CBC Chinatown
Basketball Club
IDENTITY / BRANDING / ILLUSTRATION / MERCH 2023-ONGOING PROJECT
Founded in 2019 by artist Lu Zhang and curator Herb Tam, CBC (Chinatown Basketball Club) created a community that welcomes individuals of all skill levels to play pickup basketball at Columbus Park in Chinatown.
I designed weekly social graphics for CBC and created the branding and merch for the MiniMarket (迷你市集). Every October, CBC hosts The Autumn Classic basketball tournament and the MiniMarket, fusing basketball with art, music, design, and dance in a unique Chinatown festival.
The logo Chameleon I designed, MiniMarket’s mascot, reflects CBC’s diverse community of creatives and athletes.
I designed weekly social graphics for CBC and created the branding and merch for the MiniMarket (迷你市集). Every October, CBC hosts The Autumn Classic basketball tournament and the MiniMarket, fusing basketball with art, music, design, and dance in a unique Chinatown festival.
The logo Chameleon I designed, MiniMarket’s mascot, reflects CBC’s diverse community of creatives and athletes.
I’m one of the founding members since 2022 and the only female designer on the CBC team. I took on this project from start to finish on my own, and it’s been amazing to have the full trust and aligned vision with Lu and Herb, the founders.
MiniMarket is a sub-brand of CBC, a New York-based nonprofit created by artists and designers as a space for people to play basketball—a community, but more. If the basketball tournaments CBC hosts are the game, then MiniMarket is the celebration. We bring together local artists, DJs, performers, and food vendors to turn the annual tournament into something bigger—an event that showcases creativity, culture, and connection.
Many well-known local artists have sold their work at MiniMarket, including Miwa Neishi, a Tokyo-born, New York-based artist whose sculptural ceramics are inspired by abstract expressionism, prehistoric clay figures, and Japanese calligraphy. Each piece is hand-built, fully functional as a vase, and invites people to engage with organic forms in new ways. Her work is sold at the Noguchi Museum and beyond.
Weekly Posts I designed (below)
Weekly posters
2023 tournament at Columbus Park, Chinatown Manhattan
The Mascot - Chameleon
When I first met with Lu to talk about creating a brand for MiniMarket, we immediately landed on the idea of a mascot. But what kind of mascot? I threw out a bunch of traditional mythical creatures—dragons, phoenixes, qilins—but nothing quite fit. Then I started thinking about what kind of animal could truly represent CBC.
Everyone here comes from different backgrounds—artists, designers, bankers, athletes—each bringing something unique to the community. That ever-changing, adaptive nature is what led me to the chameleon. Just like how it shifts colors with its surroundings, we, too, take on different identities in our daily lives but come together as one at CBC.
From a design perspective, the chameleon made even more sense. Since MiniMarket is event- and campaign-based, we could play with its color-changing nature to create a fresh look each year—incorporating new textures, gradients, and elements that reflect the tournament’s theme. For example, this year’s theme was Growth, so I leaned into greens, stem-like shapes, and pops of bright lime yellow and purple to capture that energy and vibrancy.
The mascot isn’t just a mascot—it’s a reflection of who we are as a community.
When I first met with Lu to talk about creating a brand for MiniMarket, we immediately landed on the idea of a mascot. But what kind of mascot? I threw out a bunch of traditional mythical creatures—dragons, phoenixes, qilins—but nothing quite fit. Then I started thinking about what kind of animal could truly represent CBC.
Everyone here comes from different backgrounds—artists, designers, bankers, athletes—each bringing something unique to the community. That ever-changing, adaptive nature is what led me to the chameleon. Just like how it shifts colors with its surroundings, we, too, take on different identities in our daily lives but come together as one at CBC.
From a design perspective, the chameleon made even more sense. Since MiniMarket is event- and campaign-based, we could play with its color-changing nature to create a fresh look each year—incorporating new textures, gradients, and elements that reflect the tournament’s theme. For example, this year’s theme was Growth, so I leaned into greens, stem-like shapes, and pops of bright lime yellow and purple to capture that energy and vibrancy.
The mascot isn’t just a mascot—it’s a reflection of who we are as a community.
2023 MiniMarket logo
2023 MiniMarket Posters and Merch
Photography by Dustin Lin, Echo Zixuan Zhao, Herb tam & Lu Zhang, and myself
©Jessica Chen,2025