With the polls having closed overnight, the Gridcoin community has officially voted in a new logo to be the face of the coin! In light of this vote, and with a partial rebrand around the corner, I would like to take the time to update the crypto community at large about what has been happening behind the scenes, and our future plans.

• Gridcoin Branding Update - #1
• Gridcoin Branding Update - #2

New Logo Approved

As announced on the Gridcoin tag earlier today, the community has voted to accept the new logo with 241 votes in favour and 31 votes against. Due to the weighting of votes on the Gridcoin blockchain, which take into account both the research capacity and holdings of investors, the actual results were 57% in favour and 43% against. Reject votes came primarily from the very top and bottom ends of investor weights, with minnows through to all but the biggest of whales generally supporting the new logo.

The new logo carries a lot of benefits for the image of Gridcoin going forward:

• Less Complexity: While complex logos used to be all the rage, they do not function well in the modern digital environment.

• Scales Well: The logo remains recognisable even when reduced to 16px.

• Slick and Modern: The design is simple, clean, and in line with the logos of other major cryptocurrencies.

• No Text: Logos do not traditionally convey any text, as this is lost when the logo is scaled down such as when placed in the system tray.

The old design will not be abandoned, and instead used where high resolution works of art fit in. This means that effectively we have not voted in a 'new' logo, but have just given Gridcoin 'a' logo - the original art was not fit for that purpose. It is also worth mentioning that while the poll settled on a logo design, the colour is not fixed and can be changed to suit any individual purpose. There is also the option to use transparent backgrounds, resulting in images such as these:

The next step forward will be the release of media packs by @joshoeah, which will be supplied to the exchanges alongside the next mandatory client update. A facelift for the wallet client is also in the works.

Introductory Cinematic

To coincide with the new logo being accepted, I am generating some cinematic introductions to be appended to tutorial videos and other digital content as the creators may see fit. The render of the first of these has just completed, and I will make changes and further content when time allows in future. As usual, feedback is always welcome.

The Millionth Block Commemorative Coin

The next big milestone regarding our branding is the celebration of the 1 millionth block on the Gridcoin blockchain! We are about 10,000 blocks away, meaning the millionth block will be reached in roughly 1 to 2 weeks time.

To celebrate, we are proposing the manufacture of a series of commemorative coins. A poll will be raised in the very near future to allow all Gridcoin stakeholders to decide which design they would like to see carried forward into manufacture. Once a decision has been made, we will likely be releasing coins via two channels:

• One or two custom coins to be distributed or retained by the Gridcoin Foundation as it sees fit. These will likely be made of a semi-precious metal such as brass or titanium, and either laser printed or milled on a CnC machine.

• A slightly altered version of the solid model will be uploaded to Shapeways. This is a Dutch firm that offers 3D printing in a huge range of materials, and has recently moved to New York to increase capacity. Anyone will be able to log onto the site, select the model, and pay Shapeways directly to have it manufactured in anything from cheap plastic to solid platinum. It can then be shipped straight from Shapeways to the buyer, eliminating the privacy problems that would result from us collecting postal addresses internally.

Here is the coin design featuring the new logo, with the two alternatives being released in the near future or available right now in the branding channel of the Gridcoin Slackchat.

On a closing note, we would like to thank everyone for the enormous amount of feedback, support, and involvement with the branding effort. This really is a wonderful community, and I hope you all enjoy the rocket to the moon with Gridcoin at the helm.

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Content credit:
Header, @joshoeah
Footer, @me-shell