The idea for this project stemmed from our observation that Catalyst project completions were anticlimactic. After months of hard work and community accountability, project teams submitted their final reports to a quiet bean-counter in the cloud. They might get a confirmation email, and hopefully they would see their project status changed on the Google Doc. But unless you brought your own balloons, there was no fanfare, no press release, no book signing tour.
These Project Completion NFTs are our offering to help create a little launch party for each and every completed project coming out of Catalyst.
Successful projects whose work has been confirmed complete are invited to mint a celebratory NFT. They have been designed to be both recognizable and unique. The recognizability is important, because when project teams share their NFT on social media (#CatalystCompletionNFT), everyone will know what it means! The uniqueness is important to reflect the diversity of the projects themselves. Proposers who have worked on multiple successful projects will enjoy minting and sharing a unique NFT for each of their accomplishments. The unique images are created using an AI image generator, using each project’s title as part of the unique prompt that helps create a relevant and interesting image for each project.
There’s a lot of talk about the serious side of auditability, but we wanted to take a crack at the fun side.
Ultimately, we think it’s just as important. Celebratory NFTs will encourage project teams to post on social media and share the news in other ways. When they do, they are likely to post a link to their project, share something about their success, and invite others to check out their work. It’s “just marketing,” but it’s so important that we all share the resources we are building!
Many Project Catalyst projects don’t necessarily include marketing as something they need to do. Many people who are building blockchain tools might not be skilled at it anyway. We hope that providing a fun and easy bit of marketing content will encourage more sharing and celebration of the many jobs well done.
The Setting
Each Project Completion NFT is presented on a gala stage, with marquee letters declaring “COMPLETE!” I like imagining that each completed project could be celebrated in this way at a global Cardano gathering, with each project team taking to the stage to accept their award.
A keen eye may notice the stage setting is just a little different for each fund, but all in all, this stage is the repeated, “recognizable” element of every NFT.
The Project Images
The brand art for Project Catalyst in Ideascale through Fund 10 looked like this – simple vector illustrations in shades of Vista Blue, Space Cadet Blue, and Payne’s Gray.
To create the unique images to celebrate each completed project, we prompted an AI to create art in a similar style and color palette. Every project started with a unique prompt, including the project’s name, so that the final images have a visual connection to the project itself.
Projects with unambiguous, concrete names often got artwork with clear references to their subject matter. Themes like “Africa,” “Mobile App,” and “Bridge” are easy to see. Projects titles that featured concepts without obvious visuals, like “blockchain” or “DAPP” got more abstract results.
The image prompts also took a slightly different form for each fund. So the images in Fund 2 have a certain character, which is a bit different from those in Fund 3. Over time, the themes evolve to take us on a journey. In this way, the images celebrate each fund as its own unique cohort of successful proposals. It also is meant to evoke the journey we are taking as a community with Project Catalyst - learning from each round, and embarking on the next round with fresh energy and new insight.
Fund 2-3-4
The images in Fund 2, 3, and 4 are set in an empty space, or on a blank page. This setting - or lack of one - represents the idea of beginning. Each proposer in these initial rounds was a pioneer. They all started with blank papers and proposed something new. Some received funding, delivered on their ideas, and have earned a completion NFT from this special series. A keen eye might notice that the background colors shift from white in Fund 2, to pale periwinkle in Fund 3, to bright cerulean in Fund 4, showing a slow evolution on the theme.
Fund 5-6
The images for Funds 5 and 6 are set in a room. The idea of participating in Project Catalyst with a proposal was becoming less abstract. Brainstorms were brewing in living rooms, in home offices, around tables, and at conferences around the world. In these images we see Catalyst projects taking shape in these real-world spaces.
Fund 7
In Fund 7, we shift to highlight the theme of experimentation. The setting is a science lab, and images celebrate new discoveries, wild inventions, and the hard work of a global village of builders in white lab coats.
The settings are more fanciful than the indoor spaces we saw in funds 5 and 6, and more evocative of this group of dreamers who hope to “shoot for the moon.”
Fund 8
To get to the moon, we’re going to have to first leave the building. In Fund 8, the images take a sudden turn into beautiful patterns and colors. Representative elements can still be found…a tree, a river, a book. However, the relationships between each image and its project are more like poetry than prose.
The image prompt in this fund asked for the project to be represented as a stained glass window. We are figuratively leaving our living rooms and science labs behind by leaping through these inviting, decorative windows.
Fund 9
Project Catalyst has left the building. In the image series for Fund 9, the Cardano community is building on the rooftops.
We can see farther from up here… the images feel expansive, inclusive, and ambitious. On a clear day we can see the curve of the earth at the horizon.
Fund 10
The world is our oyster. We’ve clambered off of the roof and are venturing out into the world. The project celebrations for Fund 10 take us into the great outdoors, with no walls to hold us back. The rubber is meeting the road and we see blockchain utility becoming reality out in public spaces.
Fund 11
Surprise! Along with substantive changes to the rules governing Project Catalyst, Fund 11 debuted new visual branding on Ideascale. Instead of vector images in shades of blue, the iconography became ultra-simple line drawings in royal blue over a pink and blue gradient background.
As we have shown, the idea of experimentation and change from one fund to the next is built into our Project Completion NFTs. The evolution of Project Catalyst’s visual identity is part of that. For Fund 11, you can expect to see yet another new spin on the visual brand of the Completion NFTs to echo this change.
What’s next?
Look for the official launch of Project Completion NFTs in the near future!
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