Interesting retrospective on the bitcoinforsignal.com campaign from last month.
Design was a major emphasis for this campaign. We believe a large part of its success came from presenting the idea elegantly and professionally.
There is something to be said for dressing the part: a highly polished campaign is probably a better way to catch the eyeballs of mainstream users and media, while a github project might get more traction among cashu devs.
- Presentation matters more than people admit. The same idea packaged poorly would have gone nowhere. Taking the time to make it look like it already belonged in Signal made people take it seriously.
- Borrowing brand language is powerful when done respectfully. We weren't trying to trick anyone into thinking this was official. But by using Signal's colors and design patterns, we made the integration feel inevitable rather than hypothetical.
- Hackathon projects can become real campaigns. The devs built something functional in a weekend. We wrapped it in a story and a visual identity. That combination of working code plus clear communication is what made this resonate.