[IC] GMK Chika

[Saggo Guilty]

Got pulled into the mechanical keyboard scene by my friend earlier this year.
Since then I've always wanted to design my own keycaps but never had a chance. 
It's now Winter Break and I've decided to share an idea that's stored in my mind for a while now.
It's my first IC so please be blunt with the criticisms.
GMK CHIKA inspired by Fujiwara Chika from Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai

Love Detective Chika

I'll try to keep this thread updated weekly for the first month or so.

[Saggo Guilty]

Reserved

[Dotnick]

this looks really interesting color wise, please take some time to work on getting kitting and board renders done and revisit this.

[productkun]

Chika deserves better renders.
Also where is my kitting, lazy IC poster


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[HoodrowThrillson]

who got krelbit's copy pasta

[verity]

I appreciate the hustle and desire to capitalize on zeitgeist while you can.

That being said, early ICs are simply not the way to go about publishing a set concept. A bad early IC is way worse than a late, fleshed out IC. ICs are all about impressions and the impression this IC leaves upon me is very poor. You're looking for positive reception as confirmation for renders? You're not going to find it with this low quality of an IC.

It's clear that you're fairly new to the community. You made a GH account to post this thread. This is a 104 key base kit. That's something you majorly flesh out before you even have colors in a lot of cases. Your colors are web colors, meaning you're oblivious to the IC process and GMK production as a whole, things you can easily find out more about by visitng the trove of old GB and IC threads, or even uniqey's website. This comes off as a cash grab from an inexperienced community member, which, to be honest, I'm not ragging on, but I'm definitely not about it. Take some time in the hobby to be part of the community. Be a little more active. Find out what works, what's good, why it works, why it's good, and talk with more types of folks to engage in that exchange. That's what it's really about. While the "i see guy make thing, i can make thing too!" mentality certainly has driven a lot of cool stuff, this is not one of those cases.

Renders went from being a nice to have in ICs to nearly a need to have. It shows you have some level of personal commitment to the set that you would even pay for mockups our of your own pocket before anything is official. To not have renders and to just show off a set of KLEs, is definitely not a good look, and the KLEs do a very poor job of showing the colors that you want to show, or maybe they do a really good job, but to me they look like blanks. I'm not trying to bog you down or take shots at an easy target, rarely anything ever deserves that. If you're truly invested in making this set happen beyond a text-post and a barely visible KLE render, you need to make a very good impression, so that vendors who see your IC will want to work with ya.

Many people will not buy into the concept if the IC is not good from the get-go. You can sell any concept to anyone as long as the beginning impressions are good enough.

If you're intent on making this happen (and this would have to be very soon, before more eyes can see this and get their first impressions, which, in their current state would result in the set being written off extremely quickly) then you can:

1. Flesh out those layouts.
2. Get some renders.
3. Pick colors that aren't web colors, it's 2020. We have resources to help design GMK sets. GMK has resources to help design GMK sets. Use google, guy.
4. Goals, MOQs, prior contact to GMK show vendors that you're willing to do work beyond "hur dur look at color now shoulder it all for me," which, even if a vendor wouldn't take you up on, they would like to see.
5. Give more of a ****. Going into a project half-assed (you could be fully on board, but this post does certainly not show that) only makes me believe in the project less. If you don't believe in your project enough to give a detailed, commited sales pitch, why should any vendor, or even why should the community believe in it? Dipping your toes into the pool is simply not an option when everyone else who's making successful sets is hopping in headfirst.


cmon guy.

[zuckusss]

I appreciate the hustle and desire to capitalize on zeitgeist while you can.

That being said, early ICs are simply not the way to go about publishing a set concept. A bad early IC is way worse than a late, fleshed out IC. ICs are all about impressions and the impression this IC leaves upon me is very poor. You're looking for positive reception as confirmation for renders? You're not going to find it with this low quality of an IC.

