Which custom keycap sets are the most popular?

[e_l_tang]

I'm thinking of making a new keycap set, but first I want to get familiar with the existing ones that the community likes best.

[noisyturtle]

People seem to like skulls. Frankly I would try something different at this point.

You will want a simplified design that can fit within a square shape with nothing poking out of the sides, streamlined designs are much more popular than sculpts.

People hate really tall caps, try to keep them close to something like an OEM profile.

This community is full of perfectionists. So much as a scratch or bubble and folks will be ****ting all over your work.

Something iconic and symmetrical. As in you can take just the eyes of a Clack, or just the jaw of a Brobot and people can instantly fill in the rest with their minds.

These are just what I like, and while sculpted artisans certainly have their place and can be wonderful, they are distracting and not as functional.

[e_l_tang]

Darn, I should have been more clear. I was referring to full sets, not artisans. Sorry about that.

[zslane]

I think more kits of Granite have been sold than any other.

[-musubi]

I'd say gmk hyperfuse is definitely one of the more prominent ones.

[potatobot]

GMK are on demand because of availability and preference for profile.

DSA are nice too, especially granite, all the other DSA keys are meh IMO

Started an IC for Keycaps and added a poll for the preferred profile, GMK won EZ

[rowdy]

Dolch by GMK seems to be the most favourite of all.

[e_l_tang]

So it looks to me like a lot of the sets mentioned here are replicas of those of vintage keyboards. Why is that?

[zslane]

My theory is that those classic vintage keyboard colorways have a timeless quality to them. They tend to appeal to people because they are simple, elegant, and not flashy. The crazier the color scheme, the more select its audience will be.

And then there's the nostalgia factor to consider.

[Laurel]

Penumbra

[romevi]

The best one, obviously:

Hydro.

[Moistgun]

Never understood the craze with penumbra

Gmk, sa, and dsa are widely popular. I think gmk being the most popular with a lasting positive opinion.  And that's only in regard to their cherry profile, disregarding recent quality issues

[Laurel]

Penumbra is subtle yet engaging.

[zslane]

Never understood the craze with penumbra

Gmk, sa, and dsa are widely popular. I think gmk being the most popular with a lasting positive opinion.  And that's only in regard to their cherry profile, disregarding recent quality issues

I thought the question was about custom keycap sets, not keycap families. GMK isn't a keycap set. It's not even a profile. It is a manufacturer. SA and DSA are keycap families, not sets.

The most popular custom SA set is probaby PuLSE.
The most popular custom DSA set has got to be Granite.
The most popular custom Cherry/OEM/DSC profile set...I have no clue; I don't use cylindrical keycaps. But it's probably some variant of Dolch.

[noisyturtle]

Ahh, sorry I misread your OP.

I have always wanted to do a GB based on the Ceder Waxwing colorway. I think it would look lovely with white on steel blue alphas and white on rust colored side keys, with the option for a yellow function row and a red esc.

here is a ceder waxwing:

[HannahPeach]

GMK are on demand because of availability and preference for profile.

DSA are nice too, especially granite, all the other DSA keys are meh IMO

Started an IC for Keycaps and added a poll for the preferred profile, GMK won EZ

what about DSA Hyperfuse and DSA Valentine??

[romevi]

what about DSA Hyperfuse and DSA Valentine??

Hannah, please.

[Binge]

Ahh, sorry I misread your OP.

I have always wanted to do a GB based on the Ceder Waxwing colorway. I think it would look lovely with white on steel blue alphas and white on rust colored side keys, with the option for a yellow function row and a red esc.

here is a ceder waxwing:

Show Image

I'd support that

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[Moistgun]

Ahh, sorry I misread your OP.

I have always wanted to do a GB based on the Ceder Waxwing colorway. I think it would look lovely with white on steel blue alphas and white on rust colored side keys, with the option for a yellow function row and a red esc.

here is a ceder waxwing:

Show Image

That is an okay picture.  :thumb:

[e_l_tang]

So does it not really matter whether I imitate an existing set or create my own original design?

