Web3 Storytelling Evolved through Ubeswap’s Community
How Celebrating Degen Culture became a Case Study for Decentralization
Update: As of March 13, 2024 Ubeswap is a fully decentralized, community run exchange. https://twitter.com/ubeswap/status/1768025975311245652
Since I joined the Ubeswap community in the fall of 2021, I’ve worked to build unique brand guidelines, direct the creative, and optimize our storytelling for Web3, and it’s been a lively roll down the road for the Ubeswap protocol. Along the way I’ve witnessed the brand’s identity mature, its style become signature, and its community level up from casual users to advocates to ambassadors.
But before we reach our destination of complete decentralization with full community control — I think it’s worth taking a look back at how we arrived here, specifically through the lens of storytelling as a means to inspire community.
WEB3 STORYTELLING
Storytelling is how we (the community) communicate what the Ubeswap brand stands for and how we stand apart from other brands in the crowded crypto space. That distinction amounts to more than our quirky purple potato logo. Our Story is determined by the ACTIONS we take (value propositions) and our PRESENTATION to the world (voice & visuals of the creative). Web3 Storytelling adds another dimension: the CULTURE we construct and curate, i.e. our relationship to the audience. Web3 enabled technologies like blockchain, process automation, decentralized protocols, etc. exist in a unique space that allow users to have an active and meaningful impact on the product they engage with. Web3 Storytelling for Ubeswap means building an active community as the highest priority for success of the brand.
The Table Analogy
I think about types of storytelling as the difference between two tables. Web2 brands invite potential users to sit at the table and eat the good food. Here, you’ll get your fill: there is good food, good conversation, it’s a community. Eat as much as you want, there’s plenty to share! It’s a one directional offering, it’s the Science of Consumerism.
Web3 brands like Ubeswap create new possibilities for participation: users do more than pass the salt and comment on the food, you’re invited to bring your own dishes to share. You can introduce new recipes to the meal, ideally recipes that reflect some aspect of yourself, you bring your distinct talent to the table. With new recipes come new considerations; different utensils, different approaches to eating. What about changing the base textures, what about using our hands? What about different serving times or changing the shape of the table we’re all seated at? If Web2 Storytelling is about creating a space to consume then Web3 Storytelling is about how the consumers can change the space, it’s the Science of Community Creation.
Summary: Web2 Storytelling combines Action and Presentation to produce a compelling story that is distinct, authentic, and memorable. Web3 Storytelling adds Culture creation and curation to the equation, elevating its influence on Action and Presentation.
A ROADMAP FOR UBESWAP PRESENTATION
Guided through governance, the most dedicated developers from the Ubeswap community consistently delivered compelling Actions in the form of new features, offerings, and updates. (Check the receipts: 2021 Year in Review & Ubeswap’s Path to Complete Decentralization). This allowed me to roadmap our evolving Presentation and foster a Culture for our ultimate goal of an active, inspired, kick-ass community.
Driving the path to great presentation requires laying down some rumble strips. These guidelines are best informed by thorough research, strategic thinking, and a touch of personality. I won’t get into the nitty gritty but there has been a ton of collaboration to understand the competitive environment and the features the collective Ubeswap community could offer, the culture of our demographic, the type of community we wanted to build, etc. What emerged were these precepts for Ubeswap’s Voice, Language, and Visuals:
Voice
Ubeswap shares Celo’s core values: DeFi, community, mission, prosperity, and the planet. Whereas the Celo brand stands as the all-embracing father figure with a diversity of projects under its scope, the Ubeswap brand is more on the verge, cooler, more narrowly defined. Ube is the community that gathers in Celo’s backyard and brings music; together we are the life of the party with the throwback attitude of Marty McFly.
Language
Ubeswap copy is tech-savvy, smart, culture-conscious, and referential. Our community posts announcements with a smirk or a wink. We believe in the blockchain revolution. We make nods to current trends but we’ve got love for LoFi. Pixelate my shades. We speak in memes and code slang. We think acronyms are cool. We celebrate geek culture. We pop our collar when we pool. We sing the body electric. We feature robots that boogaloo. We have the swagger to be silly. We poke fun at ourselves but we take our mission seriously. We represent the intergalactic future and we are taking over the world! We use words like: future, showtime, protocol, power, activation, upgrades, next level, drive, speed, fast, grow, build, earn, crush, own, first, MoFi, DeFi, travel, space, light, lite, electric, purple.
