Designing the next Topre keycap set

[rowdy]

topre is not interested in making keycaps for other companies.

They should be interested in making money considering they are a business, and this is a way to make considerably more money.  I mean, this entire run is gonna be a niche thing so why wouldn't they want to bring in another crowd to make it more worthwhile?  It's not like HHKB users make up 5 of 100 million topre users; it'd be a substantial number of people who'd suddenly have interest.  And if they think that is an unsubstantiated claim, then we could run the aforementioned interest check.

Unless there was some falling out with PFU and they hate each other, I don't really see why they'd give up the opportunity to make more money.

One step at a time. Don't get mad at Matt3o because he won't ruin this opportunity for HHKB and FC660C support. Let him give Topre what they want. Show them that we will buy large amounts of what Matt3o is invloved with. Then the HHKB set might come about.

Problem is it doesn't really work that way.  A number of us won't be buying because they're not offering what we want.  I'm not gonna drop however much this is gonna cost just so there's a chance they change their minds and I can pay them more money.  But I would agree it's fair we should just drop the issue since Topre is being stubborn about their stupidity, I guess.

i think you VASTLY overestimate the market Topre is catering to in this case. they make keyboards and input devices and all sorts of other things for massive corporations that spend millions of dollars on their products. this is less than a drop in the bucket to them, not to mention they are from a different place where business goals and values may not be what you are used to.

Massive corporations, though, are not likely to spend more money on custom keycap sets, especially with novel or unusual colourways or legends.

[daerid]

The fact that Topre is even willing to do a keycap run at all is a huge improvement in the state of affairs in the Topre world.

Matt3o did absolutely fanstastic work sorcery with the Topre spacebar. Maybe once this all settles out and the RealForce kits are selling he can do a short shift run as well for HHKB users (presuming that's a viable option).

[Durvid]

Really dig the 10th Anniversary Set

[Matt3o]

I made some more tests but I didn't really find the deal breaker. I used the font Topre likes the most, but I'm still looking for an alternative. Since they want to do something different from what they already have I'd go icon mods and centered legends.

At the end I narrowed it down to Blazing and Glacial Sets both with colored alphas.





I'm not very fond of the Print screen and pause/break icons. Any suggestion welcome.

[sth]

Aw rats - they didn't like CCnG?

I'm not sure I'd want either of these since I already have white mods (assuming they make blanks).

edit - i don't mean to just complain. these look fantastic! i'm just not sure if i will be in to buy any if they have white alphas is all.

[yomammary]

I made some more tests but I didn't really find the deal breaker. I used the font Topre likes the most, but I'm still looking for an alternative. Since they want to do something different from what they already have I'd go icon mods and centered legends.

At the end I narrowed it down to Blazing and Glacial Sets both with colored alphas.

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I'm not very fond of the Print screen and pause/break icons. Any suggestion welcome.

Dang both are nice.

[Kliwon]

the purple one awesome Matt3o 
just crossed my mind, how about making blank Classic Beige.. 

[romevi]

Aww, no Honeywell? That's too bad; at least I still got my Round 5a.

I'm not the biggest fan of red, but I'd go with that one since I see more blue than red by Topre.

[jamster]

dolch

[Matt3o]

you can't do dolch with sublimation

[jamster]

dammit, there you go ruining my dreams with pesky reality 

[Stev]

If they want different go black and neon green with courier font 

[strict]

My vote would be for Glacial. Maybe I missed it mentioned somewhere but will these include the swapped Ctrl and Capslock keys?

[Matt3o]

My vote would be for Glacial. Maybe I missed it mentioned somewhere but will these include the swapped Ctrl and Capslock keys?

yes, that should be included being an option on all RF

[digi]

Hey Matt, could you tell Topre to sell 104U 55g barebone boards without caps too?

[Matt3o]

Hey Matt, could you tell Topre to sell 104U 55g barebone boards without caps too?

they are reading this thread. So be kind.

[digi]

Dear Topre,

I'd like to think I'm speaking for a lot of Topre enthusiasts that would really like to see (and buy) a 104U 55g board. Since you're already considering selling Topre keycap sets, then a barebones 104 or 87 (or both) version would be AWESOME. Sorry to slightly derail from the OP (sorry Matt) but I think this is something we've wanted to see for quite a long time.

Love,

Ya Boi - Digi

[Belfong]

My vote goes to Blazing. Glacial set is nice but feels too "safe". Most of the RealForce sets are bold colors and loud.

[dutC4]

 

[yomammary]

They should release a series of sets that really mix up the typical topre color schemes. There are a lot of popular themes that look cool and never get support like.. watermelon ..or strawberry kiwi?

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You cray cray

[FrostyToast]

Please don't go with centred legends...
They look so ugly on cylindrical sets. They're fine with spherical but they just look so out of place on anything else.

[Hypersphere]

Please don't go with centred legends...
They look so ugly on cylindrical sets. They're fine with spherical but they just look so out of place on anything else.

