[IC] SA A History of Violets - Feedback and proposal submitted to vendor

[Piperaceae]

SA A History of Violets

January 2025: I've collected and sent along all of the responses to the feedback form to the vendor I'd like to work with, along with updated kitting and new renders. I cut most of the sets that didn't reach the 25% threshold, and combined some that were on the cusp. For the ergo kit, I've proposed two alternatives - a full standalone ergo base that absorbs the monolegend alpha kit (similar to GMK Arch), or the same individual ergo mod and monolegend alpha kits seen here in the IC. For the latter, it's possible the mods may run while the alphas don't. We'll see what happens! I also proposed a 25% smaller NorDe kit without tertiary legends, should an EU vendor want it anyway despite its poor IC performance.


Feedback Form Link


Vendors
TBD
I'm hoping to offer this once again through SPKeyboards, and their growing network of international partners. SP has of late been working with proxies in the EU, UK, and other locales to make overseas purchases easier.


Background
11 12 13 kits? In this economy?
Buckle up, folks. This is a biggie.

This wasn't the set I thought I was going to try to run next. I've been challenging myself to create a quickie design a couple times a week, based on silly names I come up with. One recent one was "Cream of Cadet," which spawned the idea for a low-contrast, beige-on-cream cadet set.

While I was messing around with that and trying to make it more legible, I started fondly remembering the old Violet on Cream rounds, and came up with a name for another purple set, "A History of Violets." (Get it? Like that David Cronenberg film from 20 years ago? Sigh.)

Drawing influence from the movie's mood, I went dark; using two similar shades of deep purple, with cream's presence reduced to just the legends and accents. And you know what? I liked the results. A lot. And I felt like other people might, too. So I pushed this ahead of multiple other projects, and I'm presenting it now.

Yes, it could be said this is just Cream on Violet, instead of Violet on Cream. But there are a LOT of shades of violet, and the two used here are nowhere close to VoC's.


Violet on Cream (left) vs A History of Violets (right), both using identical legends. Render colors sourced from Signature Plastics's own provided hex values.

Since I was now making something of a 2014 throwback set anyway, I thought why not try to design and include ALL the niche kits you'd see offered back in the day? After all, Symbiosis had 20 kits! So I looked at every feasible request anyone had ever made of my previous designs, and drew them up.

And I mean EVERY one. It's up to you if ANY of these kits get made, but let no one say I didn't try.

To sum up - this looks good, no one owns the concept of purple (except maybe Grimace), and it's been too long since we got purple, cadet legends, ostentatiously comprehensive kitting, and Signature Plastics's quality all together to party. Let's do this.


Colors
All colors are Signature Plastics stock resins.

REC Purple alphas
RFH Violet mods
WCK Cream legends
Accent keys are WCK with RFH legends





Dates
TBD, but probably shipping about 2.5-4 months after going on sale, given how long recent sets have taken to produce. SP has been getting busier again, but so far they've kept up, and maintained a quick turnaround time.


Pricing
Extended Base: TBD
Numpad: TBD
40s/Ortho: TBD
NorDe: TBD
Cream Alert: TBD
ErgoDox: TBD
Mac: TBD
Typist: TBD
Macro: TBD
LED: TBD
Monolegend: TBD
Novelties: TBD
VimCaps: TBD


Kitting
Extended Base

Includes UK ISO, basic 40's, split spacebars, and HHKB support. Calling this the Extended Base because it contains many keys usually relegated to an extension kit.

Numpad

Includes four R1 cadet numeral keys for 108-key layouts, like the Keychron Q6.

40's / Ortho

Includes 2x 1u, 1.25u, 1.5u, 1.75u, and 3u bars, plus an additional 2u. (2u, 2.25u, and 2.75u bars are in the base already, along with 4-key 40's.)

NorDe

Z and Y have cadet legends (the same pairings as their Qwerty counterparts). Number and symbol keys feature tertiary legends where applicable.

Cream Alert Accent Row


ErgoDox / Boardwalk / Promenade

ErgoDox keys with retro nonsense legends drawn from old Rounds runs.

Mac

Includes Cmd/Opt mods, function row, 1.75u R3 Caps Lock replacements, and Apple's weird UK ISO keys.

Typist

The cadet legend pairings remain the same as on the Qwerty layout, so as not to require new molds. That's the tradeoff for Colevrak support on a doubleshot cadet set, but hopefully it's not too weird. SA Symbiosis did the same thing.

