Founded in 2020, DUX (from Latin, “leader”) is a company focused on onboarding to Web3, with the mission to “promote a profound socioeconomic transformation in LATAM through the technological empowerment of our user base and innovations in the Web3 economy.”
I joined DUX in 2022 as part of a team aimed at uniting two brands – DUX Crypto and DUX Games – under a single umbrella, developing a new visual identity and a brandbook. After discussing with the company’s founders, we decided to shift our brand focus to the revolutionary potential that blockchain and new technologies associated with Web3 offered.
In this context, we made a significant and unprecedented change for me: we redefined the name DUX, abandoning the idea of leadership and transforming it into an acronym for “Decentralizing User eXperience” (noting that the use of “X” as the initial for “experience” is common in the tech industry).
At that time, DUX was responsible for eight play-to-earn gaming communities. Recognizing the importance of communities as one of the main trends in Web3, we moved away from positioning ourselves as leaders at the forefront of a group and positioned ourselves as part of the community, the group, the horde, thereby adopting a sense of belonging. We changed the company’s tone of voice to the first person plural, we, also acknowledging that, beyond the communities we managed, we had a significant strength in the quality of our team and the people that made up DUX, we are DUX.
Having completed the work, the team disbanded and I took on the role of Creative Director. Throughout 2022, DUX faced the instability of NFTs, the launch of its token, and the decline of gaming communities. As the leading Web3 startup in Latin America, we remained steadfast in our mission to promote onboarding in Web3 and explore the positive new possibilities that emerging technologies offer. Amidst the pessimism and dystopian forecasts from the more conservative voices, DUX has always positioned itself as a PIONEERING brand.
WITHIN THIS CONTEXT, THE WTFDUX CAMPAIGN EMERGED, A PLAYFUL PHRASE WE USED SINCE MY EARLY DAYS: “WHAT THE FUCK IS DUX?” THE ANSWER? THE COMMUNITY, THE TEAM, THE PEOPLE – US. “WE ARE DUX.”
The campaign featured our Head of Marketing: Júlia Audi; The video also featured Narrator and Editor Fabrício BRK and Designer Gustavo Lima.
In 2024, we entered a new phase. Together with the founders and following the evolution of the company’s business model, I decided it was time to abandon the distinctive aesthetics of Web3 and embrace a new world. Thinking about the mission to demystify the positive possibilities of new technologies in the dystopian world we live in, I evolved the brand book to something cleaner, with fewer textures and more white space. I created a complementary color palette, completed the typographic family, and, most importantly, brought people into our universe. Faces, creators, clients, and stories.
DUX is now a FinTech that addresses the pain points of the creative economy while providing unique opportunities for RWAs to global investors. DUX transforms communities into Real World Assets, helping to boost the careers of streamers, artists, and content creators in general.
