My thoughts as a gay guy:
I would like to see what someone who is actually an LGBTQ+ person thinks about the novelties.
I agree with what others have said that the novelties are a bit narrow in their representation of gender. Can women not wear pants? Is a person that wears a dress necessarily a woman? Can a person only be a man, a woman, or one third gender in the middle? Also, visually, they really do give off a 'bathroom' vibe that is separately off-putting to me. I think the "out and proud" enter is okay. "Love is love" would be worth considering as well. The former is more about pride and the latter is more about LGBTQ+ equality / marriage equity. Regarding the "+" novelty, I think the thought is in the right place, but I find it visually uninteresting. Regarding the gender symbol novelties, I would scrap them as well. In addition to not including the hybrid gender symbols which include features of both the gender binary male and female symbols, they still are evocative of the gender binary that is somewhat counter to the set's theme. I am by no means a graphic designer, so while I feel qualified to say that the novelties aren't hitting the mark, I'm not at all qualified to offer a better alternative, which I admit isn't super helpful.
this seems like a blatant cash grab on top of exploiting the lgbtq community
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sus af
totally 1000% agree. The fact that this set dosnt contribute any funds to any sort of charity out the gate is a huge red flag.
However I will say that whether or not OP is LGTBQ shouldnt matter at all if hes making this keycap set. "You can only participate in pride if you're one of us" is such a stupid thiughtprocess and not how you advance your cause
It is always a little suspicious when a new account launches an IC. I agree that it is particularly off-putting in this case for the aforementioned reasons. If the theme of the set is support for the LGBTQ+ community, at least some significant portion of the profits should follow suit. If it were just a rainbow colored set, it would be different. However, because OP is going with an LGBTQ+ support theme, I would find it disingenuous if a portion of the profits do not go to an LGBTQ+ supporting charity.
I agree that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with OP not being a member of the LGBTQ+ community. You absolutely do not have to be LGBTQ+ to be an ally or advocate. That being said, being a good ally does require some work. The initial name of the set, the novelties, the low-effort description in the original post, and the lack of profit donation to me indicate that OP did not make an effort to consult with any LGBTQ+ people before posting the IC.
As a gay person myself, I think the novelties are lacking a lot. The out and proud is okay but the man, woman, and then gender neutral symbols remind me of a bathroom stall. I think there's a lot more to the LGBTQ+ community then just the fact that we are attracted to the same gender. There's a lot of vibrant culture and art and I think if you should get a queer artist to design some novelties that better represent us and the joy of PRIDE. I think overall from design, execution, proceeds, this needs to involve actual queer people. I appreciate that your heart is in the right place but it's reading a bit off and bit of a saviour complex to me
+1. Definitely recommend consulting with LGBTQ+ designers for the novelties. They really need to be re-done.
On to my other thoughts:
1.) LGBTQ+ issues aside, I have a significant plagiarism concern. Signature Plasics has for a long time made a set called "DSA 'Rainbow." This is the exact same layout of keycap colors with white double-shot legends instead of black sublimation. I do realize, as has been said in other IC's, that similarity is inevitable as there are only so many colors and we will eventually reach a point where there aren't many new color combinations. That being said, whether intentional or not, this is extremely similar to the Signature Plastics set in a way that makes me a little uncomfortable.
2.) The set isn't my aesthetic. There is nothing wrong with this, obviously. I think the pride flag can be a difficult thing to work with when designing. I personally bought GMK Midnight Rainbow to be my personal pride set, as it's subdued character is much more my taste. The annual Nike Be True collection is released each June by Nike, and similarly features a lot of black and more subdued use of the rainbow that I personally think is more elegant. Importantly, Nike financially supports LGBTQ+ groups. If profit donation is added and the novelties are appropriately updated, I'll buy this set anyway though.
3.) You need a blue R4 1u Fn key for HHKB/split right shift. For a set like this, it's very important that you are careful to include enough keycaps to maintain the alignment of colors. Even though R4 profile is used in two rows, you can't mix and match them because of the color.
4.) Generally, try to include more detailed color information. Not doing so makes your IC look a little under-baked/rushed. Especially because of how many colors are used here, try to include color codes for stock colors, pantone colors for anything custom, etc.
5.) One more thing about the novelties: where are they supposed to go? Are all of the red ones supposed to go in the function row and all of the orange ones supposed to go in the number row? Does that mean they're all R1 profile? This is a separate issue from the appropriateness of the legends. None of them are purple, so none of them are well suited to the bottom row. Personally I almost only ever put my novelties on the bottom row or as my escape key.
6.) Hot take: cut out the numpad support. Maybe it's just me, but I've never used any of my GMK numpad keycaps, even though every set I own includes them. In this case, I think it's a very logical thing to cut. The add and enter keys for the numpad to not fit into the color rows that are so central to this set's design. It looks weird, and for that reason I wouldn't put this set on a full-size board even if I owned one. Furthermore, cutting out the numpad may help to offset the cost of using so many colors.
7.) ISO users please weigh in here: would you use this knowing the enter key won't align with the color rows? I feel like I couldn't live with that for similar reasons to my thoughts on the numpad, which leads me to say it should be cut, but I am an ANSI user so shouldn't speak on your behalf.
I know that was a lot. I think this set has a lot of potential, but it also needs a lot of work. Thank you for attending my TED Talk.
