Design with Community in Mind: Cabin Core Contributor Mel Shields

“We’re in cool times man,” Mel exclaims as we discuss the collective excitement so many of us are feeling about web3 right now.

Well before she was a core contributor for Cabin, she was a teenage artist living in North Carolina.  Seeing the upwards velocity of tech, her mom suggested she combine her talents. Mel made a career as a UI/UX designer and currently works at Sleepme, parent company to ChiliSleep.

Since joining Cabin DAO a few months ago, Mel has jumped on nearly every project related to design; she collaborated with Jon on the treasure chest, worked with Zakk on the first version of NFT passports, and is currently redesigning the existing website. Given all her hard work, Mel became a valued member of the DAO and took on the role of Pixel Mage aka Head of Product & Design.

I asked Mel what she thinks the overall aesthetic vision for Cabin DAO looks like in the future.  She expressed that branding a DAO is a much bigger challenge than a typical LLC.

“DAOs are their community and as that community grows and changes over time the brand must be able to have the flexibility to ebb and flow along the way. We may find that it's more about curation of an aesthetic rather than a top down identity. We're trying to take it step by step as we're building new systems of thinking and looking at things with a whole new light.”

With decentralization of brand and power in mind, Mel hopes for Cabin’s content to be a curated feed rather than an exact style and branding guide. Cabin’s unique brand is an amalgam of the space: there’s so many varied styles and stories from around the globe.

Because we’re in such a new space, Mel thinks there’s no reason to have an exact grand vision. Rather, we should push the limits and explore.

In 2022, Cabin hopes to focus on becoming the physical place for DAOs to meet up, hang out, and get work done. As Pixel Mage, Mel wants her biggest contributions to be solidifying the initial aesthetic and providing the tools and resources to make it easy for others to start contributing and evolve the brand over time.


Cabin is always looking for talented designers to complete paid bounties.

Reach out to Mel on Twitter.

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