[Proposal] Commission more yWaifu art

Proposals Protocol and Governance
1

Summary

A proposal to create a waifu task force, yWaifus, that has the power to commission and curate art used for marketing purposes.**

Background

Ever since Yearn’s nativity, the community has utilized anime characters, sometimes referred to as waifus, as a marketing tool that resonates deeply with DeFi users. Anime is at the core of DeFi pop culture, and has been becoming more widely accepted in the global mainstream over the past several years.

Because of this, the community would like to commission high quality waifu art for future marketing purposes.

Motivation

The growing attention on Yearn has resulted in differentiated opinions regarding the waifus used in conjunction with the protocol’s press releases, announcements etc.

Due to this, Yearn would like to maintain the ethos of the community, while satisfying a more diversified crowd.

Currently, Yearn has a small collection of custom YFI themed waifus in its possession, but there is no single waifu associated with the brand at this time. Further creation of waifus will allow for criticism to be addressed, the quality of art to be improved, and potentially find a waifu that becomes tied to Yearn’s brand.

Specification

The yWaifus will focus on picking artists, defining criteria of the art and choosing the appropriate market value to pay for the commissions.

Community discussion regarding waifu art will be welcomed, and there is already a channel in the Yearn Talk Discord server regarding this topic, called #yfi-waifus.

For:
Create yWaifu team and continue the curation of waifu art
Against:
Do nothing

Poll:

  • For
  • Against

0 voters

6 Likes
2

Please feel free to comment here with links to your work / recommended artists.

3

A mascot idea is very welcome, there has been a bit of a vacuum since a certain blue character has been stripped away for promotional souvenirs.

Things to figure out:

  • Each yTeam needs a strong lead. Do you have anyone specific in mind who would be up for the task?
  • Does the yWaifu need a budget? What would be the estimate?
  • Do you have artists in mind? Ideally they need to be DeFi-native, understand the culture well, and be up for longer-term engagements (in case of a mascot).
2 Likes
4

The artwork is cool but I think it has no place in YFI. If the aim is to become the de facto defi asset manager, used by more than just defi degens then this type of artwork should not be part of the branding. I think this kind of artwork alienates traditional finance companies, non crypto-natives and most importantly a large percentage of women.

It would be great to hear what the female members of Yearn feel about this?

9 Likes
5

As a long-time anime fan, I love the waifu art, and love how it’s been a part of yearn for so long. But if we do this, I’d strongly argue we can do it a whole lot better.

Sexy characters and weird anime shit is dope for yearn, but what would be really sexy are more diverse body types and genders. Why does every waifu have to look like a 17 year old cisgen boy’s conception of “hot chick”?

Another point is that this is dope for one demo of yearn, but we need to go mullet on this; biz in the front, waifu in the back. Not saying hide it, but that we have the front part that needs a lot of work too.

10 Likes
6
  1. I’m talking in discord with J, Rum, and Skelectric about this right now. I don’t mind organizing everything, but these guys are superior weebs.
  2. I think this depends on which artist we go with. When I looked it up, you could get pretty good looking custom art for as low as $100, just because there’s so much competition. That’s why I brought up that it would be the team’s duty to find fair market value along with curation. Will discuss with people in #financials as well.
  3. A few artists have been thrown around, but none that stand out in particular. Figured that this post might catch the eyes of the type of artist that you’re mentioning. If that doesn’t happen then it’s probably best to reach out to folks in crypto twitter who post anime content all of the time.
2 Likes
7

This is what I meant by satisfying a more diversified crowd. If we have some sort of artistic direction that considers problems people have with waifus in general, we would be able to stay true to the culture while keeping it appropriate.

I’m all for different genders. I think some of the UI art that was thrown around a while ago had both male and female characters on it. Maybe would be ok to stick to one if that same character stuck around in the future though.