XT Macro Columns


LED

Supports alternate bottom-row 1.25u placement of Caps Lock.

Monolegend

Can replace the base alphas, or pair with the ergo kit so the base isn't needed for coverage.

Novelties

A pair of flowers - a new violet symbol courtesy of Deadeye, and a retro lotus flower from 7bit's old Rounds. The R1 keys have cream variants to match the Cream Alert kit.

VimCaps

VimCaps courtesy of Potatowire of vimcaps.com. Includes an alternate G with the dual-head cadet arrow from L, since Vim repurposes L as its right arrow.


Additional Renders

More

About the Designer

More

Hi, I'm Jeremy. I'm a Boston-based maker, photographer, and designer. My previous sets include SA Dasher Nights and DCS SMRT. I like to draw inspiration from vintage boards of the 1960's-80's, especially when it comes to weird keypunch and terminal legends.

Support AHoV!
I'll be blunt - this is a LOT of keycap. I'm counting on y'all to agree with me that this color combo looks pretty spiffy, and to vote with your wallets and prove you want to see bigger, more outrageous offerings like this come back again. This set is a deliberate throwback to the heady era of the 2010's, when windowed, ErgoDox, NorDe, and Colevrak kits were a common thing.

Do you want to see more of that? I do. Again, there's no guarantee ANY of these kits will run without your support. So please fill out the feedback form and let vendors know you want them.

Also, comment here! Interest isn't just determined by a form, but also through the excitement demonstrated on social media. Share this on Instagram, Discord, Bluesky, or wherever. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Talk to your pets - do they know how important this is to you? Maybe get a tattoo of the logo, as a conversation starter.

Or, add the AHoV banner to your signature:

Code: [Select]

[url=https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=124067][img width=480 height=120]https://i.imgur.com/wuGkUra.jpeg[/img][/url]
This message has been brought to you by the Committee to Manufacture A History of Violets.


Changelog

More

24/12/03: Added VimCaps kit.
24/12/02: Added cream R1 brackets and missing R2 ? key to Typist kit. The cream brackets allow mixing with the Cream Alert accents. Expanded Mac kit to include function row and Apple ISO. Added Novelties kit render.
24/12/01: Expanded Mono kit to include alphas, added more 1.5u and 1u bottom-row keys to the Ergo kit, so it can be paired with the Mono kit without needing to buy the base. Added Novelties kit, which will consist of a new violet symbol and retro lotus flower from the old Rounds runs. Novelty set render will come as soon as the violet artwork is finished.
24/11/30: Moved cadet numerals from Cream Alert to numpad kit. Added unscooped F and J to base. Added unscooped 5 to numpad kit. Removed unscooped F from Typist kit. Removed redundant R3 up arrow from 40s kit.

[ObsessiveCaps]

Gorgeous set. I'd take a base and the alert row for sure. Gonna fill out the IC now and GLWIC!

[Piperaceae]

Thank you! I just want people to know, I'm under no delusions all of this will run. But I want to give people the chance to get their dream coverage. I've had people ask for LED keys, Mac mods, Colevrak support and stuff, and this is the proof of whether any of that is viable in 2025.

[ZavaZ86]

Why is UK ISO included in base when it's such a small amount of people using/buying it and not just use terminal iso instead

[Piperaceae]

Because I personally use UK ISO (as an American) and I refuse to design something I can't use myself. SP has also been partnering with UK and EU vendors recently as proxies, and including that coverage makes the set more attractive to them. Since the 1u R3 and R4 keys would need replaced with backslash and less/greater keys, it's only a difference of a couple keys anyway.

[Piperaceae]

Oh also, while I wanted to give folks a monolegend option, I know it may not be a great fit alongside the cadet alphas. So I'm toying with the idea of expanding that to be a full mono alpha kit. I'd been worried about the price, but given how much this *waves hands* is already, I'm not sure that matters so much.

EDIT: I added a question about this to the IC form. I did set it so folks can edit their responses, so if this was an issue for you before, you can go back and answer the new question.

[Piperaceae]

Someone commented on Bluesky about not having enough 1.5u keys for Boardwalk. The base already contains two each of 1.5u Ctrl, Alt, and Super, so I left those out of the ergo kit as redundant. You have to buy the base anyway, so you're already getting those keys.

[Piperaceae]

Ok, based on early feedback, I've changed the Ergo and Mono kits. The mono now has alphas, and the ergo now has 3u bars and two more each of 1.5u and 1u bottom-row mods. This lets you cover ergo with just the mono and ergo kits, and also lets people fully switch out the base cadet alphas with mono alphas.