[Waateva]

So does it not really matter whether I imitate an existing set or create my own original design?

It's frowned upon to imitate other designs without the original designer's consent.

[e_l_tang]

I meant the designs of sets on vintage keyboards.

[rowdy]

So it looks to me like a lot of the sets mentioned here are replicas of those of vintage keyboards. Why is that?

Olden keyboards were designed to appeal to users at the time, and some thought went into their design and manufacture.

These days the aim seems to be to make it as cheaply as possible, and usually all black.

Hence the desire for custom keycaps of any sort, and for vintage-like sets in particular as they are more visually and perhaps aestheically appealing.

[Waateva]

I meant the designs of sets on vintage keyboards.

That's usually okay, but most of the vintage designs have been done.

[zslane]

We haven't seen an SA set in vintage biege tones yet. I think that could be pretty cool.

[e_l_tang]

Did you have a particular keyboard in mind?

[captsis]

SA Profile caps are in.

[jgodinez302]

I think the correct answer to this is whatever set happens to be out that the majority missed out on the GB 

[jgodinez302]

We haven't seen an SA set in vintage biege tones yet. I think that could be pretty cool.

what about Jukebox and Penumbra? I thought those were pretty close to the whole vintage off-white/beige no?

[zslane]

I guess what I meant was something more like SP's "Industrial" colorway, which would be great if it weren't a uniform row3 set.

Penumbra has a "solarized" alpha set which is more yellow than biege. And Jukebox has cream alphas/green modifiers with red legends; there is nothing "classic biege" about that set whatsoever.

[potatobot]

GMK are on demand because of availability and preference for profile.

DSA are nice too, especially granite, all the other DSA keys are meh IMO

Started an IC for Keycaps and added a poll for the preferred profile, GMK won EZ

what about DSA Hyperfuse and DSA Valentine??

I meant in the poll i made on my IC, GMK won.




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[Vigrith]

Hannah, please.

Wish Hannah would come back sooner rather than later, pmk seems to be delaying making it more widely available. D:

Die inside every time someone mentions Granite, never going to forgive myself ever for missing the Elvish alphas.

[zslane]

Die inside every time someone mentions Granite, never going to forgive myself ever for missing the Elvish alphas.

With such exotic legends, it can be sort of a tough call. I mean, sometimes you really don't know how badly you want something until it's too late. Being a Tolkien nerd I didn't hesitate, but I know that a lot of folks were on the fence about them at the time, and if they weren't Middle-Earth fanatics, I can understand why.

Maybe a set will show up in the classifieds someday. I'm always amazed at how many people buy some Granite kits and then end up not liking them.

[Vigrith]

With such exotic legends, it can be sort of a tough call. I mean, sometimes you really don't know how badly you want something until it's too late. Being a Tolkien nerd I didn't hesitate, but I know that a lot of folks were on the fence about them at the time, and if they weren't Middle-Earth fanatics, I can understand why.

Maybe a set will show up in the classifieds someday. I'm always amazed at how many people buy some Granite kits and then end up not liking them.

I'm a gigantic Tolkien nerd and I'm an exotic legend fanatic (here's hoping Joseph from Keyclack manages to find some time to put work into his DSA Forare with Hylian legends!) but I had some stuff going on, I was abroad for a while and things were complicated when r4 came around I didn't even see it had happened until it was over - sucked big time once I noticed Matt3o had put up the Elvish legends kit up. Was hoping it'd magically pop up on PMK once they recently stocked up on Granite but alas, no such miracles.

I've been on the lookout but I'm pretty sure if a set does pop up it'll be going for an obscene amount of money and be shipped from the US and whatnot - guess my best bet is hoping they're revisited at some point in time through a potential round 5 or 6 of Granite. Probably won't happen but oh well, funny thing is I'm not even a huge fan of Granite in general, I like some colour to my sets generally but the legends would make it all worth it, they look great together.

[zslane]

I feel the same way about keysets with some color. I'm not generally drawn to Granite's colorway, but its icon modifiers and splashes of color make it worthwhile. And of course the Sindarin legends are a must-have.

