geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboard Keycaps => Topic started by: Aekue on Wed, 07 April 2021, 16:15:17
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Keycaps and their inherent lack of options
Keycap sets have a near enough standardised design, modifiers one colour, everything else another, with alternating colours for the Function sections and occasion splashes of colour on two or three modifiers. This accepted design philosophy is extremely limiting and we are now seeing virtually identical reruns of old sets (not a bad thing) with varying shades off by one or two hex values. Also, due to GMKs lack of versatility, many sets are duo chrome on a per key basis, what I mean is that there are only ever two colours on one key, this is a by-product of doubleshot plastics and is quite limiting. I have heard that GMK will do UV printing but I have yet to see a UV printed set with multiple colours on one key. This whole process of designing a keycap set and producing it in such a restrictive manner inhibits the innovation of designs of keycaps and further limits the ability to create more unique sets.
Recently, after delving even further into the rabbit hole of mechanical keyboards I also found out that GMK keycaps tend to shine after a short period of time because of their material. I think more material science needs to be applied into mechanical keyboards and since a large portion of people are willing to spend abhorrent amounts of money on keycaps i think this could be a worthy development; PEEK is a material used in medical science that is lightweight, strong and very resistant to things like acid and it is used in the body meaning it wont shine. things like this would be nice to see in the keycap scene but many people are transfixed on ABS carbon copy colourways that are near identical to five other sets.
GMK sets are known for their cherry profile because they own the original cast but this stagnation (personally) gets a bit boring.
Thats my take on GMK sets anyway.
How I would solve it:
Use more materials, change the colour scheme up a bit, instead of having the standard modifiers have to be this colour, one example was the 1976* GMK set. a bit of vibrancy and variation was nice to see. More unique profiles or at least acceptance of other profiles than Cherry or OEM and the occasional SA which people seem to hate.
i am new so i may sound dumb but thats me being me
*i think it was called 1976 but i am not fully sure
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the whole group buy and designs being limited runs is BS also.
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I think this could be a worthy development; PEEK is a material used in medical science that is lightweight, strong and very resistant to things like acid and it is used in the body meaning it wont shine. things like this would be nice to see in the keycap scene but many people are transfixed on ABS carbon copy colourways that are near identical to five other sets.
This already exists and its called PBT. Also about the copy colourways you can't do much about that since people are pumping 2000 GMK IC every week and at one point good color combinations are prone to run out. So people just take existing themes and tweak them :-\. The people you can blame is the people voting with there wallets.
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The repetitive cut-and-paste color layout of a primary base color, a primary modifier color, and one or two accent keys thrown in is timeless and looks nice, but does get pretty repetitive. There are some unique designs popping up though; sets that are designed to look like a face (like GMK Cluck and GMK Greg) have a lot of polarizing opinions but are at least a unique idea, and I've personally found myself drawn to ones where there's a gradient across the whole set similarly to GMK 1976, like GMK Great Wave, ePBT Dreamscape, GMK Dreameater, and GMK Velo (if it ever gets to GB someday). Hopefully the trend continues and we start seeing even more unique layouts!
I was surprised when I learned that GMK uses ABS plastic instead of PBT or something longer-lasting, too. If I'm paying ~$100+ for a base kit alone, I'd expect it to not wear out or go shiny for at LEAST a few years of frequent use. But I guess that's how they can afford to take on thousands of themes and kits like they do.
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the whole group buy and designs being limited runs is BS also.
The hobby may have grown, but it's still relatively small with small scale vendors, group buy is the only way one can really get a high end set made as buying a lot of sets for in stock is a big investment with the chance for it to sell out too quick or usually have no buyers. Designs being limited is just common, don't steal designs and designers deciding if he/she or the market really want another run.
I've personally found myself drawn to ones where there's a gradient across the whole set similarly to GMK 1976, like GMK Great Wave, ePBT Dreamscape, GMK Dreameater, and GMK Velo (if it ever gets to GB someday). Hopefully the trend continues and we start seeing even more unique layouts!
I was surprised when I learned that GMK uses ABS plastic instead of PBT or something longer-lasting, too. If I'm paying ~$100+ for a base kit alone, I'd expect it to not wear out or go shiny for at LEAST a few years of frequent use. But I guess that's how they can afford to take on thousands of themes and kits like they do.
Will agree that gradient does spice things up quite a lot, although it kinda makes kitting a pain with keys having to be a certain color, material-wise, some people enjoy the shine (I kinda like it). It's not as much as using a cheaper material to take on more sets, we are paying for it after all with the high prices. Its more that ABS just expresses color better.
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I would like to see some more PBT caps, different profiles, for example I like the idea of KAT profile - kinda lower SA caps - but these are still far away from mass production.
We heard that GMK installed a second production line which supposed to cut the waiting time at least in half - I dont know when we gonna see that, but it would be nice to see that GMK sets could be produced in a period of 3-4 months from the GB. Also, if they could use PBT it would be great.
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I have heard that GMK will do UV printing but I have yet to see a UV printed set with multiple colours on one key.
On this particular point you should check out GMK Polybius which makes extensive use of UV printing.
More generally - all of the things you say that you want to see are already available. There are ICs all the time for different profiles, ABS or PBT and interesting colourways beyond two-tone mods/alphas. So I'm not sure what your issue is? If it's the prevalence of GMK sets then this stems in part from the vibrant colours possible with ABS (and the reliable colour matching offered by GMK) which means that designers are often best able to realise their visions with that manufacturer. If another manufacturer was to up their game then things might change.