Author Topic: [IC] DSA Gotham  (Read 21900 times)

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Offline kapowaz

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[IC] DSA Gotham
« on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 08:59:19 »


DSA Gotham is a modern take on retro-computing keycaps, using modern geometric sans serif typefaces with a uniform profile. Every single keycap in DSA Gotham features a brand new, custom mould for razor-sharp, bright and clear ABS doubleshot legends manufactured by Signature Plastics, using a clean and minimalist white on black colour scheme.

In addition to standard keycaps common across both ANSI and ISO layouts, DSA Gotham also features child kits for NorDe international layouts, 40% keyboard users, a comprehensive set of icon-only modifiers including popular MacOS modifier keys, and several bespoke 1U icon novelty keys.

Creating these new moulds for the DSA profile is just the first step, with further colour schemes planned making use of the same legends in the future. Assuming this concept makes it to Group Buy I’d love to hear from others who are interested in creating doubleshot DSA keycap sets (or DSS, since the moulds will be compatible with both profiles) making use of these legends.


Manufacturer: Signature Plastics
Keycaps: ABS doubleshot

White: WFV
Black: NN

Changelog

2021-11-22
  • Rebuilt the Lock, Raise and Lower Layer icons to be significantly larger.
  • Updated several glyphs on the numrow for consistency of size and position, including new @ and * symbol glyphs. The changes are subtle, and best demonstrated with a tiny animated GIF:



Comparison to Signature Plastics Gorton

It was requested that I provide a comparison between these new legends and the stock legends provided by Signature Plastics. You can verify from the images below of the base kit, but the main differences are as follows:
  • Legends are stronger and clearer
  • Text modifiers are left-aligned, and in Titlecase
  • Switching to Titlecase means most modifier legends no longer need to be abbreviated
  • Icon modifiers all use consistent sizing and stroke width, also consistent with the stroke width of text modifiers
  • Symbols are sized more in accordance with their on-screen representation, rather than being oddly large (e.g. ~, *, ^, ¬)

DSA Gotham


DSA Gorton White on Black





Kits

Base Kit


Numpad Kit


NorDe Kit


Icon Modifiers Kit


40s Kit


Functional Icon Kit


Novelty Icons Kit


Spacebars



Renders

U80-A by Rama Works


Rotor by Densus Designs


Haus by Hand Engineering


M0llY by The Key Company


M6-C by Rama Works


Dino 104 by nFaiz


Whimsy by Fourteen*


*I appreciate there are question marks over Whimsy’s future, but I’m still hoping it will happen, hence my inclusion of this render!

Deskmats

Skyline Rain


Skyline Clear



Artisans
TBA


Collaborations
Please get in touch if you’re interested in working on a collaboration.


Pricing
I have quotes from Signature Plastics already, but the significant cost of the new moulds still needs to be factored into the final retail price. I will disclose more once I’ve worked this all out with vendors.


Proxy Vendors
TBA


Signature
Please show your support for this set by adding this signature to your forum profile:

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[url=https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=115348.0][img height=120]https://i.imgur.com/gKilVP1.png[/img][/url]
« Last Edit: Wed, 16 February 2022, 05:14:37 by kapowaz »

Offline kapowaz

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #1 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 08:59:48 »
Reserved.

Offline Ella

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #2 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 09:02:07 »
Nice font

Offline Ella

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #3 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 09:04:24 »
Since this is an SP keyset, and they're quick with quotes, getting target pricing would have been nice.

Offline Alejo1707

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #4 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 09:07:42 »
Isn't this just WoB?

Offline Ella

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #5 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 09:14:32 »
Isn't this just WoB?
It uses a different font/typeface

Offline Luciqueii

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #6 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 09:26:36 »
This is amazing, I support. Classic set. Also love the deskmat.

Offline mvkb

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 09:27:25 »
Phenomenal job creating a fully new set of legends, and I’m thrilled to see what you and others will do with the new molds in the future. GLWIC!!

Offline Alejo1707

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #8 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 09:36:10 »
Isn't this just WoB?
It uses a different font/typeface
They do look nice, but maybe a bit more work on the novelties? I am not usually a WoB of BoW fan, so please don't take my words as an attack on your work.