It's clear that you're fairly new to the community. You made a GH account to post this thread. This is a 104 key base kit. That's something you majorly flesh out before you even have colors in a lot of cases. Your colors are web colors, meaning you're oblivious to the IC process and GMK production as a whole, things you can easily find out more about by visitng the trove of old GB and IC threads, or even uniqey's website. This comes off as a cash grab from an inexperienced community member, which, to be honest, I'm not ragging on, but I'm definitely not about it. Take some time in the hobby to be part of the community. Be a little more active. Find out what works, what's good, why it works, why it's good, and talk with more types of folks to engage in that exchange. That's what it's really about. While the "i see guy make thing, i can make thing too!" mentality certainly has driven a lot of cool stuff, this is not one of those cases.

Renders went from being a nice to have in ICs to nearly a need to have. It shows you have some level of personal commitment to the set that you would even pay for mockups our of your own pocket before anything is official. To not have renders and to just show off a set of KLEs, is definitely not a good look, and the KLEs do a very poor job of showing the colors that you want to show, or maybe they do a really good job, but to me they look like blanks. I'm not trying to bog you down or take shots at an easy target, rarely anything ever deserves that. If you're truly invested in making this set happen beyond a text-post and a barely visible KLE render, you need to make a very good impression, so that vendors who see your IC will want to work with ya.

Many people will not buy into the concept if the IC is not good from the get-go. You can sell any concept to anyone as long as the beginning impressions are good enough.

If you're intent on making this happen (and this would have to be very soon, before more eyes can see this and get their first impressions, which, in their current state would result in the set being written off extremely quickly) then you can:

1. Flesh out those layouts.
2. Get some renders.
3. Pick colors that aren't web colors, it's 2020. We have resources to help design GMK sets. GMK has resources to help design GMK sets. Use google, guy.
4. Goals, MOQs, prior contact to GMK show vendors that you're willing to do work beyond "hur dur look at color now shoulder it all for me," which, even if a vendor wouldn't take you up on, they would like to see.
5. Give more of a ****. Going into a project half-assed (you could be fully on board, but this post does certainly not show that) only makes me believe in the project less. If you don't believe in your project enough to give a detailed, commited sales pitch, why should any vendor, or even why should the community believe in it? Dipping your toes into the pool is simply not an option when everyone else who's making successful sets is hopping in headfirst.


cmon guy.

[Shironome]

Sorry but this isn't it. I would suggest taking more time to flesh out an IC before posting one.

[Agilr]

At least it doesn't have sublegends

[Atomical]

Good start but this isn’t it... The legends are hard to read and the colors just don’t give chill vibes. Chika deserves her own set for sure, but I think this needs more work.

Edit: Spelling

[hali]

does it come with a matching ebay mat

[Ireris]

what's this mess

[ThereminGoat]

It's my first IC so please be blunt with the criticisms.

Picking a color palette from a dartboard with your favorite waifu's picture on it and doing literally nothing else does not constitute a set worth IC.

[yoot]

I really want this to do well. Please flush out the IC by adding better renders, novelties, etc. and then try again . I love Chika and would really hate to see this idea go to waste, as I do find the colors quite nice.

[powwu]

This...isn't an IC.

Where are the colors? Where's the kitting info? Have you talked to GMK on whether or not this can be made?

In short, reserved

[Havattack]

A little too washed out looking for me.

[johnnysstash]

I would take some more time to flesh this out before releasing an IC, could be good with a bit more work!

[treeleaf64]

Put more work in and the reward will come.

Success is what you make it, take it how it come.   a half a million in 20s is like a billion where I'm from

[ddrfraser1]

Despite the “IC” needing a lot of work, I actually really like the set. Very attractive. Do your homework, flesh out the IC and it could go somewhere.

[Shinigamii]

As others have said this definitely needs to be fleshed out much more, take the time to do some more research on other keycap sets.  Get some solid kitting and renders, and setting up an IC form is a good start

[$W4GK!NG]

Color is cute, tho it does look similar to a lot of set that is currently out there, but the most important thing is, thhis is not an IC post at all. Theres no kitting, no rendors on a board, no plan, no form, no nothing. Please at least look around the forum more until you understand what an IC post is and come back later, doing an IC like this will just leave you with a bad reputation


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[Zanhana]

incredibly low effort and the color choices are awful—can hardly even read the legends

this is garbage

[Oddstag]

You've already been told enough that this IC isn't properly fleshed out so I won't beat you up too much and just tell you this: Normally with an IC this underbaked Geekhack would have ripped out your heart, burned down your house and killed your dog by now. The fact that comments have been as gentle as they have been is a sign that you've come upon something that resonates with people.

