[IC] DCS Lil' Lav

[Piperaceae]

A smol lil' set that only wants to be cute and fun.

FEEDBACK FORM

News
September 20, 2025: Based on the initial feedback, it looks highly likely this will stay DCS versus MTNU. Posted in the thread about possibly dropping Alice bars in favor of non-accented Esc and Enter, and maybe even additional keys, since the bars add so much to the cost. Removing them could allow for multiple additions at the same price point.

•••

Lil' Lav is a deliberately minimalist DCS set, inasmuch as I'm able to do "minimalism."

(Narrator: "He was not able to do minimalism at all.")

As such, some things like 6.25u bottom row, extra 65/75 column keys, stepped Ctrl, etc. have been omitted to keep costs down, and to allow for inclusion of less common, enthusiast-oriented coverage like big Enter and full HHKB support in the base instead.

A few legends here and there have been drawn from deep dives into Signature Plastics's archive, harkening back to their earliest hobbyists sets circa 2011. There's long thin arrows, lotus novelties, the "Compose Character" key from Wyse/SMRT, plus a few others to discover. (But nothing too weird.)



Dalco 959 Mini by Hand Engineering


Glare TKL by Glare and Geon

•••

Vendors

TBD. If you've a vendor and would be interested in carrying this set, reach out to me here, or message me (piperaceae_) on Discord.

•••

Dates

TBD. Shipping probably ~3 months after the GB ends.

•••

Material and Colors
Doubleshot ABS, in stock Signature Plastics RFK and REK lavender, BHD teal, and WGJ pinkish-cream.



•••

Kitting and Pricing
Pricing is estimated retail, and is subject to change.

Base Kit

@50: $127.50
@75: $113.45
@100: $106.42

Numpad Kit

@25: $43.70
@50: $29.41

10u Kit

@15: $14.87
@25: $9.60
@50: $5.65


I did try for a 40's kit, but the pricing was such that there was just no way it would hit an MOQ where it was affordable for most people. And putting 4/5-key 40s in a base that doesn't already include 1.25u bottom row keys proved pretty useless when I went to experiment with various 40s boards.

•••

Board Renders


Petrichor by Alchemist


Paragon by Artemis


Capy60 by Bowl


Maja by KBDFans


M0lly by TKC


Piggy by Jacky

[Piperaceae]

Reserved

[twitchytheinsideman]

dcs gud

[MartinThePolarBear]

Mmmmm good stuff

[Piperaceae]

Thank you! Working on some more renders, and I've spoken to one interested vendor already.

[Piperaceae]

Word on the street is that new MTNU icon mods are becoming available. I've added a question about whether folks would prefer an MTNU version of this instead, possibly using the icon mods.

Render with the current text mods, pending availability of the icon legends:


I'd need to pick up a RAL Design fan to match the SP colors for GMK to use

[boku]

More DCS always gud 

Just don't love the forced accents but no complaints aside from that

[Piperaceae]

So far, the MTNU option isn't doing well, so I highly doubt we'll go that route. I want to see how the icon mod legends look, but it's clear folks want to stick to DCS.

Some people have asked about non-forced accent Esc and Enter. I think the only way that could happen is if this ditched the Alice bars, which add a lot to the cost. Dropping those would allow adding lavender Enters and Esc, and still come in lower than keeping the Alice bars in the set.

Another ask was about teal legends on the darker lavender mods, so the legends are uniform throughout the set. Unfortunately the contrast is pretty awful. The mods would need to be the brightness of the alphas, and the alphas would need to stay as they are (so it'd be a monotone set), or go even lighter, so they'd essentially be white. There isn't really a lighter stock lavender that could be used for the alphas.

Let me know if you think it's worth dropping split bars in favor of non-accented Esc and Enter! The split bars really make a big cost difference, and I could possibly even squeeze in R3/R4 PgUp and PgDn, or a stepped Ctrl alongside the non-accented Esc and Enter, if those bars were gone.

If the bars stay, I'm fine making them light lavender like the other alphas. They were teal originally to go with the forced accents in a full 40s kit that I designed, but the price for that was prohibitive, so I left it out of the IC.

UK in base is one of those quirks of SP's pricing where there's either no impact, or even negative impact (that is, a price drop!) from adding them to a base kit. Here, they're making no difference either way, so keeping them in essentially opens the market to the UK for free.

[Piperaceae]

Here's an idea I'm playing with, to take some of the feedback so far into consideration. BAE gets moved to the 10u kit. Expensive Alice bars are removed, and replaced with non-accented keys and a stepped Ctrl. Reduced the number of flowers, so the bottom row is more consistent.

I tried a darker teal that could be used across all the legends, but didn't like it, so I'm keeping the colors as they are. I like the lighter and more fun look of a light teal and cream legends. I did make the function row alternating.

Had to drop Compose Character, since there's no stepped version of that, and I wanted stepped and unstepped Ctrl to match.