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Offline kapowaz

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #9 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 10:16:17 »
They do look nice, but maybe a bit more work on the novelties? I am not usually a WoB of BoW fan, so please don't take my words as an attack on your work.

No, that’s absolutely fine — I know WoB isn’t for everyone. I’m attempting to create something that will hopefully have sufficient appeal as to be the basis for multiple sets, and White on Black felt like the most natural fit to have the broadest reach possible. This also means that for things like the novelties I’m trying to create icons that could be used in other sets too, so they’re a little bit generic (particularly the shapes). That said I do have many other ideas for novelties, I just stripped it down to the essentials since they’ll cost so much to get moulds made for!

Offline dededecline

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #10 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 10:31:35 »
They do look nice, but maybe a bit more work on the novelties? I am not usually a WoB of BoW fan, so please don't take my words as an attack on your work.

No, that’s absolutely fine — I know WoB isn’t for everyone. I’m attempting to create something that will hopefully have sufficient appeal as to be the basis for multiple sets, and White on Black felt like the most natural fit to have the broadest reach possible. This also means that for things like the novelties I’m trying to create icons that could be used in other sets too, so they’re a little bit generic (particularly the shapes). That said I do have many other ideas for novelties, I just stripped it down to the essentials since they’ll cost so much to get moulds made for!

I could be wrong, but I think this could backfire. WoB is definitely a set with wide appeal, but for that reason there have been a lot of runs of WoB. GMK WoB and MT3 WoB are stock on Drop right now. DSA Blue Japanese is WoB with blue sublegends, also in stock right now. This was, I think, one of the issues DSS WoB faced, though it certainly had other issues as well. I love the legends though and I'm excited to see what gets made with them in the future.

Offline HappyB0T

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #11 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 11:07:53 »
I really like the chunck of the new alphas. The weight works well with the legends. Personally, I think that this typeface works really well with the chunky trashman mods. DSA Paperwork's Mod vs Alphas didn't pair as well for example. I love this IC and am curious if the Alphas will get used in colorways in the future.
« Last Edit: Thu, 18 November 2021, 23:06:15 by HappyB0T »

Offline BloremBipsum

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #12 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 11:08:18 »
Absolutely loving this esp the deskmats

Offline ad4m

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #13 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 11:16:23 »
Isn't this just WoB?
you just ignored the whole point of the set

Offline Alejo1707

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #14 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 12:00:58 »
Isn't this just WoB?
you just ignored the whole point of the set
And you just missed the whole conversation after that.

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Offline dr_unconscionable

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #15 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 12:33:38 »
If you're going to lean on the city interpretation of Gotham with the deskmat, maybe some skyscraper or subway novelties would make sense with this set? Whoops I should have written that in the IC form!

Also cute name! Are you actually using Gotham for the legends, or are they custom made by you in that style?

Offline kapowaz

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #16 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 12:38:24 »
If you're going to lean on the city interpretation of Gotham with the deskmat, maybe some skyscraper or subway novelties would make sense with this set?

I'd love to do that, but since I'm trying to make legends reusable I've tried not to go too far down the route of making bespoke novelties just for this set. But if enough people are interested, then maybe I'll look into that too. I do have some ideas for artisans which I've not shared yet, though!

Also cute name! Are you actually using Gotham for the legends, or are they custom made by you in that style?

Thanks! It's actually a mixture. The majority of the legends are Gotham Rounded Medium, then there's also a few in DIN Next Rounded LT Pro, and some other legends which are entirely bespoke. It goes without saying the icons are all my own creation, too.

Offline dededecline

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #17 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 16:38:56 »
Quote
Assuming this concept makes it to Group Buy I’d love to hear from others who are interested in creating doubleshot DSA keycap sets (or DSS, since the moulds will be compatible with both profiles) making use of these legends.

Assuming the molds get made, what will the usage rights be for them?

