First and foremost, its good that the precautions are taken in order to prevent this from happening again, and I truly appreciate the time and effort Ren has poured into this writeup.
That said, if you may, allow me to give some of my thoughts with regard to the writeup. And please don't take the following as personal attack, I'm merely inputting my own thoughts as objectively as I could, not to rant on a set that I don't like, nor it may seem that I'm against an author, but because I want the community to thrive, in a more healthy manner, just like everyone else.
I've refrained from saying anything up to this point because I like my actions to speak louder than my words, but I think it's appropriate to give my thoughts here given the discussion that's been happening.
This is a very interesting take because, again, from my humble point of view, when there are dozens of ICs Ren is running at the moment, and that the 2 sets that came out from the factory has encountered a off color issue; isn't that it is alarming enough for an author to step up and clarify what steps should be taken and explain to his supporters and potential supporters that why the other sets of his will not face similar ordeal?
I've been saying, its not whether the set came out looking good or not, its the attitude and quality the author is bound to uphold to make his supporters feel ensured and have faith on him. It's a group buy, if, given the aforementioned situation, one would still want to commit to a motto - action speaks louder than voice, does that mean the supporters or potential supporters would have to take risk for the future sets Ren is willing to run? That doesn't sound logical to me, neither it is the proper way to handle the matter.
I've been observing from the first day when Louis posted the picture and part of the community immediately blew up because the colors were very different from render in the picture. I'm not sure by that time, had Ren personally seen the set already. But if he did, how hard was it to say its different from renders due to the darker/more vibrant/more saturated taste? But rather, Ren, correct me if I am wrong, explained renders are not always 100%, pictures were not properly taken because of lightings, believed it captured the essence of the vision. Up to this moment, Ren admitted its not the same as render and might I quote: "For Peaches n Cream, I can admit where I made a mistake."
I think as a consumer, I would rather you take the responsibility at the very beginning when you realized what's really going on. Just as I said, it's not about how good looking it turns out, but the attitude and quality you should uphold because the renders were the only thing that made this a reality, not the final set.
On the subject of renders... someone earlier brought up Apple. You should check out the renders of products they release before and after the product ships. You might be surprised.
I chuckled when I saw this because the analogy I made was not about whether the actual product made by Apple = the renders they made; instead, if anyone needs more enlightenment on this manner, is that of the concept - bait and switch.
And again, I wouldn't want anyone to take this personally, especially Ren. I'm saying this is a bait and switch because it is. As mentioned in the discussion before, the end product is different from what was proposed. If colors of keyset is just a peripheral additional like the colors of airpods, I wouldn't have any problem with it if the colors turned out looking bad because the main product isn't airpod's colors, but the quality of the sound and the comfortness when you wear it.
The problem is, colors of a keyset are the soul, essence of the set. It is what makes people dig the idea, it is what people gonna look at on their keyboard, it IS the crux of the whole project. It's not like you mess up the drawing of the bandarole, its the colors of the keyset man.
I also think that some people here are overreacting. The set is hard to photograph and some people haven't seen the set in person, and are comparing it to sets that matched much worse.
So are people overreacting? or should the question be, should people overreact?
In my humble opinion, I don't think people should overreact. But consumers who supported the set have a right to voice out their concerns when the set is not looking like the same as what they had hoped for. So is voicing out their concerns an overreaction? No, because keyset author is well paid to do their job.
Was the set difficult to shoot?
Probably.
Is the colors off?
According to Ren, yes.
Did you see it in person?
Yes.
So I believe I have the right to voice out and not counted as overreacting?
- Announce RAL colors ahead of time, so customers can validate the color choices based on their own perceptions if they so desire. Renders are never going to be 1:1, but this will let people get an even better idea.
It's nice to hear the precautions and steps taken to ensure similar ordeal from happening. What I'm more concerned with this quote though is that the logic of color sampling before GB and upon IC is that you could communicate with your render guy in order to faithfully reflect your vision with the renders. The way Ren expressed it made me wonder -- "So when the renders were made, Ren didn't even think of the pantone code / RAL code when communicating with the render guy?"
That seems to me a bit too...if I may, causal. Renders are, possibly the most important factor in an IC because beside the sample chip, color codes, it is the best representation of the end product before it is produced.
Sample chips?
it depends on how well you take the picture;
Color codes?
People would have to do the imagination without renders.
I cannot imagine one was taking this lightly considering how much investment were in the line; not to mention, again, author is well paid not only because of the exquisite design, but also his ability. But of course, an argument cannot be built upon a speculation, so I could only imagine.
"...if they so desire"
As if Ren is reluctant to do so. It'd be rude to say this but the way it is expressed leave sour taste in mouth. Isn't it the responsibility of the runner of GBs to ensure his supporters of what they are getting into? Supporters are entitled to know as much as they could before they enter the GB because of the nature of this whole thing works. Consumers are paying full price upfront only because of several renders, updates, communications, but not the actual product. Why sounds so salty? Yikes.
...we'll probably ask for the lighter colors we chose from the pantones. (GMK Pale Peaches?)
Let us revisit the renders.
Not sure what Ren wants to achieve with that name, but to me, this was what PnC suppose to be. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm taking time to do this, again, not because I have so much time I want to rant on a set and bash the author to mud, but because I was extremely excited to receive the set and left equally disappointed when I received it, and got further depressed when seeing how Ren handled the matter.
With that many discussions above, let me reorganized my humble views.
- it's not about how good it turned out; its about the process, the choice making and the responsibility to the supporters
- it's not about hitting the proposed concepts / renders 1:1, but rather, faithfully following that path you set, not the vision you changed afterwards
Edit: forgot an argument, gotta add it back