thirdweb

LEAD DESIGNER

BRAND DEVELOPMENT | ART DIRECTION

FEB 2022 – AUG 2023

Platform & development toolkit for building web3 apps. As the first design hire at this startup, I established the brand identity and design systems from inception.

thirdweb’s Series A announcement | Creative Lead: Cathal Berragan, Art Direction: Anshu Tukol, Video & Animation: Sian Morton, Andrew Begafria

The Solution

I built on the existing logo to develop an identity and set up design conventions that were adopted across teams, including easy-to-use templates. As a part of the growth team, I applied our brand across various marketing campaigns, launches, and social media efforts.

The Opportunity

As an early-stage tech startup in web3, thirdweb not only required a cohesive brand identity that could scale and iterate as quickly as it grew, but also faced the challenge of looking and feeling accessible to audiences that were not so familiar with web3.

Brand Book

Gamifying thirdweb: Quests

thirdweb is a platform with several tools and smart contracts. In order to streamline the onboarding for new users, we decided to gamify the learning experience for developers.

I designed the UIs from the wireframes handed to me, created the NFT artworks and modified the UX based on competitor research.

This feature is under development.

Each quest is an action you can perform on thirdweb. Completing a quest teaches you how to use the tool, earns you an NFT, and also increases your level as a player.

9 quests of a similar theme (eg “Smart Contracts”) make a mission, which upon completion earns you a badge.

Launch Video: Loyalty Programs

Challenge

thirdweb’s new product, that helps build effective loyalty programs in web3 as compared to outdated technology, called for a punchy launch video.

However, we ran into some technical issues; the key footage we received from our engineers turned out pixelated with choppy audio. There was no time left to re-record either.

Solution

After a quick team brainstorm, we decided to remedy this by making the pixelated quality look intentional. I designed frames inspired by 90s Windows Media Player visuals to highlight how outdated the previous technology is, yet appeal to the nostalgia of 90s tech which helped to counteract the fear and skepticism that comes with web3 .

The video was a success and has 13k views on Twitter.

Creative Lead: Cathal Berragan, Art Direction: Anshu Tukol, Video & Animation: Sian Morton, Andrew Begafria

Marketing Activation: thirdweb x Paper

To promote thirdweb’s recent acquisition of Paper (a nascent web3 infrastructure startup) an NFT collection was launched on several popular blockchains.

I led the collection’s art direction, created each NFT and designed the landing page for the activation. Each chain-specific NFT featured artwork that incorporated the chain’s branding.

Product Launch: Gamingkit

Gamingkit is a toolkit for developers to bring their games onto web3. My role was to define the art style for this launch, and create all of the UI assets + marketing imagery, including for Twitter, the thirdweb blog, YouTube channel etc.

Animation by Andrew Begafria

‘Ready Player 3’

A hackathon was also launched alongside Gamingkit, to encourage thirdweb’s developer audience to experiment with the tools. I created a separate brand identity and assets for this hackathon, including a custom futuristic typography and hand-illustrated landing page.

This hackathon had 525 participants and was sponsored by some of the biggest web3 brands such as Coinbase.