simplicity w/ NFTs: a “noob” perspective
January 31, 2022
{Author’s Note: After just one week in this mind-blowing delicious ecosystem, I wanted to share some initial thoughts on being an artist new to the NFTArt world and metaverse.}
I like simplicity.
I have long been an early adopter, and have seen many platforms come and go.
Sadly, I have lost pictures, IP, and digital assets of high emotional value.
Usually this is when tech just goes away, without warning.
For example in 2008 there was a neat little app that I used on a second gen iphone using 3g that allowed me to track a very special trip I took to NYC. I posted and logged everything in there. It was wonderful, it had maps, photos, location, social sharing etc. It was a great little app that allowed me to track my whole trip and create a visual diary. It was easy to use, and worked efficiently on just the 3g network. It was a well designed app. One day, it just disappeared. Without warning. And sadly, today, I don’t even remember its name. Ultimately, it was a bitter user experience because I lost all those digital assets and cannot get them back.
That was a good lesson.
As an artist I am very excited about the fast-growing digital art world. Last week I was lucky enough to learn about NFTArt and I am very excited to build a collection. However, the ecosystem is still very much in flux, and I don’t want to plant my trees only to have them chopped down.
All the flurry and confusion I see happening, poses a question. Do I want to spend energy staying on the wave and jumping from one wave to another as things move and shift? Or do I quietly and peacefully build out my collection and then choose where to put it after the dust settles? This is my consideration of the moment.
Like the movie Far and Away, there is a mad rush right now — a land grab, and it’s easy to get caught up in the “hurry” and “flurry” of it all. I caught myself, and today, I am stepping back and finishing my plans for my NFT Collection — visually — on paper.
Ultimately too as a “noob” I see that the whole process can be quite confusing. It is like a trifecta: ART, TECH and FINANCE converging in the same digital space.
It is wonderful and I LOVE IT, but I also need to slow down. Like my mom always said, “haste makes waste.”
I want my energy to go to creating art, calmly, peacefully and with SIMPLICITY. I have seen so many amazing artists in just one week.
I have visually gorged myself on incredible art, but my tech brain also sees the volatility of the platforms.
In my opinion the tech needs to create a secure and simple user experience so the focus can stay on the art — for both creators and investors.
I am happy to be a Beta user, heck most of my career was in QA, but people should have a clear heads-up, and as a noob coming in it is hard to know just what is what.
All artists should be careful about their work. Just like a brick and mortar gallery. If the building had a leaking roof, or might be locked up the next day with YOUR paintings on the walls, would you want to have an exhibit there?
For a thing to be of value, it must be unique and special, and there is a lot of evidence of this already in the #NFTArt space.
HOWEVER, if platforms go up and down and burn their users — the artists and investors — frequently and without warning, that could devalue the digital art movement overall because it will look too unstable.
And burning your early adopters is never a good thing.
Early adopters should be treated well, and thanked, for they are the ones who breathe life into new tech and attract a new users to grow a platform. And first impressions have no “do-over”.
Just as a museum hangs a painting with care and consideration, I implore the engineers of the NFT space to think about the user experience, carefully and deliberately.
NFTArt is a beautiful movement with amazing community. And I am excited to be a part of it, but this artist knows from hard lessons — that sometimes to move fast, you have to plan and go slow in the beginning.
After all, in 2001 Google was a little search bar extension to a Netscape browser, and that same little search box doesn’t look that much different today… the world behind it is a whole universe now, but the front door didn’t change all that much…food for thought.
