The story behind our t-shirt waifu design
We want to tell you the whole story about how the idea for this design was born, how the entire process went, and finally, how the t-shirts got to you.
Another successful conference is behind us. This time we were in a busy Berlin at the Polkadot Decoded event, one of the bigger ones this year, and we were all looking forward to it. Many projects from the ecosystem participated in it, so you had the opportunity to talk to interesting people. In addition to the great speakers and the program, there was enough space for networking and exploring new opportunities. The atmosphere was relaxed, and everyone was having fun.
The entire KodaDot team was also present. We enjoyed the discussions with our friends and the new people we met. We came prepared and brought our new t-shirt designs with us. You could get yours when you stopped by our team for a short chat. We were happy that the iconic t-shirt with two anime waifus was popular among the guests.
How was the new design born?
It all started as an innocent idea of our founder YangWao in our Discord channel. At KodaDot, we are creating a collective of artists dedicated to different types of digital art. So why can't we have anime waifu from an NFT artist on a t-shirt? That's an original and creative idea, and we decided to make it a reality.
And the idea caught on.
The process became a reality as soon as the idea was born. The first step was to choose a suitable artist who is dynamic and capable enough to create something unique. Among the nominated artists was LTIZ, nicknamed Fai, who lives in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand.
Fai has a degree in textile design, but she has been working with many types of design, so she has a lot of different experiences. In 2016, her own brand of dolls was launched, inspired by her small dogs and passion for collectables (tiny toys, dolls, etc.). You can find them on Instagram. Later, when NFTs became famous, new opportunities for artists and creative people appeared. Fai also shifted her focus to digital art, which interested her at that time. Thanks to this, she returned to drawing. Since then, she has created a lot of NFTs. Looking at her digital creations, you can see that 80s-90s vibes inspire her incredible artworks.Â
Both parties agreed to cooperate, and the creative process could begin. This new design was an experimental landscape for us, so there were no limits. We wanted to create something unique and playful that people would enjoy. We told Fai our suggestions and left her to create. The basic idea was to have a waifu character on a dark t-shirt, with our Koda logo somewhere sensibly placed. It took Fai 21 days to get to the final version. We started a group on Discord where we discussed changes and other things that needed our focus.
Storytime
The characters on the shirt are Kasumi and Aya, a solar-punky dynamic duo. Both have their own story that was connected at one point. Kasumi is a shy introvert who spends her days programming in her basement. She is a developer wizard; she always does a great job and has excellent results. Her life started to be lonely, so she decided to find new friends who would help her feel better. However, she didn't have many hobbies that would make her go out. But she enjoyed playing games, so she started going to the arcade. And this was the point in her life when she met Aya, they both played dance-dance revolution, and they've been friends ever since.
On the other hand, we have Aya, an extroverted, energetic, perky, and very chatty girl. She is more art-oriented and creative. Video games, and the virtual world, gave her a place where she could vent. One day when she came to the arcade, she discovered that Kasumi had beaten her record in the dance-dance revolution. Losing her first place made her very angry, so she challenged her to a duel. During it, they discovered good energy between them, and that's how they became friends. Since then, they have become an inseparable duo. Can you guess who is who?
Process of creation
Initially, we wanted to have only one character on the t-shirt. But we agreed we would have two waifus on the shirt instead of one. Having two seemed more creative, as there is more room for changes, diversity, and modifications. And as you already know, we had the whole story behind it. This way, it would also reflect our project's values. The first sketch does not resemble the final design, and we made many changes afterward.
We decided to put both girls back-to-back, as our team members always have each other's backs. After this change, the design created a much friendlier impression. The characters were close and belonged to each other as a team.
Next, we decided that the girls would hold each other's hands as a symbol of cooperation and teamwork. These values demonstrate the ability to work effectively and respectfully within the team or with other projects. We all must make compromises, have a responsibility, and value each other's opinions if we want to grow and achieve our goals.
The final step was to finalize the details of the entire design. We added the logo in a way that it fits into the work. The color palette was also carefully chosen to match KodaDot colors. At this point, we knew that the shirt would look great and that we at KodaDot would wear it regularly.
In the end, a new and fantastic design was born. It met all our expectations, reflected company values, and was unique. We were happy that we managed to get it into print quickly enough. Before the conference in Berlin, we had a total of 250 t-shirts (sorry, no size S this time). On the first day of the conference, we gave more than 100 pieces to participants. We were surprised by the positive feedback we got. When we left for home, we had no t-shirts to give away, and people still asked us for more.
Here you can see girls from our team, Clairee and Luuu, proudly representing our team.
We are thrilled because it started as a fun idea, and in the end, we created something people liked. It was delightful to see people walking around in our t-shirts. We believe that we will make other designs you will appreciate in the future. But the most important thing is that we constantly work towards better results in all areas of our work as a team.
Visit KodaShop to buy more merchandise!
A cherry on top is that from now on, you can mint this design as NFT for a symbolic price. Why? If you send us proof of you minted the NFT and burned it afterwards, we’ll gladly send you a t-shirt with this new design wherever you are!
PS: Only 20 are avalaible for dropshipping.
All details can be found in collection detail. Jump in!