Paragon Case Study

Launching a new-to-world Web3 platform designed for the decentralized economy

The Challenge

Paragon is a new player in Web3 aiming to shift the paradigm of NFTs from limited access digital assets, to phygital goods that welcome more people to play and participate in the new internet. Their proprietary technology provides users, experienced and new alike, ways to finance NFTs. So holders can generate new value and new users don’t have to pay a small fortune just to experience something new.

But in the fast-paced space of crypto, Paragon needed more than proprietary blockchain technology. They needed a clear GTM strategy and a brand that galvanized their community behind a singular message.

The Solution

Paragon’s technology gave them the possibility for too many use cases, and like many groundbreaking technologies, they were a solution in search of the right problem. They needed to find some focus. To do that, we started by identifying their first best customer, defining their signature use case in-market, and crafting a unique value proposition. By getting clear on why they exist and what they provided, we were able to help Paragon advance to the next phase of growth and drive new behaviors for how people interact with NFTs.

The Outputs

We combined the expertise of our teams to build a foundation that would enable Paragon to be a distinct platform brand in the NFT market.

1. Value Proposition

Defining how Paragon provides value for its target audience in a crowded and ambiguous NFT space.
2. Brand Identity

Designing a cohesive visual and verbal framework that establishes Paragon's identity as the NFT Experience Platform and a leader in peer-to-peer lending.
3. Toolkit and Launch Assets

Equipping Paragon with simple but sophisticated tools that anyone on the team, regardless of design skills, can use to launch and grow the brand consistently.

The Process

We landed on “NFT Experience Platform” as a frame in-market for its accurate projection of what Paragon uniquely delivers—better experiences for like-minded communities, not just transactions. Recognizing that the team needed help identifying their target audience, we surfaced two groups of shared mindsets and distinguished the nuanced spectrum of NFT users today through quantitative research. With these outputs as a foundation, we developed a value proposition that served as an internal decision-making filter for how Paragon can innovate and surpass their competitors in the NFT market over time.

Strategy

Framing Paragon as the “NFT Experience Platform” gave us the creative space to design a brand with a broad, expressive, and cohesive set of elements that would help the company create rich, immersive experiences at every brand moment.

Design

The word paragon can be defined as the model of perfection or the highest standard against which something is judged. The brand symbol—a pinnacle-like shape that comes from the perfectly centered "A"—consists of three distinct parts named Explorers that serve as signifiers (of the brand) and enablers (of utility).

Brand logo

In digital experiences and animated moments, the Explorers activate our three brand behaviors—uniting our community, expanding the aperture of NFT utility, and leading new financial capabilities that will enable more access.

Brand behaviors

Activation

Brand playbook with built-in tools and assets

We created a cohesive brand system with the logo and symbol at the core, supported by a series of assets, libraries, and built-in styles—all delivered in a Figma toolkit using collaborative design tools, with the necessary guidance to allow designers and non-designers alike to create and design consistently for the Paragon brand.

Our designers collaborated across disciplines to develop a ChatGPT-powered copy generator—programmed to help the Paragon team maintain a consistent brand voice when writing across different formats, like social media posts, responses on Discord, and emails. We trained the LLM with brand strategy and verbal design deliverables created during the project. With this generative technology embedded into their Slack environment, our clients can quickly produce higher-quality and consistent writing when needed without starting from scratch.

Copy generator

Digital considerations

Once we reframed Paragon as an NFT experience platform, we envisioned their website as a doorway to new experiences while being an immersive experience in and of itself.

The Paragon brand is reflected in different contexts through overt and subtle applications, e.g. using the Explorer as the primary call-to-action button within the Paragon app; encasing all NFT cards on the website in “borderless” frames to signify Paragon’s accessible, permission-less rental offerings; and maintaining rounded corners to match our design style.