The Pandimensionals Mission
Yet another NFT project with a “mission”? Yes, yes we are.
NFT projects don’t need a mission to succeed, they don’t need to have lofty ambitions to change the world. Just look at Kevin. So why do I feel the need to tell you about our mission?
It’s simple, I believe in our mission. Long before NFTs, I lived our mission. And now, with NFTs, I’ve found a medium, and a community that can help create more awareness of our mission, and meet people who share my values.
If the project’s missions resonates with you, and can help us unite for a common cause, I’ll be a happy man.
So what is our mission?
We have three missions.
- Protect the environment and make our planet a more beautiful place for our children.
- Reverse the decline of reading for pleasure.
- Built and nurture a community that values inclusivity and diversion.
These missions are completely unrelated. One has no bearing on the other. But, they’re three things that are close to my heart and I’ll tell you why.
Mission 1
Protect the environment and make our planet a more beautiful place for our children.
How: We’ll donate 10% of our mint proceeds, and 10% of our secondary sales proceeds to charities like The Ocean Cleanup. But that’s just the start, we’re mobilising our community to join beach cleans. My wife, son and I are members of our local group, The Dorset Devils, and in summer when the tourists descend, we clean the beaches. We’re encouraging our community to so the same and we’re planning meet-ups around the world to support this initiative.
Why: As a kid, I loved the movie Jaws. I wanted to be Matt Hooper, the Oceanographer played by Richard Dreyfuss. I was, and still am fascinated by marine life and the oceans. Especially sharks. My father took me fishing in rivers, lakes and the Irish Sea, where I soon learned that I don’t like boats. I get terrible sea sickness. So, when my school’s career advisor asked me what career I’d like to pursue, and I told her about my experience, she recommended I take a desk job. And here I am, 30 years later, a designer and artist. But that passion has never left me. I live in Bournemouth, we have miles of golden sand beaches and some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. We’re at the gateway to the famous Jurassic Coast. It pains me to see the beautiful coastline covered in litter. But I don’t just want to protect my local environment, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is something that humanity should be ashamed of. Tackling the cause is the sensible approach, but we also need to tackle the symptoms, and that’s what The Ocean Cleanup is doing.
Mission 2
Reverse the decline of reading for pleasure.
Why: Research into children’s reading habits during 2020 has found a steep decline in the number of children reading for pleasure since 2012 as, more than ever, children are choosing screens over books.
The research, by Nielsen Book ‘Understanding the Children’s Book Consumer’ 2012–2020, and shared by publisher Farshore (formerly Egmont UK), shows that only 23% of 0–17s read for pleasure ‘daily or nearly every day’, down from 26% in 2019 and 38% in 2012.
Meanwhile, the number of children who read for pleasure ‘never or rarely’ has grown from 13% of children in 2012 to 20% in 2020. And while more than half (56%) of children aged eight to ten years — a key reading age — read for pleasure in 2012, that was cut to one third by 2020.
Should the decline continue, Alison David, consumer insights director at Farshore, predicts that by 2025, just 25% of children aged eight to ten years will read for pleasure daily.
As a child I loved reading, and still do. I probably read 20–30 fiction books a year. I mainly read science-fiction, I love the escapism, I love the tech that writers devise, and I love how sci-fi explores so many themes. I particularly love outlandish visions of the future in stories like Dune and Foundation. I grew up reading Roald Dahl, Arthur Ransom, J.R.R. Tolkien, Anne Rice, David Eddings, Willard Price, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Shaun Hudson, James Herbert and comics like The Beano and Judge Dredd — perhaps you can see some of their influences in The Pandimensionals.
Reading is one of my biggest pleasures. And it pains me to think that others don’t enjoy this simplest of pleasures. My wife and I read to my son every night, from age 0 to around the age of 12. We believe this had a huge impact on his educational development (straight As at GCSE and A-Levels, and now studying Psychology at a Russell Group university in the UK proves my hypothesis).
How: I’m not suggesting for one minute that our NFTs will reverse the decline of reading for pleasure in children. But, did you know that every Pandimensional NFT holder will receive all three books in the Broadcliffs Saga written by co-founder Ulysees Funk (aka Sam Banfield a published author of children’s books). Not only that, we’re giving all holders a picture story book which tells the origin story of the Phanackapans — the main characters in our first NFT collection. We’re also gamifying the stories by hiding secret content on our website that only NFT holders can access; content that will give the super-fans more back-story and side-stories that compliment the books. Just like the Lord of the Rings or Matrix DVD extras.
When I first pitched the idea of the Pandimensionals to our other co-founder, Darrly Sparey, I told him we wanted to the the Tolkein of the NFT world. I wasn’t joking. Sam has created a whole universe and has years worth of work, as yet unpublished. So, if we can blend the excitement and innovation of web3 technology, digital art, the joy of reading and perhaps even games, to create a whole new way of consuming content, we hope in some way we can make reading cool again.
Mission 3
Built and nurture a community that values inclusivity and diversion
Why: We’ve probably all faced some form of discrimination in our lives. Others have felt it more than others. There’s no place for racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, ableism, or any other type of discrimination in the world today. I firmly believe that our differences should be celebrated. None of us are born with beliefs that can be defined as discrimination, we learn them. So, it stands to reason those beliefs can be unlearned. I don’t believe anyone should be bullied or mistreated because they’re different to you, or don’t meet what you perceive to be “societal norms”. I stand up for anyone who is treated unfairly, and hold a deep disrespect for those directing hate towards others for no other reason than them “being different to me”.
How: The Pandimensionals collection has over 300 traits. We’ve designed them to represent many faiths, cultures, ethnicities, sexuality’s and genders. We want our collection to represent everyone, and for holders to feel included. We won’t tolerate any form of discrimination. And if that’s a problem for someone, I genuinely feel sorry.
Join the Tribe
If you’d like to join the Pandimensionals and help support their missions, visit pandimensionals.io for more details
