Artist Yam Karkai co-founded the World of Women (WoW) organisation, alongside partners BBA, Raphaël Malavieille, and Toomaie, in an effort to address the significant gender imbalance that dominates both cryptocurrency and the NFT market.

The collection comprises 10,000 portraits of women, generated from an original artwork created by Karkai, and depicting various skin tones, hair colours and styles. WoW launched in July 2021 and quickly sold out. The community has attracted a raft of famous buyers since then, including actor Reese Witherspoon and TV producer Shonda Rhimes.

This year, WoW brought in ThoughtMatter to create an identity that would express the community’s philosophy of inclusivity. The studio drew reference from the idea of each token as a tiny building block, and a part of a bigger whole.

The ‘O’ of WoW’s acronym becomes a framing device for one of the community’s portraits, while a set of grids create the framework for animations that show blocks and letters falling into place, Tetris-style. ThoughtMatter has also created a distinctive, and slightly floral-shaped, W that’s used across the branding. WoW’s colour palette is drawn straight from Karkai’s own generative artwork.

“We wanted to plan a system that allowed for exponential growth, be it other collections, new partnerships and collaborations, or for more community involvement and representation,” explains ThoughtMatter managing director Jessie McGuire.

“Through design, we’re able to visually communicate the vastness of WoW,” she continues. “Too often NFT projects are focused on exclusivity. This is something more inspiring and centred around community, just as much as it’s centred around NFTs.”

As NFTs continue to be the subject of news stories and heated debate, this is surely the first of many efforts to create a brand that can hold its own amidst a huge amount of competition.

thoughtmatter.com; worldofwomen.art