You can edit your IC form responses if this changes your interest.

[Surefoot]

Very good looking set, and I like the kits. Will certainly get one.

[Kokaloo]

Looks fantastic, totally in for base 40s and the alert row
Thanks for all your work getting new sets going with SP!

[Piperaceae]

Looks fantastic, totally in for base 40s and the alert row
Thanks for all your work getting new sets going with SP!

You're welcome! I'm really enjoying their renaissance lately. I'm hoping to prove there's a market for way more types of kits than we've been getting since the pandemic, even if they aren't always offered as part of every set.

[mr_foggy]

Why is UK ISO included in base when it's such a small amount of people using/buying it and not just use terminal iso instead

but you get to buy a numpad separately!

[Piperaceae]

I had numpad in the base originally. But that's a couple dozen keys almost, versus what, 4 for UK ISO? Four keys that make the base much more viable on a whole island, and for EU users who use that layout as well. Whereas numpad in the base is a lot of unused keys for 40s, 60s, 75%, TKL, ergo, and ortho users.

No matter what, there's going to be extra keys some folks won't use. If you're a TKL user, you're not going to use the multiple PgUp/Dn and Home/End variants on different rows. Tsangan folks won't use the 6.25u mods. Short of a la carte kitting, compromises have to happen, and I've tried to make this reasonable.

Nothing is totally off the table. But this is the same kitting choice I made with DCS SMRT, and it worked out well. I've heard sales are good, and the ISO support helped bring ProtoTypist and Keeb Supply onboard as regional vendors, opening up a whole continent of customers. While keeping numpad separate reduced the cost of the base for almost everyone, save for full-size users who'd be paying more for a bigger base anyway if the numpad were left in.

Right now, fewer than 20% of people are expressing interest in a number pad.

[mr_foggy]

numpad in base gives physical coverage to larger form factors though - uk iso gives none
not something I have against this set in particular, it's just a pet peeve of mine. regional iso is not among the things I would personally prioritize when kitting a base kit, as it's not expanding mere coverage.

[Piperaceae]

Understood! Sorry if I seemed defensive, I just wanted to try to explain my reasoning, as this was something I went back and forth on a lot.

[Piperaceae]

Seeing a lot more support for old-school whole-word and split-word legends than I expected in response to those questions. Here's how the affected kits would look. The base, alert row, 40's, and Colevrak kits would have one or more altered legends, in line with the look of the old Rounds sets.

Renders...

More

[Piperaceae]

Update on novelties. 7bit's old keebrunner and duck symbols aren't available, but the lotus flower is. I'll be incorporating that and the new violet icon I've asked someone to design into a novelties kit, and adding that to the IC. There'll be both new and vintage Rounds novelty keys!



Waiting on the violet art, which may take a bit.

[dvorcol]

It's great to see a proposed Colevrak kit again, thank you!

Two comments:
     • Please add Dvorak's R2 /? keycap.
     • Please consider adding cream R1 bracket keycaps so Dvorak can use the Cream Alert Accent kit.

[kentdo10]

This is a great set. I am eager to see this in real life.

[LXVRGS]

i love sa

[Piperaceae]

Dvorcol, sure, I can do that! I'm not super familiar with alternate layouts and just copied examples I've seen, so if there's anything missing I want to make sure I get it right. I've made a note to add those on the next re-render, which will hopefully be sometime this week, day job permitting.

EDIT: That didn't take as long as I thought. Done!

[ZavaZ86]

Because I personally use UK ISO (as an American) and I refuse to design something I can't use myself. SP has also been partnering with UK and EU vendors recently as proxies, and including that coverage makes the set more attractive to them. Since the 1u R3 and R4 keys would need replaced with backslash and less/greater keys, it's only a difference of a couple keys anyway.

Fair for the first part but I don't see how the inclusion of eu in the argument makes any sense since none of them use uk-isl

[Piperaceae]

Anecdotally I'll admit, but I know a bunch of continental folks who use UK ISO because it's easier to come by than keys in their local language, but still fits their boards.

I'm willing to make changes; you can see some I've made already. But I'm likely to be stubborn on this particular item, since it is personal to me, and also Signature Plastics's recommended kitting that they want people to stick close to says to put UK ISO in the base.

[splodeybaloney]

With Mechboards' Hyper 7 R4 group buy still open, any consideration for a Hyper 7 kit?

