4 Things to Consider Before Launching an NFT Collection

Perhaps you’ve seen some NFTs floating around, as Twitter profile pictures, on platforms like ours, or shared between friends and you’re curious to try your hand. 

Maybe you’re an aspiring artist interested in embarking on a creative project. Or, you’re an influencer interested in building a creative narrative that your followers can own a piece of. Whatever your story, launching an NFT collection can be an incredible opportunity to embark on a uniquely digital artistic journey and connect with your community in a whole new way. 

Mind you, a successful launch is no small task. It often requires several unique considerations that a traditional art collection may not have. What makes an NFT project so special is the entire experience built around it: the digital assets, the Tweets, the landing page, the community, the perks, etc. The process may be daunting, but it can be incredibly rewarding. 

Before you launch your first collection, here are four things you should consider: 

Narrative

To start building that narrative, consider developing common threads between each piece - a cohesive design style, repeating elements, recognizable characters. These threads will not only bring cohesion to the project but will help build a signature brand with familiarity and distinguishability that community members can rally around. Many NFT artists elect to include consistent color schemes and textures in each collection piece, some great examples include 0xDrip and Mutable Self. 

If you are interested in developing a character collection, consider what elements you might include to craft a signature look. For inspiration, take a look at some of the most identifiable character brands on Solana such as Galactic Geckos with their staple eyewear and reptilian heads or Aurory with their humanoid figures and unique accessories.

Interactive

An NFT Collection doesn’t have to be static! Consider crafting a story or building a fantasy world in which the characters are assets. Check out 169 Pixel Gang, a project featuring collections of purchasable characters that will be featured in an animated sitcom funded exclusively by holders. Fans have a chance to own and directly contribute to the production of the show. Offering incentives to holders is another great way to build a community around the collection and add value to its pieces. This could look like offering IRL incentives (event tickets, merch, etc.), access to exclusive digital experiences, active ownership in project-funded items, or membership in a flourishing online community.

Presence 

Prior to launching, you will want to leverage your networks to get the word out about your collection. Utilise Twitter and grow a pre-launch following. You’ll want your narrative to really shine through here: tell a story with your tweets, post-launch date countdowns, or hype up rare pieces in the project to grow brand interest. Consider tapping into your personal and secondary networks to help build your following - you never know who might be interested! 

Get people talking, and not just to you! Find ambassadors willing to spread the word organically and build interest in your work. Consider establishing a community on Discord where enthusiasts can gather to meet, share memes, and discuss your upcoming launch. You can bring your work to life by empowering holders to engage with one another. You are creating a community experience, after all!

Logistics

NFTs are not just pictures, they are digital assets stored on-chain, so they have some unique properties you will want to think about as you design your project. For instance, will you release your NFT in batches? What’s your collection size? How many will each user be allowed to mint? 

If you are going to have users mint randomized and unique characters, for example, you will need to decide how many total NFTs you’d like to have in circulation. This number will be partially dependent on the number of feature combinations you can make (you don’t want to mint duplicates!).