Project Intro
History is A&E Network’s flagship television channel and one of the most popular channels on TV, with broadcasts that reach to nearly 100 million households in the United States and millions more abroad.
In 2022, History sought to make, ahem, history by opening an NFT marketplace to sell original artwork accompaniments to their most popular series, including Alone, Ancient Aliens, The Curse of Oak Island, and The Proof is Out There. Teaming up with History, CMYK designed and developed a microsite landing experience to market the NFTs and educate users on the technology behind them, and to serve as a throughway to the Xooa-hosted marketplace itself where users could see details on each NFT drops and make purchases.
highlights
But our involvement didn’t stop there: we were also responsible for designing, photographing, animating, and, in some cases, physically building the artwork that would become the tokens for sale!
For Ancient Aliens, our outstanding design team created two generative Alien PFP projects. The 8-bit style collection (inspired by the OG Cryptopunks) was a hit, and completely sold out.
We also thread the needle and appealed to both Alien fanatics and History buffs by enlisting our talented friend Barry Bruner to create a series of alien portraits in the iconic styles of artists throughout history, including Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
For The Proof is Out There, we re-created some of the most famous cryptid photographs, including shots of Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, and turned the images into 3D graphics that spin and undulate on screen. Our drop for Oak Island consisted of a custom-made and highly detailed illustrated map, complete with hidden codes which can be assembled to solve a cipher and reveal a treasure, playing off of the series subject matter.
And for Alone, our resident craftswoman Alexes McLaughlin (and head of production and senior account manager) constructed two charming forest dwellings out of pretzels, fondant, and found objects, which we photographed and overlaid visual effects, such a smoke rising from a chimney and stars twinkling in the background to bring the settings to life.
Thanks to our team’s pioneering work on this project, CMYK Cofounder & Head of Design Adam Scher was invited to speak on the Main Stage at NFT NYC 2023. There he presented some of the challenges faced by media brands like History as they navigate the wild west of NFT marketing, and the creative solutions CMYK used to overcome them.
Check out the recap & cliff notes of Adam’s presentation at NFT NYC on our blog.
Adam Scher presenting on the Main Stage, NFT NYC 2023