Visuals
Electric. Energized. Ubeswap’s mascot is a hefty purple gorilla with style. Primary visuals are social media-friendly and shareable. Pop-art and retrotech references. Neon features on dark backgrounds. Lightning, fluorescents, 3D grids, concentric circles, countdown timers. Excitement visualized as motion whenever possible: GIFs to make announcements more dynamic, gradients to add depth and movement to static images, translucent geometric shapes as accent marks. Secondary visuals are Atari-inspired: flat, single-shaded 8-bit block matrix icons, sunglasses.
RETROSPECTIVE OF UBESWAP PRESENTATION
Ubeswap’s presentation unfolded through consistently bold choices from the creatives, chasing leads, dropping losses, community receptiveness, and constant iteration. Below I’ve chosen examples in chronological order of how the work evolved since we established our voice & visual guidelines, with brief commentary for context. Screenshot captions link to the source presentation or tweet which I recommend checking out, especially for GIFs and videos.
1) Optics Bridge
An early interpretation of our guidelines. The voice is straightforward but the visual tone is irreverent and ironic. From left to right the imagery resolves with an ape set on the horizon of a purple sun, and we liked the strength it symbolized as a potential mascot. There are seeds of Ubeswap’s signature sprinkled through the soil of this post.
2) Solana & Celo
A fun GIF meme that captures the spirit we were going for while the action clearly demonstrates the message. This post got high likes from the community, but for the brand it lacked a distinctive visual signature.
3) Celo DeFi Hackathon
Experimenting with complimentary colors for the potato, this clip expands the palette into four shades of purple and introduces cyan — a great look — wrapping it all together in fluorescent neon. This color scheme adds electric energy to the brand without straying too far from the path.
4) Position Tracking with ApyVision
Sticking with the gradient purple & cyan scheme, we experimented with visuals from our gamer culture with Lo-Fi translations of the Celo and ApyVision logos. This execution lands perfectly within the guidelines “Atari-inspired: flat, single-shaded 8-bit…” but it isn’t the look Ubeswap ended up evolving too. This is an example of the difference between direction and instruction, and the X factor that can emerge from talented creatives through trust, inspiration, and iteration.
5) Future Ape Announcement
A breakthrough signature visual: introducing the Future Ape. This execution takes several voice and visual elements and combines them in a way that just works. The strong ape palming the glowing potato. The need-for-speed neon bumper DeLorean decorated with the Ubeswap logo gives throwback Marty McFly energy. The geometric grid floor with animated accent shapes. All with a dominant purple theme against a misty galactic burnt orange sun. I remember wanting the ape to sport pixelated shades but I held my tongue. Why? Because we were on to something here, and there was more road ahead.
6) Polychain & Celo Validators
This banner heading for the medium article keeps our neon purple/cyan scheme while expanding our setting shapes from the grid to concentric circles. Also introduces a new element for energy and excitement: lightning. We likey.
7) KNX Rewards
I got my pixelated shades. Still experimenting with 8-bit graphics, once again translating the Celo, Knox, and potato logos in a way that is unique to Ubeswap. The four labeled icons give us PC DOS nostalgia, wrapped in the Ubeswap purple theme with a gradient to show depth and professionalism. Our communication is Lo-Fi by intention, not laziness. Still, the reception was meh.
8) Rewards Mystery Pool
An example of trying something new within the guidelines. This has several Ubeswap elements that worked before: purple gradient theme, neon flourish, sunglasses, geometric accent shapes, but we replaced Future Ape with a mythic man. The execution looks great and was well received but it didn’t resonate with me. The man is good, but the Ape was better.
9) Single Staking
Another experiment of known elements within our guidelines. Purple accent lines shooting outward for energy. A distorted reflection for messaging that resolves with a pixelated potato. See how the potato is evolving from 8-bit to a more polished pixelation? We are keeping the spirit of Lo-Fi but refining the presentation.
10) Cross Chain Dual Rewards
Once again pushing familiar elements into new territory, this animation expands Ubeswap’s grid geometry into three dimensional space with a purple scheme and glowing cyan accents. We dropped Lo-Fi design for a slick futuristic look but resolved in spirit with merging pixels to form the potato. We loved the additional energy of the bassy pounding beat, and from the numbers, so did the community.
11) Ubeswap V2 Teaser
We had fun with this one. Sticking with another electro bass beat, what better way to communicate the future party energy of Ubeswap v2 than robots dancing under a glowing purple potato?