1 Like
8

Personally I’ve never really been into this art style and I will openly admit my opinion is coming from a place of zero knowledge about it. I’d have serious concerns about how it comes across to anyone looking in from the outside. It doesn’t really matter if people don’t ‘get’ it and understand the reasons why it’s not misogynistic or offensive etc. If you have to defend it then you’ve already failed in the court of public opinion.

I certainly wouldn’t have any ‘official’ Yearn marketing use it.

6 Likes
9

I’ve been in YFI from week 1, and I remember the anime waifu period with great fondness. If there is an alt hentai U/I I will be picking that any day.

I also see the need for a good professional U/I - so I strongly support this.

5 Likes
10

Yeah we need to pick one character as a mascot. How about running a competition and getting the holders to vote on the winning style/mascot

1 Like
11

I supported the proposal and would be happy to pitch in a little time on this yTeam if more peeps are needed. I agree that the Waifu theme should be pushed in a more open direction if its a persistent / official Yearn output. I’m sure lots of artists would be open to that.

But anyway this is the part of the proposal that really gets me excited:

… the power to commission and curate art used for marketing purposes.**

Speaking more generally, there are so many possibilities that could arise from leveraging and support ing the growing NFT community. Generating art work that is memetic and provides a positive feedback loop through the crypto space, like the Waifus have, is one. Trad relationships between artists and supporting institutions (i.e. the big corporate collections), should be turned on their heads as long as the future of France is being made, and I think it would be great to see that start here at Yearn in a novel way.

5 Likes
12

Is there a desire to have a mascot due to Doge’s success? In terms of longevity I think branding is important. Some mascots work, some do not. I don’t know much about what you’re talking about, however as long as it doesn’t alienate various market participants it can work. I think gaining the attention o institutions is paramount, and I don’t see any who would jump on a sexy anime character branded coin. Institution have others to answer to, so I’d be a little worried to not take a professional enough approach…

13

Got to echo this opinion. I also don’t ‘get’ this art style, it’s never appealed to me and I personally find some of the genre offensive. I guess that may be because I don’t have the knowledge to understand the style, but neither I nor many others are going to take the time to gain that understanding.

I could possibly see the mullet approach working if combined with the suggested more diverse approach to the art, but am still skeptical it’s a good fit medium-term.

2 Likes
14

I think this would be an excellent example of why we should keep striving to open source the front end UI as much as is feasible.

I’m in agreement with @TheBritCoinGuy, @bamboo, and @hellomoon54321 I’m decidedly against the “Official” UI for YFI being Waifu, but very open to allowing teams the ability to create their own front ends.

Maybe we could have an alternate frontend drop down that could skin yearn.finance based on the users selection (bonus points if it was enabled based on an NFT in their wallet once they connected)

That could create an NFT marketplace for YFI front end skins that Yearn could make a commission on.

3 Likes
15

Nothing financially professional about Waifu art. If that is your hobby or fetish, so be it, but if this community wants to grow and be more inclusive, it’s time to move on. Community needs to make that decision.

4 Likes
16

If you need artists, I have a giant list of NFT anime/manga artists.

Not all anime/manga is waifus, broaden your view if you think there’s something wrong with branding yearn with anime styled imagery.

2 Likes
17

Just to be clear, anime style art I’m all for. @banteg posted a cool mockup for grayscale earlier. I’m just against the focus on big boobed teenage women in seductive poses.

1 Like
18

Sushiswap is already already commissioned sushinobi to make some anime styled artwork, sushinobi also made my profile picture.

There’s nothing wrong with big boobs, but character variation is even better.

Why not make a signature character for every yTeam? Maybe have a specific artist to make few variations of the same character to use in promotional material and infographics.

2 Likes
19

Waifus with big milkers and cute foxears and foxtail yearn style, boomer generation will have to accept it.

1 Like
20

Voted against - while I like the aesthetic personally, I don’t believe Yearn is in a place directionally to assume such a bold image at this juncture. I’d much prefer to see a yMarketing yTeam (as defined in YIP-61), which could first decide on directional branding for Yearn and then commission such a task force, if it aligns with said vision.

1 Like