credits
Client: Chime
Agency: Dinner Party
Title: Executive Creative Director
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