You need to spend some more time looking at other IC's and maybe getting some advice in Discord channels where other designers frequent. You need to plan kits, get renders of the set on boards, and just generally learn to sell this concept as if it already exists.

It needs to be at a point that says: "This is it. Last chance to suggest tweaks before I get this made."
Not: "Hey I took a colour picker to a screenshot of my favourite waifu."

Potential novelties: Board game pawns/meeples, flowers, playing card symbols, and magnifying glass.

Good luck.

[TheGenericAsian]

That numpad+ is JACKED

[huey]

I'm struggling to decipher whether the trend of poor ICs is satire or not.

[gilbert]

This could be so much more.
Please take some more time and flesh out your Concept a bit more before posting it to Geekhack.

[ddrfraser1]

That numpad+ is JACKED

Still, I like it

[prognostics]

It's my first IC so please be blunt with the criticisms.

Picking a color palette from a dartboard with your favorite waifu's picture on it and doing literally nothing else does not constitute a set worth IC.

Are you sure? I've seen it so many times recently. 

[Pach]

That numpad+ is JACKED

Holy

you're right

[BapoDonu]

i love chika

[Pach]

i love chika

that is a correct statement but another correct statement is i dont like this ic

[ibabo]

incredibly low effort and the color choices are awful—can hardly even read the legends

this is garbage

what good constructive criticism!! you are very helpful!! thank you for contributing!!

[productkun]

incredibly low effort and the color choices are awful—can hardly even read the legends

this is garbage

what good constructive criticism!! you are very helpful!! thank you for contributing!!

Pretty sure it took more effort to type that reply than making this IC

[treeleaf64]

You've already been told enough that this IC isn't properly fleshed out so I won't beat you up too much and just tell you this: Normally with an IC this underbaked Geekhack would have ripped out your heart, burned down your house and killed your dog by now. The fact that comments have been as gentle as they have been is a sign that you've come upon something that resonates with people.

You need to spend some more time looking at other IC's and maybe getting some advice in Discord channels where other designers frequent. You need to plan kits, get renders of the set on boards, and just generally learn to sell this concept as if it already exists.

It needs to be at a point that says: "This is it. Last chance to suggest tweaks before I get this made."
Not: "Hey I took a colour picker to a screenshot of my favourite waifu."

Potential novelties: Board game pawns/meeples, flowers, playing card symbols, and magnifying glass.

Good luck.

Its because the set is a weeb one and everyone here is a weeb except me

[Pach]

You've already been told enough that this IC isn't properly fleshed out so I won't beat you up too much and just tell you this: Normally with an IC this underbaked Geekhack would have ripped out your heart, burned down your house and killed your dog by now. The fact that comments have been as gentle as they have been is a sign that you've come upon something that resonates with people.

You need to spend some more time looking at other IC's and maybe getting some advice in Discord channels where other designers frequent. You need to plan kits, get renders of the set on boards, and just generally learn to sell this concept as if it already exists.

It needs to be at a point that says: "This is it. Last chance to suggest tweaks before I get this made."
Not: "Hey I took a colour picker to a screenshot of my favourite waifu."

Potential novelties: Board game pawns/meeples, flowers, playing card symbols, and magnifying glass.

Good luck.

Its because the set is a weeb one and everyone here is a weeb except me

[ddrfraser1]

Normally with an IC this underbaked Geekhack would have ripped out your heart, burned down your house and killed your dog by now. The fact that comments have been as gentle as they have been is a sign that you've come upon something that resonates with people.

This. Truer words have never been spoken.

[Cubic // esc lab]

Some seriously unnecessarily mean comments lately on GH.

Your set has potential. Listen to the constructive feedback in some comments here and you have a high potential set. I like the soft palette. Improve the legend visibility.

But Kaguya best girl tho

[Owl]

Even though I hate the theme, here is some constructive criticism to help you get you started with your set. "this aint it chief" helps no one lol.

