Founded in 2009 as an automotive startup and led by CEO Mate Rimac, the Rimac Group grew from a one-man-band garage project into a powerhouse automotive technology company. Today, the Group is a majority shareholder of Bugatti Rimac, a new powerhouse company that joins forces of two automotive and technology trailblazers Rimac Automobili and Bugatti Automobiles, and the sole shareholder of Rimac Technology. The Group brings together a globally renowned team developing high performance electrification solutions for the world's largest OEMs with the most powerful and exclusive hypercars in the world. Rimac is based on the outskirts of Zagreb, Croatia, with locations around Europe, and currently employs more than 1,900 people.

This project includes a creative body of work featuring two brands under the Rimac Group holding (Rimac Automobili and Rimac Technology). The brand Rimac Automobili has undergone a quiet visual facelift with a roll-out of a large amount of work that has helped define its footprint through a multitude of touch-points across all forms of communication channels: digital, print, ui/ux, client experience, merchandise, apparel and product design.

Using the original PCB graphic language which Rimac Automobili was associated with initially as a starting point, we branched out and expanded the narrative, defining and refining brands assets, communication style and associations. Rimac Group found itself in a unique position whereby the branding and storytelling of the Nevera hypercar helped define the Rimac Automobili future brand signature. What started off as a simple graphic signature on the sides of the car - the "kravat" - it became an integral factor of the brand's graphic and communication methodology.

One of the integral ingredients that helped define the delicate yet multi-layered visual language was the overarching theme of the brand's character luxury_tech. In other words not being quite fully tech or fully luxury like the competitors but using the best of both worlds to create a new positioning and niche.

Particular attention has been given to defining as much detail as possible in the construction of the CI guidelines. This included graphic design standards, bespoke typographic standards and bespoke typefaces, product design approach and key defining features, communication and copy-writing styles, graphic signature and guidelines, motion design standards, Iconography standards, architecture interior and materials standards etc.

The Rimac Group total brand design overhaul helped establish and position the brand as a Luxury_Tech brand, thus gaining a unique niche positioning when compared to the competitors who are in the similar playing field. Competitors either being sporty oriented, tech oriented or luxury oriented mostly but never the marriage of both worlds. The sheer amount of potential touch points and applications covered ensured a strong communication presence and market differentiation.

Carving a new niche is never easy. It came with a different set of challenges but at the same time the brand carried over a certain heritage with its fans and public alike that have been following the brand from the outset, and it was important to not simply ignore and start a fresh, however trivial it may seem. Marrying the innovative performance electric parameters with traditional automotive perception of what defines luxury was key. This helped define a slightly out of the box creative process from the outset and initiated a non linear brand development.

The brand was associated with electronics and electric motors from the outset. It was only fitting to embrace this fully within the visual language and core feel. It was also important to add a representative element of "speed" to the visual form whether it be product or graphic. This in turn spawned a "fast" incline of 30 degrees to various graphic elements. From the PCB like kink in the graphics, to how the type is drawn, to how product design is to be considered. Everything was essentially made to be part of everything else because all parts inherited a same structural philosophy.

The design philosophy concentrated on a similar rule set that would easily be adaptable. It also ensured a consistency to visual communication and association to all things Rimac. Subject matter was almost secondary as the total design approach and philosophy would ensure recognisably and own-ability across various forms of media and interaction with the target audience. The body of work was meticulously documented and was part of a 250+ page CI manual to be used for carryover for design and product partners.

In the automotive industry at brand's launch no manufacturer connected the dots to that extent. By considering how the design philosophy interacts from the tiniest detail in the black print of the glass to the brand's product Nevera identity, to merchandise and apparel themed graphics and the way the user interface signature incorporates all the essentials, back full circle to how one relates this to typography, all unified under one notion and theme.

The company that carries the brand was created in the unenviable circumstances of a country whose industry was almost completely devastated by the war in the 1990s, and which has no legacy of automotive history. From a handful of enthusiasts, it grew into a local giant which today employs more than 1500 people. Not only does employment stop many highly educated experts from emigrating abroad, but it also attracts foreigners from different parts of the world to whom Croatia becomes their new home. For many tourists, the company and its brand become the reason for visiting the capital, next to which the production plant is located.