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How Koto made the machine economy legible

MachineX, branding by studio Koto, US

US – Creative studio Koto has unveiled a brand evolution for MachineX, a decentralised exchange built on blockchain that enables humans and machines to trade assets. For this project, the challenge was to translate a technically complex proposition into something culturally legible and emotionally resonant.

Anchored by the idea of ‘human x machine’, a key theme explored in our The Synthocene Era: Merging Human and Machine Intelligence report, the identity is conceived as an entire brand worldview.

At its centre is Dexter, a robot mascot that gives the exchange a recognisable character across illustration and motion. A sculptural all-caps serif wordmark, high-contrast digital palette and dynamic motion system positions machines as visible, characterful participants as opposed to invisible infrastructure.

Decentralised web3 exchanges such as MachineX remain abstract for many audiences and are often rendered through visual languages that emphasise complexity. Koto’s decision to create a retro-futurist world inspired by classic science fiction reframes the machine economy as something culturally intelligible.

The introduction of a humanoid, playful mascot gives an otherwise invisible system a recognisable point of emotional entry, making machine-to-machine trade feel graspable, characterful and human-facing.

Strategic opportunity

How can your brand use worldbuilding, character and narrative systems to make complex technologies legible, emotionally accessible and culturally grounded?

Why the V&A is adding YouTube’s first upload to its collection

Jawed Karim’s Me at the zoo on YouTube, Design 1900-Now gallery at V&A South Kensington, UK

UK – London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has acquired the earliest available YouTube watch. ‘Me at the zoo’ was posted by Jawed Karim at San Diego Zoo and marked a pivotal shift from the read-only web to web 2.0's participatory culture. Originally uploaded on 23 April 2005, the video signalled a new era of user-generated multimedia, social interaction and collaboration.

Founded in February 2005 by former PayPal employees, including Karim,
it was acquired by Google for £1.2bn ($1.6bn, €1.4bn) in October 2006 (source: Google).

YouTube rapidly became the second- most visited website globally. Its lightweight interface – logo top left, embedded player, comments below and related videos alongside – established interaction design patterns still embedded in platform culture today.

The V&A has reconstructed this watch page using code from the Internet Archive and a Flash emulator, thereby preserving the design logic that underpinned the rise of the creator economy and platform capitalism. The YouTube watch page is on display at V&A South Kensington as part of the Design 1900–Now gallery and at the V&A East Storehouse.

Future-forward museums are evolving beyond collecting physical artefacts to reconstruct and conserve the platforms and interfaces that shaped the early internet, ensuring future generations can study the design systems underpinning today’s digital culture. Learn more in our Preserving Digital Legacies report.

Strategic opportunity

As technology rapidly advances, consider how you archive and exhibit your own platform histories – from early websites to beta products – transforming legacy UX, code and community milestones into assets that build nostalgia and long-term cultural capital

Stat: Economic anxiety outranks politics across sub-Saharan Africa

House of Aama, Salt Water 2022. Photography by Myles Loftin

Africa – Economic wellbeing is now the leading concern for people across sub-Saharan Africa, with nearly a quarter ranking it as their country’s biggest national issue, according to a recent Gallup survey reported by Semafor.

Despite ongoing political instability in the region, including military coups and disputed elections, only 6% of respondents prioritised governance and democratic institutions. Economic pressures far outweigh political fears.

Women in the region report significantly higher levels of anxiety than men and, in several countries, are at least 10 percentage points more likely to cite economic hardship as the primary national challenge.

The findings reflect stark realities: Madagascar and Malawi rank among the world’s 10 poorest countries by GDP per capita, while Nigeria has the largest number of people living in poverty globally. In Nigeria, reforms such as the removal of fuel and electricity subsidies have driven inflation and intensified a cost-of-living crisis. Zambia, which defaulted on sovereign debt in 2020, is also under strain, with more than six in 10 citizens living below the poverty line.

While Africa’s growth is forecast to outpace Asia’s this year, sentiments point to a widening gap between global narratives of optimism and promise and the realities of everyday lived experience.

Our Gen Z: Global Youth Atlas report explores how young people in Nigeria and Kenya perceive the economy and unpacks their lifestyles and behaviours, analysing what this means for businesses seeking to earn their trust and to be relevant.

Strategic opportunity

Facilitate civic participation platforms that help communities organise, pool resources and advocate locally, positioning your brand as an enabler of collective agency in times of economic hardship