Xcimer Energy
Nov 2023 to Present | 1 year
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Xcimer is a growing startup in the nuclear fusion energy space, with a recent series A announcement in June 2024. Our team's work at Big Dreams Studio was to learn about Xcimer's inertial fusion science and tech and use it to design, develop and deliver engagements, through branding and communications, applied to digital media, posters and prints, and a website 2.0 launch.
TEAM AND ROLE
- Alyssa Bishop (Strategy Director)
- Laila Auckee (Design Director)
- Arvind Bhallamudi (Design Strategist)
Led competitive research, engagement strategy, data visualizations copywriting, and assisted the design team in branding and web design.
- Jae Yoon Myung (Designer)
AREAS OF FOCUS
- Competitive Research
- Engagement Strategy
- Digital Experience Design
- Data-driven Communications
- Brand Media Guide
- Web Design and Development
PROCESS
Discovering and Developing Xcimer's Presence in the Inertial Fusion Space
This 10 month process started with conducting market and technology research to craft Xcimer's story and positioning, and integrate it with communications for website and multimedia.
CURRENT SCENARIO
A Limitless, Carbon-Free and Reliable Source of Power, But How Far Away?
Nuclear fusion as a clean source of power for the future has been regaining attention since National Ignition Facility's net-energy gain breakthrough. More than $900 million was directed toward fusion technologies in the past year, with a total of $7.1 billion into the fusion industry since 1992.
First Scientific Breakeven in Fusion Energy
On December 5, 2022, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Lab performed an experiment in which a 2.05-megajoule laser pulse yielded 3.15 megajoules of fusion energy output, a first ever.
Commercial Fusion Power Plant Constructions
“Harnessing fusion energy is one of the greatest scientific and technological challenges of the 21st Century,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. If scaled, it will outcompete solar and wind as a path to decarbonize.
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
Understanding Inertial Fusion Science and Architecture
Fusion energy uses one of two main approaches: magnetic (MFE) such as tokamaks and stellarators, or inertial (IFE) that uses lasers or particle beam accelerators. IFE relies on compressing and heating a small fuel pellet, typically made of deuterium and tritium, using powerful lasers or particle beams to achieve rapid compression creates a shockwave that initiates the fusion reaction. These enable high temperatures and pressures that reach over 5 million degrees F and 1000 million bar.
We learnt how Xcimer is solving some of the major challenges in scaling inertial fusion, by replacing hundreds of glass mirrors with gas optics, using larger targets in an molten salt cooled chamber, and constructing a 10+ MJ laser for higher efficiency. Learning this helped position Xcimer in the inertial fusion space, and used to show how its technology and configuration might be the most cost-effective option among other fusion approaches.
COMPETITIVE POSITIONING
Rethinking the Messaging about Technology Advancements and Commercial Roadmaps
COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
Contextualizing Humanity's Energy Futures and the Need for Fusion
After discussions with the founders and team at Xcimer, as well as internal discussions, we realized the narrative of commercial fusion needs to start with the reason of pursuit, and the logic of systems that make it possible to construct and execute.
This structuring of the information in three primary sections: mission, science and approach, leads viewers from the why (mission) to the what (science) and how (approach) of Xcimer's technology.
Brand-focused
Imaginative, attractive
Science-focused
Rational, credible
Techno-optimism
Future-casting, eager tone
Techno-realism
Neutral, academic tone
WIREFRAMES AND PROTOTYPING
Crafting Narratives Centered Around Safety, Climate and Energy Prosperity
In this process of secondary research, reading Xcimer's proprietary science, writing thousands of words and making over a hundred mind-maps with the Strategy Director, we built a top-level navigation for the information, with a deeper layer of narratives, insights, details and references within each section.
DATA VISUALIZATIONS
Evidencing the Purpose with Historical Data
and Interactive Digital Interfaces
To enhance the story, two data visualization sections were created to engage readers in the historical timeline that Xcimer is building on, and around the mission and the change it wants to deliver.