Who Controls the Memes, Controls the World
In today's world, a movement exists that's more potent than hurricanes or tsunamis, transcending any marketing campaign or trendy influencer strategy. This force comes from a community unified by a single vision and objective, showcasing the immense power of coordinated effort.
We live in an era where memes are the catalysts for change. Do you wish for your idea to spread like wildfire? Aspire to go viral or be influential someday? Maybe we'll unravel these mysteries... or perhaps not.
The Genesis: The Power of Points
It all started with points, a seemingly simple concept outside the blockchain that has become a significant magnetism in recent months. These aren't groundbreaking innovations; they're traditional reward points, reinvented for the digital age. In a surprising twist, the outdated and deflated 'wheels' of other social networks find themselves reinvented in this new context.
These points, once seen in PWA apps like FriendTech, made their way to platforms such as Rainbow and Farcaster. What happened on Warpcast was even more intriguing: offchain points found an onchain utility. Imagine, traditional points now used for onchain activities like minting NFTs on Zora, rewarding users, creating channels, and more. By the time you read this, there will likely be even more uses for these points – real utilities that the world has been clamoring for.
This frenzy of points everywhere led to the birth of Farcaster's first native memecoins: $points opened the gates, followed by $wowow, then came $spam, $farts, and even a memecoin generator… The rest is history.
But the real strength of the movement resided in a particular channel: /degen.
Basic Information about $DEGEN
Network: Base
Creator: Jacek
Supply: 37 billion
Github: degen-tips-contract
Website: degen.tips
Degen: A Decentralized Brand Perspective
Degen emerges from a Permissionless Brand like Farcaster, making it crucial to integrate both in the Brand3 landscape. Degen represents the community, and the community has chosen Degen as a departure from the conventional, a response to those who label us as CryptoBros. Degen is our identifier, a badge we wear proudly within the ecosystem, come what may.
Originally, Degen started with a basic casino chip symbol – a purple token with a dollar sign. But to truly become a Brand3 with magnetism, it needed more.
The Solution: Quick, Direct, and Democratic
An open bounty invited the entire community to propose a new logo for Degen. The initial rewards were modest: 5M for the winner and 1M for the next four designs. The rules were simple – one proposal per user, submitted by a set deadline. 100 logo proposals were submitted, ranging from elegant and sober designs to wild creations spawned by AI and other visual resources.
The Top Hat emoji quickly became a meme, widely used in conversations. By day three, it was clear to me: The symbol is the emoji, the emoji is the meme, the meme must be the logo... Drawing inspiration from the emoji, I worked on refining this element, knowing the best logos function well at any size and are quickly internalized by the public. I created multiple color versions and proportions, swiftly realizing my vision and crafting a typographic element to accompany it. The sophistication of degeneration needed to be present, hence the choice of a serif font, adding that sophisticated touch, while the ecosystem itself would bring the degenerative aspect.
Envisioning the hat as the Nouns' glasses, I maximized this key element. I created some memes, shared the files with key users, and quickly, others began using it, modifying colors and shapes. The people made the logo their own, unknowingly becoming part of the brand. I integrated it into my PFP, and others followed, spreading the word.
On the day of voting, I was excited, not so much for the tokens (though a bit of Degen is in all of us) but for the chance to be the designer behind Degen's logo, the referential memecoin of Farcaster. I had tried with Points and participated in other significant branding processes, but here, I was eager to build this Brand3 with the community. There were formidable competitors, showcasing the growing pool of talented designers on Farcaster, inspiring and supporting each other, sharing knowledge and value every day.
And I won!
Those 125 votes marked a turning point in my career. I'm grateful for the unwavering support from communities like CryptoPlaza, FLOC*, BRICKS, and Brand3. We achieved this together, and it will always be a cherished accomplishment.
But do you know why it's so special?
Because, even after all this time and effort, we are just beginning.
Think Degen.
The Music
The Links
How To Use Farcaster and Warpcast
Still unsure about what Farcaster and Warpcast are? Or need help because you've been away for a while and want to catch up on what's happening on the sufficiently decentralized social network? Discover it with the help of Zerion, and also find the NFT I recently launched of the Farcaster Landscape inside...
The truth is, it can sometimes be challenging to keep up with the latest from Farcaster, as we've just seen with the launch of Frames. That's why I believe it's essential for specialized publications to emerge to keep us well-informed about the latest developments. This is why I recommend following people like @brownalytics and their creation of the Degen Newsletter on Paragraph.
Post-Identity Design: Brands, Politics, and Technological Instability
For years, branding has been a key strategy in building brands that spark cultural movements within their audiences. This intriguing article presents some examples of how major corporations have experimented in this regard.
The Cast
The Key
“The imagination has no limits. The physical world does. The work exists in both.”
Rick Rubin
The Word
Degen — " Decentralized Gentleman/Gentlewomen ”
Degen is a lifestyle. It's a way of understanding technology, supercharged with socialization, entertainment, and fun. Be Degen my fren.
The NFT
There was a pivotal moment for me when creating BRICKS as a multiplayer creative community. Then, I launched the On Bricks collection to put all those ideas that emerge in this imaginative space onchain. That's when the idea to upload the OG Degen's logo came about, followed by compiling the best memes I've found of the Degen's brand. I'm not sure what comes next, but I'm certain we'll do it together and have a great time sharing knowledge. Let's keep building together...
Written and designed by @esdotge