Choose color codes. Look at Pantone, RAL, and stock GMK palettes and choose the colors that closest resemble your vision. Then purchase the physical color samples that they offer so you can see if they look just as good in real life as they do on your screen. Then let us know what you chose.

Determine kitting. Take a look at other keycap sets and see what kitting they used. Use successful sets as a baseline and then gather feedback. Every set has it's own audience and may need the kitting tweaked to benefit them. Consider what you want your base kit to offer and how many other kits you want to make people buy to cover more exotic layouts.

Get a deskmat design going. You can draw something, photoshop some **** together, or hire another artist that will help you show off your vision.

after and only AFTER you have done the above, hire a professional render artist to do renders for all of your kits, mats, and your set on the hypest boards. Be sure guide your render artist to match the colors as closely as possible to your physical color chips. Use several devices to eliminate color errors in this process.

AFTER all of that, go ahead and post an IC. Having a Google Form to help compile your data does help. Use meaningful, unbiased, open ended questions in the form to eliminate bad/uninformative responses.

You will start to gather ACTUAL feedback and you may need to tweak some things. This could be colors, renders, kitting, etc. Be prepared to go back through the first several steps all over again to appease the masses. This may cost money. In fact it WILL cost money. Depending on how many renders and what color books/chips you get, or if you need to purchase a more color accurate monitor, it could set you back anywhere from $250-$1000. Yes if your set does well you will get your money back and then some. If you can't or don't want to take on the risk of spending that much money up front to gather interest, don't. Pay your bills first and come back to it when you are more prepared.

Good luck. There is a Keycap Designers Discord you can join full of helpful info as well as a chat room for hiring artist to help with renders, novelties, deskmats, or whatever else.

[Cubic // esc lab]

Even though I hate the theme, here is some constructive criticism to help you get you started with your set. "this aint it chief" helps no one lol.

Choose color codes. Look at Pantone, RAL, and stock GMK palettes and choose the colors that closest resemble your vision. Then purchase the physical color samples that they offer so you can see if they look just as good in real life as they do on your screen. Then let us know what you chose.

Determine kitting. Take a look at other keycap sets and see what kitting they used. Use successful sets as a baseline and then gather feedback. Every set has it's own audience and may need the kitting tweaked to benefit them. Consider what you want your base kit to offer and how many other kits you want to make people buy to cover more exotic layouts.

Get a deskmat design going. You can draw something, photoshop some **** together, or hire another artist that will help you show off your vision.

after and only AFTER you have done the above, hire a professional render artist to do renders for all of your kits, mats, and your set on the hypest boards. Be sure guide your render artist to match the colors as closely as possible to your physical color chips. Use several devices to eliminate color errors in this process.

AFTER all of that, go ahead and post an IC. Having a Google Form to help compile your data does help. Use meaningful, unbiased, open ended questions in the form to eliminate bad/uninformative responses.

You will start to gather ACTUAL feedback and you may need to tweak some things. This could be colors, renders, kitting, etc. Be prepared to go back through the first several steps all over again to appease the masses. This may cost money. In fact it WILL cost money. Depending on how many renders and what color books/chips you get, or if you need to purchase a more color accurate monitor, it could set you back anywhere from $250-$1000. Yes if your set does well you will get your money back and then some. If you can't or don't want to take on the risk of spending that much money up front to gather interest, don't. Pay your bills first and come back to it when you are more prepared.

Good luck. There is a Keycap Designers Discord you can join full of helpful info as well as a chat room for hiring artist to help with renders, novelties, deskmats, or whatever else.

This should be stickied. Great feedback. This is the kind of comment that makes me appreciate Geekhack. Not the pointless unnecessarily rude snarky ones. The world is ****ty enough right now - why make it an effort to be even ****tier to each other.

[snelltrail]

At least it doesn't have sublegends

Why must you hurt me? :WazowskiStare:

[productkun]

Where are my updates

[gilbert]

updates pls

[IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES]

if the "designer" was interested in putting in work, they'd have seen the successful IC's here and done that up front.

[Pach]

yoi yoi don da yo

[LittleAad]

I don't think asking to be "blunt" on the criticisms is going to help you especially considering you did not take the time to think this out and make a solid IC. I do think that you can come back to this after doing some of the things needed when designing a keyset...