Web3 isn't so much a technology than a cause to rally around. And so Fold7Design's designs for [REDACTED], a new Web3 movement and IRL event, are a real call to arms.
Fancy a trip to Thailand? Then, if you're involved in digital design, there's a great excuse to visit. [REDACTED] is bringing together visionaries, builders and pioneers from across the AI and Web3 community in Bangkok. The aim is to shape a future where technology belongs to users, not centralised in the monopoly of Big Tech.
If that all sounds like gobbledegook to you, then let us explain. Web3 is, broadly speaking, a vision for the next evolution of the internet, emphasising decentralisation and user empowerment.
The main point of Web3 is to shift control away from large tech companies towards individual users, utilising technologies like blockchain (which powers things like Bitcoin) to create a more transparent and secure online environment.
Those are the fundamentals, but bear in mind that Web3 isn't really something you can define yet: it's still very much in development and faces many challenges in terms of technical development, social acceptance, and government regulation.
That's where [REDACTED] comes in. The event will upskill AI knowledge through essential workshops and deep-dive discussions led by the teams defining the intersection of AI x Web3. Over 1,000 developers, founders, researchers, and leaders will also build tools and groundbreaking dApps together at a hybrid Hackathon that kicks off in September and culminates in an Awards Ceremony in November.
To brand the event, they turned to brand design studio Fold7Design.
The studio aimed to create an immersive and irreverent identity system for [REDACTED] that could grab attention, rally the community and flex to the more positive, empowering spirit of the IRL event itself.
Tom Munckton, creative director at Fold7Design, explains the thinking behind the designs. "The [REDACTED] brand idea creates a core visual language from individual graphic 'blocks'," he explains. "This is symbolic of the individual and disparate nature of the Web3 communities. They form together in a multitude of ways to demonstrate the collective power of bringing communities within Web3 together."
As well as the logo itself, the blocks inform everything across logo expressions, typography, iconography, and photographic treatments across an array of digital assets to merch and the physical experience at the event itself.
The overall visual and verbal attitude of the brand identity aims to harness the spirit of activism combined with a dark-mode low-fi quality to appeal to Web3's developer base. It sees shifting, glitching graphics and monospace type scrambles met with oblique provocative messaging.
Tom considers this approach timely. "Right now, big tech has gotten a seat at the table to regulate AI and further centralise the world's most powerful technology," he explains.
"[REDACTED] captures the moment and rallies that Web3 communities most importantly need to combine forces and play as a team to fight against archaic infrastructure and closed-source conglomerates. It's been our honour to create an identity built entirely to inspire the people at the heart of this movement."
David Morrison, [REDACTED] 's head of creative, says of the collaboration: "Fold7Design? It's more like Fold360°Design because that's the type of view they take when developing brand identity. The creativity around [REDACTED], our flagship event for which Fold7Design has joined us, has been top-tier."
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