+1

[Matt3o]

I have a cylindrical set with centered legends and they look pretty elegant to me

[Bucake]

I have a cylindrical set with centered legends and they look pretty elegant to me

i agree!
if it ends up being either of those sets, i'm in.
i can't say i'm a huge fan of the colors, but i'm a fan of everything else; centered legends, icon legends, and i like the font

i noticed the whites on the sets are different,
but don't you think it would be 'more convenient' if the white of the set matched the white 87U case?
because i wonder if it might look a bit off, if the white of the case and the white of the caps are noticeably different?

edit: will the side-printing also be icons? (Enter, SysRq, Scroll Lock, Break)

[Hypersphere]

Here are some images of actual RF87UB keyboards with color schemes that I like. Possibly it could help to see photos in addition to keyboard layouts.

First is blue alphas, black mods, and a red Esc for an accent. Obviously, these caps already existed, but it seems they are no longer being produced and are unavailable.



Second is a "pseudo skull squadron" look, similar to matt3o's "skull squadron" design. Again, the component colors were previously available, but currently unavailable (exception -- it appears that there are still some white, blue, orange, and red sets on eBay and Amazon for the Japanese-layout RF 108kt5 keyboard -- this is where I got the red "Ctrl" key, which I use as a Fn key on my RF).

[Kinaesthetic]

Little bit sad that those, Glacial and Blazing were the final two. They are just so...........similar to what you can already get from Topre keysets thus far. And just FAR, far too common of a color design for keysets and the like. Red is beyond overused in basically everything on the market. And Glacial is just so dull colorwise. I mean, Topre wants something different, correct? You can basically do a very similar idea to those with existing keysets available for the Realforce to begin with.

I had a lot of hope for this, but to be quite frank from my personal opinion, I'd refuse to purchase either of those two designs, or I'd have to really think long and hard about purchasing them. They aren't the most creative designs that I'm honestly used to seeing you create.

Like, I know I'm moderately biased to the color green, but what about something crazy like taking inspiration from VesperSaint's Green/Black keysets. Or some of his other crazy, wacked out keyset designs that he has put on his boards (Topre club thread is filled with them).

I hope you can just take this comment as some friendly constructive criticism.

[Hypersphere]

I mostly agree with Kinaesthetic. I am not fond of Blazing or Glacial. Sorry for being negative.

[dutC4]

 

[strict]

nm ... dyesub limitations

[Matt3o]

unfortunately, we can't make everybody happy

[Matt3o]

Working on skull squadron

[sth]

Working on skull squadron

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hot daddy. if blanks are an option i am so in for this.

[Hypersphere]

I like a blue alphas variant of skull squadron:



I also like arrow keys that match the alphas on a TKL board.

Adapter kits: I hope it could be possible to get a Backtick, Backspace, Tab, and Backslash that are the same color as the mods.

[dutC4]

 

[raymogi]

Working on skull squadron

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If this becomes a reality... instabuy.

[strict]

Working on skull squadron

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Oh god please yes! I'm a guaranteed buy if we do this design. I think it would look excellent on both 87UB and 87UW boards which is not something that can be said about some of the other designs. Would the alphas be like white-white or would they be more of like a bone-white closer to matching the case of the 87UW?

[Hypersphere]

I am a big fan of Skull Squadron and have been doing a poor job of looking for it in DCS for a while now. I very much like it with the white alphas, blue seems like it'd be a bit much

To me, yellow seems a bit much!

Hurrah for personal preference! Of course, soon we will need to agree not to disagree when it comes to the final choice for the new Topre keycap set.

[iamtootallforthis]

Working on skull squadron

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I like this!

[Matt3o]

Variant 1

[esoomenona]

.

[romevi]

Variant 1

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I feel like this will be more up Topre's alley, if at all. While I like the Skull Squadron design and feel bad for missing out on it, I think it's too far out of Topre's comfort zone. Given their track record, they don't seem to like to venture out too much, and I was feeling that the yellow stripe may have been too much for their taste.
The yellow stripe on the F-- row seems better, but I'm still being a little cautious.

[Bucake]

wow, that Variant 1 looks pretty impressive.
have you tried that Variant with black print screen, num lock and pause keys (so only the F-keys are yellow)?
or would there be too little yellow left?

and somehow i feel this font matches the icons quite well.

[Matt3o]

variant 2

[tofgerl]

Really like the colors, but I think the reds are placed a little too random... Add a red Spacebar perhaps?

[strict]

Im not real big on either variant if I'm honest. I still like the original Skull Squadron design you posted, I think it looks better with the yellow stripe, the black arrows, and the black F keys.

[Matt3o]

they are all very nice and the impact is more or less the same. variant 2 is easier to the eye I believe

[Bucake]

i actually like variant 2. the colors look well distributed to me, like there's just enough of everything, in the right places
in my opinion there's a bit too much red on variant 1, and i feel that the long yellow line on the 'original' sort of breaks the unity
just my two cents.

already looking forward to the next update!

[Hypersphere]

Is the yellow in variant 2 more of an orange than the yellow in your original skull squadron design?

Unfortunately, none of the designs thus far has grabbed me in the way some other designs have, such as the Granite set, Penumbra, or Honeywell.

[dutC4]

 

[Matt3o]

okay I believe we have a winner. The latest SkullSquad revisions I feel meet the "make-it-pop-keep-it-cool" Topre's demands. I made some more updates to the layout and sent it to Topre. I tried to sneak in some extras (such as black ~` and \| and colored WASD). I don't think I will post the final design so it will be a surprise when it comes out All I know is that lead time is 6 months (gosh!)

More work will be needed especially on the legends, but I need to know if they like the overall look and feel. Fingers crossed.