Monotype and KnownUnknown are equal partners on the remaining share. We have also ensured that each creator will receive the largest share of any revenue generated from this project, both as an ordinary sale and in the secondary market. Within our smart contracts, we have capped the “gas” or marketplace fees, something that we hope will protect the buyers of these NFTs from paying exorbitant fees while protecting the participating creators (artists) from downstream revenue dilution. Our goal for this partnership is to contribute to a long-standing community, to add value to designers, and to celebrate the value of typography. proof of stake, check out this article from Coinbase that breaks it down a bit further. For now, to learn more about the different of proof of work vs. We will be publishing an article in the coming weeks that further details exactly why and how we came to this decision, but when we met with the Avalanche leadership team, they truly impressed us with their roadmap, their focus on sustainability, and the balance of cost & energy efficiency. After much review of other “proof of stake” chains that are more environmentally friendly, our project decided to partner with Avalanche ($AVAX). The predominant blockchain used for NFT minting relies on what is known as a “proof of work” mechanism, requiring considerable energy allocation. Moreover, it was very important to our artists that we partner with a sustainable provider-in some cases it was a deal-breaker-which was a demand we were happy to meet. When we embarked on this project, it was very important for us to engage with a blockchain partner that would not be harsh on the environment. Like most people and organizations, we had very little institutional knowledge on blockchain technology just a year ago. Justifiably, much of the criticism of new blockchain technology in public discourse centers on the environmental impact. We cannot guess or comment on the value of these NFTs over time, but we can say that the spirit of this project is to engage the design community, not to ride the wave of NFTs for a short-term financial gain.
James and his growing KnownUnknown team have a strong history and reputation, as do each of the creator partners that they’ve brought on to the project. One thing we have learned in the early stages of web3 is that for a project to be trustworthy, it must have co-creators that have reputational value in the “real world” – that is – pulling a “scam” on their audience would risk ruining their reputation. We will share more about the artists in the coming weeks, but they are well-known, respected, and were personally invited by the team at KnownUnknown. Our intention with this project is to produce a legitimate collection with access to prolific artists from a variety of disciplines. We know there are many questions of authenticity and legitimacy related to NFTs.
We are still learning how to operate in this nascent space, alongside many others.īelow, we’d like to directly address the understandable skepticism that many shared in response to our post.
This project is not intended to be short-term, it is to foster a community of type enthusiasts, designers, and builders for a digital future. For us to test and learn using NFTs it was critical to pick a partner that had credibility, that was a design leader, and that had the right voice to build something special. KnownUnknown is founded by James Sommerville, co-founder of the agency ATTIK and former VP of design at The Coca-Cola Company. The result of that conversation is a collection of NFT art created by more than two dozen artists from around the world, working in mediums such as graphic design, branding, footwear design, and photography, all of whom are using Helvetica Now Variable to create unique, original art. Our friends at KnownUnknown approached us earlier this year with an idea to create an NFT project centered on one of the world’s most famous typefaces, Helvetica.