Draft Proposal - Next steps to rebrand NFTX

Hey all,

I’ve been working on preparing the rebrand of NFTX (which was a known topic pre-launch) and drafted a proposal for next steps, which I would like feedback on from contributors.

As the proposal includes a budget from treasury DAO, this proposal must be taken past a Snapshot vote. I’ll broadcast that end-of-day or tomorrow based on feedback received on this post, with a 24 hour voting time slot.

Action: Please signal vote & leave your comments on this draft below.

Draft Proposal: Next steps to rebranding NFTX

Summary

Let ChopChop lead direct next steps in the NFTX rebranding process to create a new visual identity for the project, including picking the final designer to work with.

Set the maximum budget to spend on rebranding at 15K USD*, to be paid by the DAO treasury.

*Refer to specifications for clarification

Background

With the recent soft-launch of NFTX on January 5th, the project has gained lots of exposure in the NFT & DeFi scene. While the majority of feedback around the project has been on a positive note, one negative topic keeps returning: the brand logo.

To prioritize time to market above anything else, Alex (founder NFTX) decided to use a logo from Google images as a temporary logo for the project with the intent to change the logo post-launch, underestimating the negative side-effects associated with doing so.

As we’re in the post-launch phase now, moving this topic forward must be done.

Motivation

As the NFTX DAO aims to build an index fund ecosystem around NFTs, which are most often created by professional designers/artists, respecting and living by the rules & rights of that industry (intellectual property) should be top priority above anything else if we want to be recognized as a legitimate and serious organization / product.

I therefore propose to take next steps in our journey to rebrand NFTX, with the focus on getting a new visual identity made (includes new logo), by working together with a professional designer that has experience with our industry. I volunteer to lead this process if the majority agrees.

From a strictly timing perspective, my beliefs are that we should not prioritize speed over quality in the context of rebranding. With that said, as we are a DAO in its infancy which is still forming its trajectory on product and organizational value, we should be leaning towards crafting a brand that is strong in its foundation, while leaving enough room to adapt in the future when needed.

In preparation of this process, I’ve worked together with @Finesseboi to gather a mood board that contains logos, illustrations/artwork, colors, emojis/mascots, icons & typefaces we like (black hole & orangutan inspired), which may be used during the rebrand process as creative input for the designer we pick. Note that the mood board will not be used to “force” the designer into a specific direction & that the board may be disregarded in its entirety.

Lastly, I have been sourcing designers in line with the previous tweet that got pushed by the NFTX twitter account. I will consider multiple designers before making a final pick based on availability, portfolio, specialization in brand design & work-ability.

Specification

When everybody agrees with the motivation above, ChopChop (me) will be taking the lead in managing next steps of the NFTX rebrand. Direct next steps for the upcoming weeks include:

  • Sourcing the final designer, based on availability & experience.
  • Planning workshops & time slots.
  • Leading the design process from NFTXs’ side (client) and giving creative input where required.
  • Report what has been done during the upcoming NFTX governance call, which is being set up by Finesseboi.
  • Deadline monitoring.
  • Receive & distribute final deliverables within DAO to implement into current & future products, starting with current front-end of NFTX.org, social channels and content.
  • Have rebranded assets and associated IP wrapped into an NFT, to be held by the DAO treasury.

To do this, a budget must be agreed on by the DAO. Having deep experience in the branding industry myself, total rebrand budgets for a startup normally fall in the 5 - 25k USD ballpark when outsourcing (excluding top level agencies). I therefore propose to take 15K USD (middle) as the maximum budget spent on rebranding, with the intent to keep costs as low as possible.

Minimal Outputs

The rebranding project will have the minimal output of

Additional bonus deliverables might include social assets, presentation decks, header templates and sample designs. These are not to be expected nor mandatory to be delivered in this project.

Considerations

Some points to consider when voting on one of the options below:

  • The vote on Discourse is a signal vote to judge whether the current proposal is fit for a governance vote on Snapshot. If you do believe it is not, or want to include additional points / remove current points, please specify in the comments.
  • A creative process, such as rebranding, does not thrive on democratic decision making. While polling preferences in an informal vote on Discord may be useful to get a quick sense of “what the majority likes most”, setting up a formal DAO vote to pick directions every time a decision must be made kills creative flow. I therefore prefer to delegate recommendations & decision making to a handful of people, with the designer & me being part of that.
Signal Vote
    • I agree, please move forward to Snapshot
    • I disagree, please amend based on my comments

0 voters

3 Likes

This is a well drafted proposal and having personally worked on many startup / tech rebrands I can vouch for the suggested budget, scope and process.

2 Likes

I’m comfortable with Chop taking this challenge on and spearheading the process. From what I’ve seen Chop has done as much work as anyone else in the Dao if not more (with the exception of Alex of course), and seeing as his previous role was a CMO the skill sets seem to match up.

I would like to see some initial feedback from the DAO on the current mood boards because even though this shouldn’t be design by committee (I’ve been part of enough of those to know they don’t work) the DAO should feel like they’ve had a chance to input into initial ideas. I’ve raised this already on Discord and because the moodboard doesn’t allow for public commenting any feedback is welcome in Discord.

2 Likes

Would 100% love to have additional ideas on the mood board. Opening it up totally (edits etc) would make it vulnerable to trolling, so moving all inputs on the Feedback channel of Discord seems like a great alternative.

Re timing on that input: Right now, the first time slot a suitable designer is available is end-of-January (25th), as long as time slot isn’t taken before this governance vote passes.

Having gathered input by community in addition to the current mood board by then (especially the context on which the mood board was built i.e. liquidity blackhole for NFTs, mascot opted by community vote & the idea behind the orangutan + hole-emoji being “The Alice in NFT wonderland”) would be optimal.

1 Like

I’m in support of this. Chop has been very active, and I think they are in a good position to take on the role.

I’m happy to help out with any of the resulting NFT wrapping, intricacies, and dev work. Just ping me on Discord. (It’s me, Owen).

2 Likes

This looks good Chop im in favor of the proposal

1 Like

I support this. Chop has my trust in leading the rebrand initiative

1 Like

i support for this, and nftx is the most transparant program i ve seen

1 Like

Update:

The first part of the rebranding process was done yesterday, which was mainly ideating for design directions to take further today & tomorrow.

You can watch back the entire live stream of me & Pieratt on Twitch!

[Twitch]

2 Likes

This looks good Chop im in favor of the proposal