Offline FootFingers

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #18 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 16:46:20 »
This is real nice - very interested

Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #19 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 19:34:37 »
Isn't this just WoB?
It uses a different font/typeface

I'm pretty sure it's just the default DSA font which is very close to Gotham, and is also used by SP for SA and DSS. The only custom typeface DSA from SP that I'm aware of is DSA 2077, which uses a typeface that is pretty close to Futura.

Offline jagger27

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #20 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 21:05:51 »
I don't think a set like this really needs novelties, personally. The dice are cute though.

I really like your taste in fonts, OP. Solid icon choices too. This set and Creative Studio both have great fonts.

edit: in particular, the Control caret symbol is the perfect size. You love to see it. So many designers make that particular legend waaaay too big.

I'm pretty sure it's just the default DSA font which is very close to Gotham, and is also used by SP for SA and DSS. The only custom typeface DSA from SP that I'm aware of is DSA 2077, which uses a typeface that is pretty close to Futura.

OP addressed this:

Also cute name! Are you actually using Gotham for the legends, or are they custom made by you in that style?

Thanks! It's actually a mixture. The majority of the legends are Gotham Rounded Medium, then there's also a few in DIN Next Rounded LT Pro, and some other legends which are entirely bespoke. It goes without saying the icons are all my own creation, too.

« Last Edit: Thu, 18 November 2021, 21:09:14 by jagger27 »

Offline vishydesigns

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #21 on: Thu, 18 November 2021, 21:15:17 »
looks awesome kapo!

Offline Akele

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #22 on: Fri, 19 November 2021, 05:41:03 »
This is such a classy looking keycap set.

Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with doing another WoB set so long as it's succinctly different to others that have gone before / are currently available, which I'd say this one is. Very nice work!

Offline VXQN

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #23 on: Fri, 19 November 2021, 05:55:44 »
This is nice! Would love to see a comparison between standard DSA alpha legends and your new ones, because the differences aren't apparent to me.

Part of me also wants to see this in DSS rather than DSA, but that's just because I'd like to try DSS out and so far no keysets have appealed to me enough to make me want to purchase them.

Offline kapowaz

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #24 on: Fri, 19 November 2021, 06:37:49 »
This is nice! Would love to see a comparison between standard DSA alpha legends and your new ones, because the differences aren't apparent to me.

That’s a great idea — I’ll create some kit renders that show both SP standard Gorton legends alongside this.

Part of me also wants to see this in DSS rather than DSA, but that's just because I'd like to try DSS out and so far no keysets have appealed to me enough to make me want to purchase them.

As I say, DSS should be possible with these legends, but as you’ve no doubt noticed it’s a pretty rare profile so I didn’t think it would help this project succeed to aim for that first. If it is successful I see no reason why not to do DSS Gotham as a follow up though!

Offline kapowaz

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #25 on: Fri, 19 November 2021, 08:24:11 »
I’ve updated the original post with a comparison of Gotham and Gorton legends.

Offline kukkurovaca

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #26 on: Fri, 19 November 2021, 19:53:53 »
Would definitely be interested in a future DSS version.

Offline Volny

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Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
« Reply #27 on: Sat, 20 November 2021, 01:18:43 »
    • Symbols are sized more in accordance with their on-screen representation, rather than being oddly large (e.g. ~, *, ^, ¬)

    Just my 2 cents: I don't think that's the best way to do it. Even in a field like map design where one would expect accuracy to be paramount, it often turns out to be a hindrance. Which is why the old London Underground map is an unattractive mess, while the new one, which went for geometric clarity at the expense of real-world accuracy, forever changed the way the world draws its rail maps.



    To me, the number row in the SP version looks more elegant; the positive and negative space is more balanced, and the symbols are all equally readable. In the Gotham variant, the @ dominates and steals the eye for no real reason, while the * is barely recognisable as such. If you stick with this layout though, consider at least separating the - and _ a little. They look a bit squashed, and arguably inaccurate too, as many common fonts typically line up the - similarly to the =. Anyway, I wouldn't be getting the base kit myself, so ignore me at your leisure.

