👋 Hi there!
My name is Adrian AF & besides posing in front of air conditioners I'm also the creator of the DEADPXLZ project.
I am - among other things - a designer, programmer & product manager based in Bucharest who enjoys making cool stuff.
The idea for the DEADPXLZ NFT collectibles project came as a natural response upon discovering the Cardano ecosystem and the amazing community which drives it.
📖 The DEADPXLZ story
🤩 I was instantly sold on Cardano's promise. I decided to support this space by setting up my own staking pool and immediately started working on what would become the 10,000 PXLZ NFT collection.
I wanted to create something truly unique so I gave up on the idea of just making another digital art NFT and started looking towards more interactive options.
So I decided to flex the old developer muscle and came up with the concept for web-based NFTs.
I gave a lot of thought to what holding a PXL NFT would mean by not only focusing on the cool visuals, but also looking at the end-user experience.
😤 A few things bothered me.
Why on earth would you need to visit a 3rd party marketplace or blockchain explorer in order to check your token's stats? Isn't that the opposite of decentralization?
I discovered that by taking full advantage of what web pages have to offer, I could embed each PXL's stats into itself indefinitely. PXL holders could then show off their cool rare stats faster and in a less awkward way.
✅ Okay - problem solved!
🤬 But then I stumbled upon another awkward UX issue.
A Cardano NFT is essentially a native token (point A) that you hold in your crypto wallet which is inextricably bound to an underlying asset (point B). But then what value does this bring to me as a user if I can't easily get from A to B!?
🚗 Getting from A to B
While working on making the W2A (wallet to asset) user journey short & sweet I created the PXL EXPLORER where a PXL holder could easily get to their NFT's underlying asset. They would only need to search for it by its unique ID. The explorer would also acts as a one-stop-shop for anyone interested in discovering the PXLZ collection & token scarcity.
But constantly having to visit a website in order to find and showcase an asset that you own can be frustrating so I took things one step further.
I made it so that you have to visit the website ONLY ONE TIME.
Once you find your PXL on the PXL EXPLORER you only need to tap it to make it open up in a new page!
More!
By using the magic of the new-age web I was then able to make it so that you can actually install your PXL NFT on your device, be it phone, tablet or PC, regardless of the operating system.
This brings your asset directly on the home screen and it'll always be only a tap away essentially solving the Wallet 2 Asset UX problem.
🔮 What's next?
Now that you know how the DEADPXLZ project came to life, I'll let you in on a little secret.
The journey doesn't end here. As part of the first Plutus Pioneers I know that once smart contracts go live on the Cardano Mainnet, a whole new world of possibilities will open up to the public.
What if I told you that you don't need a marketplace to sell or buy NFTs?
What if (by some sort of hocus-pocus) you could actually bid on, buy or sell non-fungibles in a completely decentralized way?
But I'm getting ahead of myself...
Until then, make sure to join the official PXLZ channels to stay up to date with the latest on the upcoming sale events, interact with the community and ask any questions you want:
You can also check out the PXLZ FAQ or USE CASES pages for a more comprehensive DEADPXLZ guide.
Don't be shy & drop a line at 📩 help@pxlz.org
🍻 Cheers!
-AF