2022-01-24
—I remember that porcelain vase that my grandmother liked so much. It was one of those objects that passed from hand to hand for generations without knowing very well its original value. Back then we didn’t care about the story behind the vase. There was really a lot of rare objects in that house that my cousins and I looked at with amazement. The typical grandparents’ house was that place you remember in a fuzzy way but with a very special nostalgia. I would play games with my cousins like hide and seek or blind man’s buff.
One day while I was running after my cousin, something happened that I could see coming. It didn’t take an oracle like the one in the Matrix to warn us that the vase would fall and break into pieces. We stood and watched, not quite knowing what to do, until my grandmother arrived and saw the scene of the crime. We thought we were going to get a big scolding, but it happened on the contrary. She set out to pick it up and put it in a shoe box.
It was several days before we returned. What surprised us the most was that the vase was back in its place. What had happened? We looked at each other in amazement and approached to see if it was a new one, but no, it was the same one. A meticulous and delicate restoration left us spellbound, but where we could see well marked the scars of our passage.
At that moment my grandmother appeared and explained to us how she had restructured that vase. She also gave us a great lesson for those of us who define ourselves as “problem solvers”. My grandmother told us that she had painted the vase herself, that it was a gift from her mother and that over time it had undergone many changes. “Beauty is in the imperfections that show through time” she would say as she pointed out how she had pieced it together piece by piece.
It should be noted that my grandmother was a lady from La Mancha who had neither traveled to Japan nor knew the Kintsugi concept. This millenary art teaches us that true perfection, both aesthetic and inner, can emerge from imperfection and wounds. “The art of accepting damage”, as some historians say shows us the lesson that we should not be ashamed to hide wounds, but to enhance them.
We designers or brand builders lost during the creation process this way of looking at life, of facing a project that must remain alive and dynamic. We focus too much on geometry, on accuracy, on leaving something static that remains and does not lead to other interpretations. I have to admit that this so-called perfectionism has been with me for a long time and it is time to abandon it.
The Brand3 has arrived to leave behind conventionalism and rigid structures that oppressed the expressiveness of the project. Every opinion of every member of a DAO is relevant, even if they are not brand strategy consultants. The opinion and influence of a person outside the constraints of traditional branding can actually be more interesting than a great expert in brand management who is contaminated by its references and static thoughts.
It is necessary to free and let the communities make the brand their own. Do not say “this is as far as you can go”, do not set absurd limits. Break away from the identity manuals, erase the pages of incorrect uses, forget the Do’s and Dont’s. We are here to rethink the established, we cannot continue with processes of the past if we want to build the brands of the future. You have sold co-creation and you have not been able to ask your audience, those who live and feel the brand. Put design at the service of the community and not the other way around. Open your mind and start creating OpenBrands for an OpenSource world.
2023-02-04
—
Today, the sound of excavators striking the asphalt and sidewalk can be heard, while the shouts of builders and workers intermingle. These are the true builders, those who allow us to move forward on solid ground. They don't care about the footprint of the past, the details or the interventions of the inhabitants. Their purpose is basically to fix the imperfections and do it in the most optimal way, following the established planning and schedules. They have a clear system and they shape or articulate it depending on the flow of pedestrians and vehicles. At the end of the day, they try to leave everything prepared so that the access to portals and garages does not interfere or hinder the movement of citizens.
Their design system is composed of barriers, steel plates, and bricks. Some mobile components are used dynamically to evolve the final product every day. The process is important, and it is in plain view. The authentic Build in Public, pure open-source work. Without hidden methodologies, without lies, in raw form. What do we fear when building and creating brands to wait until the last day and show it to our audience? Is it really necessary to have so much mystery to wait for the wow effect? The years go by and I start to understand why our elders look behind the fence at those works. They are spectators who admire the evolution and change. The constant improvement and the passage of time in everyday life.
Now we are immersed in recovering a brand with more than 130 years of history to bring it back and build an authentic Brand3. For now, everything is happening in internal processes, numerous meetings where each builder does their independent work and shares it in stages. We see the progress, but still with traditional brand processes. We are gradually giving the project team the content, guiding each step, highlighting the effort, strategy, and creativity. And also updating them through Web3 training. It is a transformation, a journey through the crypto culture to reach an uncertain destination. How can we make them understand that there is no goal, that this is just the beginning and that there will come a time when the brand belongs to no one.
Decentralization is a utopia.
A utopia that marks that journey that started more than a century ago. Its founder, a visionary. His imagination did not put a brake on each of the publications that were launched, where we saw that perfection did not matter. where what mattered was the construction and consistency. That's the inspiration we need. Forget the static, everything is in motion, and so it should be. Why did we decide that everything should be so systematic, closed, and hidden along the way?
Brand3 must continue to break with the static. I would like everything to be fluid, organic, and dynamic. And if everything breaks, put it back together, with the same pieces or with new ones. Let many people decide, let it be transparent. Look from the outside to understand the context. Try, give it a spin, imagine and if necessary, break everything all over again.
After all, there will come a time when no one will remember the process. But it is possible that the gaze of an elder will always remind us of what that work was like.
Let's keep building...
🎶 The Music
🔎 The Links
Following in the wake of Headless Brands, we see how building decentralized brands is a topic of concern for branding professionals who have taken the red pill. The current empowerment of communities and DAOs is impacting Web3 brands and processes need to be adapted to evolve into more dynamic and open strategies.
Introducing Absalom: An experiment in decentralized brand buidling
Experimenting is the only possible way to create a brand through community participation. There are several previous examples, little established theory or system and many people interested in this movement. That is why the moment we are living is so interesting. Shall we participate?
MCV has been one of the first #Brand3 trips we are building from FLOC*. We needed to explain this atypical process that is working for more than 90 “Blood Mages”. Decentralized leaders who have participated in major brand decisions. We must listen and open our eyes to see the opinions and feelings of the people who make up the brand.
🐦 The Tweet
We are Creative Build3rs.
#NFT #Creators #Community #Brand3
12
🗝 The Key
“Love is the distance between reality and pain”
Robyn Hitchcock
🖋 The Word
FAM — “Family”
It refers to your digital family, usually those people who share the culture and philosophy of the same community. It symbolizes fraternity and harmony with a group, similar to Crew or Gang.
🌌 The NFT
Collect this post as an NFT:
Written and designed by @esdotge with the collaboration of @lets_just_jump
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