    I might be interested in the icon packs though, especially if you did something like an 'ortholinear kit' with 1u icons. DSA is arguably the premier profile for macropads, so it's always nice to see 1u icon options. And your icons are nice and crisp. Again though, a couple have readability issues. Take these ones for example. Not only are the sillhouettes smaller than in the remaining icons, but the key, informative parts of those symbols (the black arrows) are miniscule:



    GLWIC 

    Offline kapowaz

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #28 on: Sat, 20 November 2021, 17:42:39 »
    To me, the number row in the SP version looks more elegant; the positive and negative space is more balanced, and the symbols are all equally readable. In the Gotham variant, the @ dominates and steals the eye for no real reason, while the * is barely recognisable as such. If you stick with this layout though, consider at least separating the - and _ a little. They look a bit squashed, and arguably inaccurate too, as many common fonts typically line up the - similarly to the =. Anyway, I wouldn't be getting the base kit myself, so ignore me at your leisure.

    Thanks for the feedback! I’ve got mixed feelings on some of this, so I’ll start with my rationale: I want there to (ideally) be visual consistency across all icon and text modifiers, such that the stroke widths are (broadly) the same in all places. When it comes to how to treat special symbols with this rule in place, you are left with some difficult choices at points: should the glyph be larger to compensate for its (relative) small on-screen size? What if this means that it ends up looking very ‘thin’ as a result compared to its peers? I’ve opted to try and keep things somewhat similar to the originals. There are some glyphs that aren’t even consistent within the typeface though, for example the @ symbol in Gotham looks pretty bad by default, and wholly unsuitable for unmodified use here:



    To fix that, I created my own modified version of the @ symbol that thickens the outermost ring, but as a result I do agree that this results in it becoming particularly ‘heavy’, and stands out compared to the other glyphs on the numrow; I got this feedback elsewhere too. To try and fix this, I’ve created a new @ symbol which is less Gotham-like, but more consistent with the stroke width used, somewhat visually simpler, and (hopefully) is less ‘heavy’ compared to other glyphs on the row. I’ve also created a new * glyph which is slightly larger and adheres to the consistent stroke width of all icon modifiers.

    As to your other feedback; I agree that the - symbol was misaligned and should have been vertically-centred, so I’ve fixed that. The underscore however I feel should be sat closer to the baseline to indicate its purpose (and stop it being confused with a larger dash); notably GMK does this too.

    I might be interested in the icon packs though, especially if you did something like an 'ortholinear kit' with 1u icons. DSA is arguably the premier profile for macropads, so it's always nice to see 1u icon options. And your icons are nice and crisp. Again though, a couple have readability issues. Take these ones for example. Not only are the sillhouettes smaller than in the remaining icons, but the key, informative parts of those symbols (the black arrows) are miniscule:

    I agree that the layer icons were a tad small; I’ve been so focused on editing them zoomed up close that I didn’t spend enough time scrutinising them at real-world scale, and so I’ve reworked them to be significantly larger; the kitting diagrams are updated to reflect the changes, so please let me know what you think. I actually did start creating an ortho icon kit earlier in the project (including some vertical 1.5u and 2u modifiers for things like enter, tab, backspace etc.), but given the cost involved it’s tricky to ensure that such a kit would hit MOQ. If interest were sufficient I’d love to see it happen though!

    Offline minicap

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #29 on: Sat, 20 November 2021, 22:11:40 »
    I love the legends and icons, super clean! Love to see new mold-making projects, too :D glwic!

    Offline Akele

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #30 on: Sun, 21 November 2021, 10:55:44 »
    Would definitely be interested in a future DSS version.

    Likewise

    Offline treeleaf64

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #31 on: Mon, 22 November 2021, 00:13:18 »
    I am the joker and I am in the gotham . Hahahahaa ahahahaaa
    treeleaf64: https://discord.gg/rbUjtsRG6P

    This is the cat and pat!!!!!!!!

    Offline radam

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #32 on: Thu, 02 December 2021, 15:14:40 »
    any chance for icon mod compatibility for 40s kit?

    Offline kapowaz

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #33 on: Thu, 02 December 2021, 17:13:22 »
    any chance for icon mod compatibility for 40s kit?

    I’d love to do it! Only problem is that this means a bunch more moulds for a set that probably won’t sell very many units. If it becomes financially viable then I’ll definitely explore it!