12) Celo Rewards on Ube
Future Ape returns! With purple lightning, glowing potato, and a smirk for extra attitude, this execution utilizes fewer of the Ubeswap signature elements. This post may not have grown our audience but I like how it affirms our brand identity to the community we have.
13) Mobile-First Speed Optimization
Another breakthrough for our visual signature. We had been workshopping the idea of branded command prompts for some time, an Ubeswap spin on the MS-DOS interface. I liked this format for its versatility; we could wrap any message in a unique design that felt authentic to both voice and visuals. This post rocketed with views and was so embraced by the community that it inspired the design of our most valuable NFT.
14) Celo Camp Winners Announcement
This is when the impact of our music edit really started to click for the brand. Using fan favorite visual elements of purple neon, geometric boxes, flashing logos, and reflective metallic surfaces we synched the animation to the rhythm to create a dynamic, disorienting, truly excellent celebration piece.
15) NFT Marketplace with AwardPool
The Ubeswap NFT marketplace on the AwardPool platform marked another milestone for our storytelling. Our voice and visual guidelines were refined enough to extend beyond our twitter feed and inform the design of another interface that felt uniquely Ubeswap. Everything is on display here: our signature language, visual elements, and unmistakable future ape style. The AwardPool campaign earned 12,000+ sign-ups resulting in a 70% increase in Ubeswap social followers across Twitter, Instagram, and Discord, with a 50% boost in engagement time on the site averaging 5:56. We are very proud of our “Do Purple Potatoes Dream of Electric Apes” NFT Collection.
16) Import Farm Feature
We boosted the medium article announcing decentralized farming and staking with my personal favorite and our highest viewed post. It combines the best elements of the brand with great attention to detail: the cursor flashes the purple potato and the sound of the keyboard strokes as the command prompt animates, the MINDBLOWN messaging speaks to our playful attitude, the lightning transitions throughout the absurd head exploding scene, the video edits synched perfectly with the music, and the glorious resolve to a pixelated potato that distorts before exploding with confetti. IMO this is the crown jewel of Ubeswap storytelling.
17) Ubeswap Destiny NFT Hackathon
Here we use familiar retro galactic elements to point to the next great shift in Ubeswap protocol and evolution of the brand. We advance towards our destiny of decentralization seeking the community’s input and direction. I was eager but not anxious about officially passing the purple potato to the capable hands of the people who contributed to it.
18) Destiny Hackathon Outcomes
After a ton of submissions our finalists emerged through community votes, now featured in the AriGallery digital art shop. The top NFT features fun new combinations of Ubeswap signatures: a cloudy space setting of a traveler gazing into the cyan glow of a giant potato framed by a thick retro border with Lo-Fi star accents. Below: a utility NFT imagined for the Metaverse as a building where players can deposit, swap, farm, and perform other key functions of the Ubeswap application. The comical design elements keep true to the voice of the brand: 8-bit purple themed architecture with winks to our heritage like the Celo token centerpiece and wheelbarrows filled with Ube potato harvest.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Ubeswap has always had a fearless forward-facing nature. Gears up, shades down, drive fast, dream big. Now as we speed into the horizon of our decentralized destiny and we hand over the wheel to the DAO Treasury and full community control, I am overwhelmingly appreciative of the journey we’ve made together. I’ve always maintained that where we’re going, we don’t need roads, but that only became possible through the dedication of the core community and the pleasure we took in building the runway. The sky’s the limit, and the future looks bright for the purple potato.
FOOTNOTE: SUCCESS METRICS
Success metrics for a Web3 communication roadmap are tricky because traditional KPI’s are all Web2 based, i.e. a combination of views, likes, shares and comments from the community. But since myself and Ubeswap insisted on our Web3 storytelling strategy, we accomplished our goals of high quality across the board. Our active community is proof of the successful Ubeswap Culture. From fall 2021 to summer 2022 (when the entire industry fell in crisis) these metrics reflect the achievements of Action and Presentation, making Ubeswap the most valuable on-chain market maker protocol on the Celo blockchain:
- Completed 7 community governance votes
- Introduced single-staking, programmatic pool rewards, limit orders, and many other features incentivizing liquidity
- Integrated 4 new bridges with 7+ new cross-chain pools supporting DeFi cash-in
- Grown Twitter followers by 4X to >25k without paid advertising
- Grown # of new wallets/users by 4X to almost 55k without paid advertising
- Grown # of UBE holders by 4X to >13.5k (2–5X greater than other Celo DeFi projects)
- Responsible for 2x cUSD (via mcUSD) trading volume than other exchanges on Celo combined (via Minima)
