What is the future of the Polkadot brand? Visit https://vote.polkadot.network/ to take part in a historic moment and have a say in the potential direction of the future of the Polkadot brand. Have your voice heard in the vote for the new Polkadot brand identity and logo design.

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?

This initiative gives DOT holders a voice in updating the Polkadot brand by casting a vote for their brand identity and logo design of preference.

Just as Polkadot’s technology evolves through decentralized governance, so must the Polkadot brand. While there are several established processes for updating code on a blockchain network, processes for updating a decentralized brand are still in their infancy. This initiative is an experiment in pushing the boundaries of social coordination by giving the community a voice on the future of Polkadot’s brand.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

If you’re a Polkadot token holder, this is your opportunity to be heard. Take part in a historic moment in decentralized branding in a community powered by blockchain technology.

The vision of Polkadot is to build a Web3 future where technology empowers individuals to have more sovereignty over their decisions and interactions. Decentralizing power means distributing it across a wide base rather than concentrating it in the hands of a few. For this world to take shape, active community participation in governance is needed.

The Polkadot ecosystem has expanded immensely since its launch, with a subsequent change in its brand needs. It’s only by ensuring that the Polkadot community’s input and voice is heard that its brand can evolve to truly serve the needs of the ecosystem. While no system is perfect, novel experiments like this can make great breakthroughs with decentralized branding.

WHERE ARE WE ON THIS JOURNEY?

The aspiration to decentralize the Polkadot brand was initiated with an on-chain proposal approved on Jan. 4th, 2021, by the Polkadot Council. Since then, an immense amount of research, strategy, and design development has been undertaken, outlining challenges and opportunities for the Polkadot brand — from the confusion between Polkadot’s logo and that of other popular brands to the need to provide design tools for use by the community. The brand development process has been shared through key milestones that can be reviewed in the roadmap below.

Currently, the project has reached a stage where there are two different brand directions that Polkadot can take—making it an opportune moment to explore community engagement.

Brand Update Roadmap

Bounty On-chain Proposal
Bounty Proposal Doc
On-chain Approval
On-chain Curator Selection
Update at Polkadot Decoded
Bounty Close Report
Immersion Playback Deck
Brand On-chain Vote (<=we a here)
Brand Development
Asset Delivery
Update Polkadot

What happens afterwards?

This community vote aims to provide a clear direction for the brand moving forward through both the on-chain vote and qualitative feedback collected via the form. However, even after the voting has closed there is still much more work to be done, as the chosen direction still needs to be further developed and applied to practical assets (such as websites, social media, and so forth). Brands are amorphous and adapt differently across various touch-points, which is why none of the assets seen here should be considered final; they are mockups and are primarily used to give the community a picture of directions the brand could take.

HOW DOES THE VOTE WORK?

As this is blockchain technology, it’s only fitting that the vote takes place on-chain. DOT holders can participate by casting their vote here via the Polkadot.js Browser Extension. Follow the prompts on screen, [watch this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFGYodvQYhI, or check out the FAQ.

Why you should vote

Your vote has real consequences. Decide the brand direction. It’s in your hands.

Take part in this experience. Governance and community decisions are a core element of the Polkadot vision.

Be part of Polkadot’s history. Record your vote on-chain.

How the vote is designed

100% On-chain: Paving the way for a decentralized future.

Community Power: DOT holders have their tokens translate into influence.

Skin In The Game: Voting power is relative to the account balance.

Power To the People: Quadratic voting favors small fish and mitigates the splash of big whales.

What does the voting process look like?

Vote opens and a snapshot of all Polkadot accounts & balances is taken.
DOT holders pick their preferred Polkadot identity direction and logo direction.
Votes are cast using the remark function with a minimal transaction cost.
Nine days later, votes are closed, counted, and weighted by their account balance.

As this brand vote utilizes Polkadot’s blockchain technology, all votes are anonymous, transparent, and publicly verifiable. For further details, please see the FAQ below.

How does the weighted voting work?

Quadratic Voting gives more power to small fish rather than big whales. Each vote is weighted by taking the square root of the account balance. As an example, 1 DOT has a voting power of 1, 25 DOT has a voting power of 5, 100 DOT has a voting power of 10, and so forth.

The vote is weighted based on the account balance the moment the snapshot was taken at the opening of this brand vote. This is so that malicious actors cannot split their tokens into multiple accounts to maximize their voting power. Importantly, this means that no new accounts or changes to existing account balances after the snapshot will have any influence on the vote.

WHAT’S BEING VOTED ON?

Every DOT holder casts their vote using a single transaction which encompasses their preference for two separate parts of the brand: one vote for their logo design of preference and another for their brand identity of preference. Both categories have two directions to choose from.

What’s shown here are not final assets, they are preliminary mockups to give an impression of the directions the brand could take. Further refinement and development will take place after the vote has closed. Importantly, the options presented have been developed so that the logo design and identity design can be voted on independent of one another. This gives you greater choice as as you can mix and match your preferences.

Votes can be distributed on a sliding scale between the options (such as 75% for one, and 25% for the other). Additionally, as this experimental vote is far from being the optimal process for brand development, a form is also available for written feedback.

Why Update The Identity?

The identity is the overall look and feel of a brand, from graphical elements to animated interactions. It’s not a specific element, rather it’s the sum of all its parts that emerges to become something instantly identifiable. Specifically for Polkadot’s brand identity, it’s important that it can flex and adapt over time; this runs contrary to traditional centralized brands which enforce rigid rules to be consistently followed on fixed assets.

At present, the Polkadot brand (as seen on polkadot.network) lacks breadth in its design language to address its growing needs. A strong identity for Polkadot is one that can be easily adapted and remixed by its community while at the same time retaining its core recognizability. This requires the creation of new design tools and systems that can be easily understood and used.

Why Update The Logo?

A strong logo design for Polkadot should be able to meet three high level points. One, is it iconic/recognizable? Two, is it extensible/composable? Three, is it meaningful/relatable? Additionally, there are practical factors that must also be addressed such as the design not looking similar to existing brands, being legible in different sizes, working on various user interfaces, and so forth—learn more in the FAQ. As the research has shown, the current Polkadot logo falls short on multiple fronts. With the longevity and future of the network in mind, it’s beneficial to update the logo while still retaining as much of Polkadot’s existing brand equity as possible.

Any feedback?

Have thoughts, suggestions, or questions? Use this form.