    Offline dvorcol

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #34 on: Sat, 04 December 2021, 19:27:33 »
    Please consider adding a homing kit to support alternative layouts.



    Offline HappyB0T

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #35 on: Sat, 04 December 2021, 22:17:35 »
    Love the updates and the reference for comparison.

    Offline kapowaz

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #36 on: Mon, 06 December 2021, 02:44:38 »
    Please consider adding a homing kit to support alternative layouts.

    Show Image


    If SP can create homing variants of these legends without the need for additional moulds, I’d be more than happy to add this support. If they do need more moulds, it might be tricker, but I’ll add it to the list!

    Offline Volny

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #37 on: Fri, 10 December 2021, 04:41:12 »
    Thanks for the feedback! I’ve got mixed feelings on some of this, so I’ll start with my rationale: I want there to (ideally) be visual consistency across all icon and text modifiers, such that the stroke widths are (broadly) the same in all places. When it comes to how to treat special symbols with this rule in place, you are left with some difficult choices at points: should the glyph be larger to compensate for its (relative) small on-screen size? What if this means that it ends up looking very ‘thin’ as a result compared to its peers? I’ve opted to try and keep things somewhat similar to the originals. There are some glyphs that aren’t even consistent within the typeface though, for example the @ symbol in Gotham looks pretty bad by default, and wholly unsuitable for unmodified use here..................

    In my view, it's more important that things feel consistent and aligned perceptually than actually. Sometimes the two are the same, but sometimes they differ. As you probably know, fonts often contain various 'tricks' that make things seem properly aligned by purposely misaligning them. Like the way the gap between the letters AV is artificially shortened to the point that the V actually starts before the A ends - it's out of whack with the spacing of other letters, but it just feels the most natural to the eye this way. Or how fonts will often artificially lower the end points of their curves, so that the bottom curve of a capital U sits a little bit lower than the bottom of a capital H - the U will often actually feel 'wrong' and too high if it's placed 'correctly' in line with the H.

    I would put the line weight of that Gotham @ into the same category. I think the original that you screenshotted looks quite good - at least at that large size. There's something very visually and psychologically dominating about surrounding a letter with a near-complete circle, so I think it's smart of the designers to de-emphasise the circle by thinning the line weight. This balances the two elements and lets the eye continue to be drawn to the most important part of the glyph (the "a" in the middle) rather than being drawn outwards. It also helps neutralise the sillhouette of the glyph by making the "a" still feels like it 'owns' the glyph: so that it feels like 'a small a with a circle around it' rather than 'a big circle with an a inside'.

    If they had kept the line thickness the same in the circle and the "a", they would have had to significantly increase the padding between the two so the "a" could still breathe, which probably would have overblown the overall size of the glyph. This is the dillemma you talked about. I'm sure that the original thin line weight would be no good at the tiny size of a keycap though, so you're right to thicken it. However, I don't think you should have thickened it to 100% match the "a": the symbol kinda can't breathe now. It looks very dense. Still, I think your v2 is a great improvement on the v1. The three-quarter circle looks much more elegant, and the overall size and placement seems a lot better. The new * is good too.

    By the way, I'll add that I'm being purposely nitpicky, for the sake of trying to provide sharp design feedback. I've just now looked at the @ on my own Signature Plastics DSA keyboard and noticed that it looks kinda crap, with the hook of the "a" coming out at what seems like a wonky angle. Obviously I'd never scrutinised the @ on my own keyboard as closely as I did the poor @ in your design renders  :D

    The only other feedback I can think of at the moment is that the \| look uncomfortably close to me - like they're one long shape that's been slightly broken. I'd maybe shorten the \ a little or tilt it a little more, and/or move the | a little to the right, to give the 2 elements some more visual separation.

    I also imagine that many people would prefer to have the traditional "win" or "command" key instead of "super" or "meta", so since you're already supplying alternatives in the base kit (1.5 ctrl, 1u super, 7u space, etc.) maybe you'd want to throw in a 1.25 win/command too.