[Piperaceae]

I love the idea, but I doubt I have the time to design the necessary keys. This came about because I had some downtime when my day job was slow and I didn't have anything else going on. But that's no longer the case with the holidays approaching, and the group buy for another set on the horizon after the new year.

[Piperaceae]

Just a heads up, I updated a few kit renders that were iffy. Despite trying to keep them all the same, a few developed some camera drift and lighting differences, which I've tried to reconcile (affected kits were the base, 40's, LED, monolegend, and ergo). The monolegend render was the worst, but they're all reasonably identical now.

I'll also throw in an update on the feedback so far:

Kit preference:
Base - 90%
40s/Ortho - 50%
Violet/Lotus Novelties - 50%
Cream Alert - 36%
Macro columns - 36%
LED - 36%
Monolegend: 36%
Numpad - 32%
Mac mods - 23%
Typist - 23%
ErgoDox - 18%
NorDe - 5%

Legend Preference:
Full-word: 53% / Modern Abbreviated: 47%
Backspace: 53% / Back Space: 47%

I'm surprised some of the more niche stuff like macro columns and LED keys are doing so well. It's looking doubtful NorDe will happen right now, but it's still very early; this is our first full weekday. I plan to just let this accumulate responses through the holidays before seeing how things look.

[blondie]

Since you're making so many sets, a Hyper7 set would be nice.

Also, why are there two B keys in the base kit. I've seen this elsewhere and didn't understand it there either.

[Piperaceae]

Since you're making so many sets, a Hyper7 set would be nice.

Also, why are there two B keys in the base kit. I've seen this elsewhere and didn't understand it there either.

It's because split boards like the Alice and its clones put B on both sides. It sits in the middle of the board, so people tend to hit it with either or both thumbs.

Most of these kits won't wind up running, because they won't get enough support. I made them for fun and because they were relatively easy to whip up (versus say a Hyper7 kit), and while I'd like to see them made I need to be realistic. Right now fewer than 4% of people want a NorDe kit, so that's likely not going to happen.

Hyper7 is just a lot of keys, and I'm unfamiliar with the layout, and just juggling the existing kits is taking a lot of my time. As much as I want to take that on, I feel like it would be really rough in terms of balancing the rest of my life.

[blondie]

Thanks for the explanation. I guess that means no hope for a Hyper7 set for Selectresque either. You have nice keycap sets. Just wish they could fit on my upcoming board.

What I like about your sets is that they are not pastel, and they do not have foreign legends which are not relevant to me. The APL legends are cool to me, even if I may never use that programming language.

[Piperaceae]

Thank you. Sadly, no luck for Selectresque. GMK is a different beast than Signature Plastics, and vendors for them really want a standardized monokit along the lines of what you've probably seen offered with other MTNU sets. A few keys may change here and there depending on whether they're willing to include 40% support, or a novelty kit. But MTNU molds don't even exist to make some of the keys needed to cover a Hyper7. That's really a niche SP does well, because they inherited many of those from their predecessor, Comptec, who actually made boards like that back in the 70s and 80s.

[Piperaceae]

To see if I can improve the viability of the Mac kit, I've expanded it to add function row legends, and those two weird keys Apple considers to be 'UK ISO."



If this changes anyone's mind about its usefulness, you can always edit your feedback form responses at any time.

Also, here's a quickie mockup of the Novelties kit, which will have Deadeye's new violet symbol paired with the old lotus from 7bit's Rounds. I'll work on a real render when I get more time.

[Piperaceae]

First up, made some renders of the monolegends kit, expanded Mac kit, and novelties, so you can actually see them on boards.





Second, I've reached out to Potatowire for permission to make a VimCaps kit. I haven't heard back yet, and I'm not sure if he'll let me, or what he'd want in return. But the chance is there to be able to add those to the IC.

[Piperaceae]

Potatowire has granted permission to use VimCaps, so there's now a VimCaps kit added to the IC. I've updated the feedback form. As before, you're free to edit your responses in light of the change.



I've included an alternate G with the L cadet legend, so you don't wind up with two up arrows. The R1 key as a cream version to make it compatible with the Cream Alert kit.

[vodanhdaisu]

Very beautiful keycap sets
Hope the price is not so high

[sevenseacat]

Yeah it's very dependent on price for me also. SP have been really expensive lately and conversion rates are not in our favor lately.

