{"id":19196,"date":"2021-12-14T17:41:48","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T22:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/?p=19196"},"modified":"2021-12-14T17:41:48","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T22:41:48","slug":"nfts-future-of-graphic-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/originals\/nfts-future-of-graphic-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratized or Devalued? NFTs and the Future of Design"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

How much would someone pay for a piece of art that could never hang in the halls of a museum or even grace a living room wall? Is there any way to ensure authenticity in the age of copy and paste? Will digital marketplaces democratize or devalue the work of designers and artists?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These questions have surfaced recently alongside the swift rise of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the finer points of NFTs and how they truly function can seem difficult to grasp, they\u2019ve nevertheless fueled a reckoning over the ownership of digital assets. They\u2019re also opening up new ways for creators to have a say in the sale and distribution of their works. And it seems now is as good a time as ever for these discussions, as the NFT boom has played out over a period during which nearly all of our interactions with art come online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just headline-grabbing price tags and pixelated social media avatars<\/a> that are at stake, though\u2014the whirlwind emergence of NFTs is sending ripple effects through the design world. From newfound audiences for obscure digital collectibles to marketplaces that put power in the hands of designers, follow along to take a deeper dive into how NFTs are shifting design and explore the platforms that can help you get involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NFT 101<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So what, exactly, is an NFT? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concept of a non-fungible token is, at its root, more intuitive than the name might lead on. Let\u2019s start with the basics: While fungible items, such as a dollar, can be traded for their exact value by simply picking up any other dollar, non-fungible<\/em> means<\/a> something is original and therefore unable to be exchanged with something else. Where creative works are concerned, non-fungibility is an especially useful term in that it denotes uniqueness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NFTs are stored in digital wallets attached to a secure blockchain, much like the cryptocurrencies (or digital money) used to buy them. While the first non-fungible tokens sprang up in 2015, they rose to popularity more recently as Ethereum, the cryptocurrency with which most NFTs are purchased, inched its way into the mainstream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n