    Forgive the suggestion if this is already something you do, but it might be useful to do the old designer's trick where you assess your design while looking at it in the mirror (or flipping it horizontally in Photoshop). It helps the brain perceive a design as a whole by stripping away some of the familiarity of individual elements. This would probably be particularly true of a typographic project like this, where it'd be hard to look at abstract qualities like balance, weight, and negative space when your brain is constantly trying to read the letters. One of my favourite examples of this trick is to flip Australia. I don't know about you, but to me, the normal Australia looks balanced and more or less horizontal, while the flipped Australia looks crazy skewed and tilted (even though it's only been flipped horizontally)


    « Last Edit: Sat, 11 December 2021, 02:23:21 by Volny »

    Offline sujikinen

    • Posts: 16
    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #38 on: Sun, 12 December 2021, 01:17:52 »
    Please consider adding a homing kit to support alternative layouts.

    Show Image


    +1

    Offline enomooshiki

    • Posts: 33
    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #39 on: Sun, 12 December 2021, 02:51:50 »
    I came in for Batman related keycaps, and disappointed. (obviously doing a batman set would be illegal without proper licensing)

    still good looking set.


    Offline rndr

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #40 on: Fri, 14 January 2022, 00:43:59 »
    Just here for the deskmats

    Offline elmo

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #41 on: Fri, 28 January 2022, 03:14:11 »
    I'll take one of every kits thanks bye :-X

    Offline h.e03

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #42 on: Mon, 31 January 2022, 09:58:40 »
    I would buy rainy deskmat right now.

    Offline ylothar

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #43 on: Mon, 31 January 2022, 12:39:26 »
    I would buy rainy deskmat right now.

    Me too :thumb:
    «How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?»

    Offline mr_foggy

    • Posts: 580
    • land of the worst vendor(s)
    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #44 on: Tue, 01 February 2022, 16:15:18 »
    i really don't feel the left aligned text mods, at all, but the work on the alphas is top notch.

    Offline kapowaz

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #45 on: Wed, 16 February 2022, 05:05:01 »
    i really don't feel the left aligned text mods, at all, but the work on the alphas is top notch.

    I realise it’s not going to be to everyone’s tastes, but having experimented with a few arrangements and alignments I settled on this for a few reasons. Firstly, I wanted mixed-case legends, since I feel like that’s more ‘modern’ than traditional Gorton legends in all-caps (it also bridges the gap between that aesthetic and GMK’s mixed-case legends). The problem then is that centre-aligned, mixed-case legends can end up feeling quite unbalanced — unlike all-caps, you can have some quite visually small legends for some legends (like ‘Alt’) where the lowercase letters occupy a lot less space than their uppercase versions. It ended up making the legend-placement feel very inconsistent when running your eye down the left side of the keyboard, where the majority of the modifier key are close together. Giving them all a consistent invisible line against which they’re all aligned helped anchor them all, regardless of how long the text was.

    Offline kapowaz

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #46 on: Wed, 16 February 2022, 05:11:04 »
    I’ve not been checking Geekhack a lot lately, which means I may not see questions or feedback about this set in a timely fashion. I have however recently relaunched my website where I’ll be posting previews of this and other future concepts.

    In addition to my website, I’ve also created a new Discord server. This will be the best place to hang out to get timely updates on this interest check and (assuming it gets there!) the group buy.

    Offline Jefff

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #47 on: Thu, 17 February 2022, 19:01:13 »
    Any concerns about naming/IP issues?

    Offline HappyB0T

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #48 on: Thu, 17 February 2022, 21:18:37 »
    Any concerns about naming/IP issues?

    Gotham = Font on keycaps. Maybe slightly modified but very close.
    Generic novelties are safe.
    « Last Edit: Thu, 17 February 2022, 21:35:52 by HappyB0T »

    Offline kapowaz

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    Re: [IC] DSA Gotham
    « Reply #49 on: Sun, 20 February 2022, 11:54:00 »
    Yes, Gotham in this case is meant to be primarily a reference to the typeface, and to a lesser degree the (somewhat obscure) nickname of NYC. It’s not a reference to DC or Batman, although I’ll admit my comic book font banner image probably confused things even more. With hindsight it might not have been the best name.