[Piperaceae]

SP has done a few things to improve pricing. The first has been standardizing their kitting around large bases with combined alphas and mods, versus selling those as separate kits. The larger bases released this fall have been cheaper than the separate kits were previously. They've also introduced preorder sale pricing, where sets are going for 9% off or more until manufacturing finishes and they begin shipping.

The third has been partnering with regional vendors to sell in the UK, EU, China, etc. That makes VAT and shipping costs less of an issue, but also means much higher MOQs, which can also help drive prices down. They've even been bringing in additional US vendors to reach more buyers - Novelkeys carried Grand Budapest R2, and Divinikey carried SMRT. A set sold on three or four continents, with five or six vendors, will have a much higher MOQ than one just sold in the US directly through Signature Plastics, and nowhere else.

[Piperaceae]

Here's an update on which kits are currently seeing the most interest as of today (December 7th):

Base: 94%
40s/Ortho: 44%
Novelties: 41%
Macro columns: 39%
Numpad: 37%
Cream Alert: 37%
Monolegend alphas: 28%
Mac: 24% (this kit was expanded recently)
LED: 24%
Typist: 17%
Ergo: 15%
Vim: 6.5% (this was a late addition)
Norde: 4%

For the legends, 57% prefer full-word Escape/Delete/Insert, and 51% prefer two-word "Back Space."

[blondie]

I think you should have left the Selectresque topic open for us to continue discussion on it. So I'm commenting here even if it isn't appropriate. When you do bring Selectresque back as an SA set, please consider a Hyper 7 kit. If I remember correctly Symbiosis is an SA set that offered Hyper 7 keys.

[Piperaceae]

Thematically, it's not appropriate to the design, and I don't have any interest in doing a Hyper7 set anyway, as I've stated before. Let's keep this on-topic; an interest check for that set is months and months away.

[Piperaceae]

Updating the stats from the interest form for this week. Biggest changes are noted:

Base: 93%
Novelties: 45% (up 3.7%)
40s/Ortho: 44%
Cream Alert: 40.4% (up 3.4%)
Macro columns: 38.6%
Numpad: 36.8%
Monolegends: 26.3% (down 2%)
LED: 24.6%
Mac: 24.6%
Typist: 17.5%
Ergodox: 15.8%
Vim: 12.3% (up 6%)
Norde: 3.5%

If there's sets you want to see get made, fill out the feedback form and register your interest!

[dvorcol]

Updating the stats from the interest form for this week.

More

Biggest changes are noted:

Base: 93%
Novelties: 45% (up 3.7%)
40s/Ortho: 44%
Cream Alert: 40.4% (up 3.4%)
Macro columns: 38.6%
Numpad: 36.8%
Monolegends: 26.3% (down 2%)
LED: 24.6%
Mac: 24.6%
Typist: 17.5%
Ergodox: 15.8%
Vim: 12.3% (up 6%)
Norde: 3.5%

If there's sets you want to see get made, fill out the feedback form and register your interest!

Edit: revised colors

[Piperaceae]

One last interest level update before the holidays. After the new year, I plan to go through and look and see where things are at, and decide at that point what may need to be cut. So if there's anything you want to see that's on the cusp, chime in now!

Base: 94%
40s/Ortho: 41%
Cream Alert: 41%
Novelties: 41%
Numpad: 36%
Macro columns: 35%

---- this is probably the cutoff line

Monolegends: 25%
Mac: 25%
LED: 23%
Typist: 17%
Ergodox: 14%
Vim: 12.5%
Norde: 6.3%

[BodyOrgan]

I fixed it for you.

Base: 94%
40s/Ortho: 41%
Cream Alert: 41%
Novelties: 41%
Numpad: 36%
Macro columns: 35%
Typist: 17%
Vim: 12.5%

---- this is probably the cutoff line

Monolegends: 25%
Mac: 25%
LED: 23%
Ergodox: 14%
Norde: 6.3%

[dvorcol]

One last interest level update before the holidays.

More

After the new year, I plan to go through and look and see where things are at, and decide at that point what may need to be cut. So if there's anything you want to see that's on the cusp, chime in now!

Base: 94%
40s/Ortho: 41%
Cream Alert: 41%
Novelties: 41%
Numpad: 36%
Macro columns: 35%

---- this is probably the cutoff line

Monolegends: 25%
Mac: 25%
LED: 23%
Typist: 17%
Ergodox: 14%
Vim: 12.5%
Norde: 6.3%

[Piperaceae]

Some final updated renders!

 

.

 

[phinix]

7bit's rounds... good old days