According to Matt3o, there won't be subsequent rounds of the exotic multi-legend alphas (Cyrillic, Sindarin, etc.). They are essentially collector's items now.

[Vigrith]

Yea the icon modifiers are very cool too but not enough to warrant me purchasing a set without the Sindarin really.

Figured that'd be the case, the scary thing is making those exclusive to 1 drop per and becoming collector's items will drive up their prices to incredible heights, for example I'm sitting here thinking I'd easily pay you know 200 or something for the legends and then I think about it and that's 10 times the price they cost during the group buy. Then I realize they'll probably sell for a lot more than that even and that the price is actually warranted due to the exclusivity.

Just very sad I missed the drop once it came around.

[zslane]

I'm not so sure the Sindarin kit would reach MOQ if it were released again, to be honest. It is very cool, but also of very limited appeal. As I recall, it was very slow to climb the MOQ hill on MassDrop.

[Vigrith]

I think with its increase in popularity now that it's so rare it may not be too hard to hit MOQ, also as it seems a lot more people have been getting into the hobby as of late - if we compare numbers from key sets that dropped early 2015 to the ones dropping now the difference is colossal.

That said, it is niche and I can see why it'd have struggled to hit it the first time round, also adds to how hard it is to get one of these; the people who truly cared and bought one will be keeping no matter what and the few that had the foresight to invest in a few of them to sell for profit later on have probably already parted ways with them.

I wonder how much money it'd cost PMK to do a super small run of that one kit, say like 50 or less even; don't know if they have the rights to if they were to consider it but at this point it's probably going to be cheaper to get it through something like even if you have to buy half the sets yourself to make it happen that than buying a single second hand set. Prices will only be rising.

[zslane]

The price would be somewhere in the $40-50 range for 50 kits. However, Matt3o has final say over such matters, unless he relinquished all control over Granite when I wasn't looking.

[menuhin]

Why there's no mention of Deep Space? It's sexy as ... whatever!
And why SP doesn't re-run the Groupbuy?


It is the only ABS set that I may buy even it is made of ABS - for collection purpose.

More

It looks good in many format factors:


Nice to pair some purple with these caps.

[Niomosy]

So does it not really matter whether I imitate an existing set or create my own original design?

It's frowned upon to imitate other designs without the original designer's consent.

Heh, unless it's an older "classic" design.  Then they seem to have no problem skipping the whole consent thing altogether.

I say make what you want made if someone else isn't going to do it.

[zslane]

Show Image

It is the only ABS set that I may buy even it is made of ABS - for collection purpose.

What kind of case is that?

[menuhin]

Show Image

It is the only ABS set that I may buy even it is made of ABS - for collection purpose.

What kind of case is that?

Said to be a Duck case from its original post.

[zslane]

I apologize for my ignorance, but I don't know what a Duck case is. Were these from a group buy or something?

[Vigrith]

The price would be somewhere in the $40-50 range for 50 kits. However, Matt3o has final say over such matters, unless he relinquished all control over Granite when I wasn't looking.

Yea I figured that was the case, asked SP in any case about it a little bit earlier and they replied saying they were instructed to not run the exclusive kits on PMK - makes me a little bit sad but absolutely expected.

I apologize for my ignorance, but I don't know what a Duck case is. Were these from a group buy or something?

No idea what a Duck case is either but it looks cool! Very retro.

[e_l_tang]

I'm pretty sure the keyboard is a Ducky Mini.

[menuhin]

I'm pretty sure the keyboard is a Ducky Mini.

Remember Ducky as Duck, this newbie is silly as yuck.
 

[Niomosy]

I'm pretty sure the keyboard is a Ducky Mini.

Yup, found this one on their website.  Duck, on the other hand, is a Korean custom board maker, known for the Octagon among other boards. 

[DanB]

I'd say dolch variants, hyperfuse, granite, carbon, Miami, and penumbra are most well liked

[Pennyz]

GMK Dolch Reborn?