SuiFrens is a leading NFT capability project on the Sui blockchain. The characters of Capy, Bullshark, and Narwhal tell the story of key parts of Sui’s architecture and infinite scalability. As a collectible, SuiFrens can be extended to operate within other Sui apps. They demonstrate the unique capabilities of the Sui blockchain, and their distinctive anthropomorphized cuteness provides an accessible and friendly way to engage the builder community on the network.
My role in this project was to formulate the brand strategy, and a creative direction, that would activate and build interests in Sui, and ensure the art system is aligned with leading web3 projects. The objective is to keep the creative options for SuiFrens expanding for other builders in the network to adopt, and brands and partners to integrate with their IP. Akin to Lego or Minecraft, in which various brands have seamlessly activated presences on those platforms.
Capy.art was the initial NFT demo built as a minimum viable prototype to test features in the early stages of Sui. The capybara character famous for it’s cuteness, and ability to adapt and indifference to challenges or predators, was chosen as the signature character since it felt aligned with the approach to building the network, fearless, focused, adaptable and approachable. Capy quickly became famous with Sui builders.
Essentially the objective was to get Gen Z, crypto-curious and the Sui community to interact with and spend time on the network, to see the value and innovation of the ecosystem and platform, by creating an exciting new website, brand, and art direction for the web3 project.
Partnering with eclectic Portland-based creative agency Fisk Projects for producing the brand and visual art system, we developed a set of brand materials including a wordmark set in the classic typeface Frankfurter. Following the lead of the strategy, the brand color palette and graphic symbols warm, earthly, and vibrant, and inspired by Emojis. The system need to have tools for both communicating about the Sui blockchain, and serve as a toolkit for users and builders to express themselves. The soft rounded forms, thick stroke create a visual appeal that dovetails succinctly with cuteness of the characters.
Capy had a developed a following on the Sui and Mysten Labs social channels, seen as a mascot and embraced as the character that represented the community backing the innovative blockchain. With awareness that rurpturing the relationship with a new visual style could complicate community relations the decision for the refresh was to evolve the characters instead of starting from scratch.
Composability is central to Sui, allowing for on-chain assets and data to be recombined into new use cases. This is exemplified with SuiFrens, where collectors can purchase accessories for the character, sell or exchange them on a marketplace, or mix two of the same species together to generate a new character that shares traits from both parents. To further demonstrate the scale that is possible with assets on Sui and meet product goals, the art system needed to be capable of generating hundreds of thousands of unique assets. An additional requirement is the ability to rank elements of the characters on a rarity curve to provide value and added appeal for further engagement with the product.
The brand and visual art system culminate in the product experience, and have extended into partnerships with dapps on Sui and a token gated physical merchandise store. Suifrens.com is the gateway to purchase and interacting with the characters. The design leverages the brand system and common UI/UX patterns in web3 to realize the product. SuiFrens remains in the top 10 NFT projects on the Sui network, and to date over 500,000 and accessories have been collected.
Project Team
Matt Herzog, Product Design
Patrick O'Rourke, Creative Direction and Design
Bauer Wann, Product Manager
Agency Partners
Fisk Projects, Art Direction, Design, Production