[Interest Check] "Jukebox" a Retro-Futurism 50's Sculpted SA Keycaps

[livingspeedbump]

Pictures first. This is the base set:


I'm in the process of finishing up my 50's theme set. This is largely inspired by typewriters/Diner/car colors of the era (see album link at the bottom of this post), and I hope it to be instantly recognizable as 50's inspired. If there is a child deal you think I should add let me know.

The set is a sculpted Row 3,1,2,3,4,3 in SA profile.
It will have Doubleshot Legends
**Note: The Shift keys will be Row 3**

Colors are Signature Plastics ABS:
Alphas are TM with VCO Legends
Modifiers are RCQ with VCO Legends

Fore more info and what Child Deals I currently have look here: http://imgur.com/a/XMzyq

Now, I know there is heavy SA traffic in IC/GB's right now. I've been working on this for a while, and will not be rushing it into production after its official interest check starts this week. I realize timing is important, and there are quite a few good deals going on/just about to start right now. That being said I think it is unique enough to warrant a place to eventually be a GB.


Thanks for checking this out DT!

[Muirium]

Now might not be the ideal time for OMG MAKE IT STOP AAAAGGH NO MORE NO MORE FOR THE LOVE OF CRIMINY PETE yet another SA group buy. But who am I to judge…

[kbdfr]

Reminds me of the time when everybody felt compelled to open a Sushi Bar.

[Muirium]

Yet I can eat a lot more sushi than I can caps.

I'm thinking about starting a food blog myself. You may sent your keycap sets for review.

[livingspeedbump]

Now might not be the ideal time for OMG MAKE IT STOP AAAAGGH NO MORE NO MORE FOR THE LOVE OF CRIMINY PETE yet another SA group buy. But who am I to judge…

I understand this. Edited OP to reflect this. I don't want to have this run while the others are running and will not be rushing this through the IC and going straight to a GB stage, this is simply an interest check for people to see if they like the colors/theme of the set and if they have input on child deals.

[Muirium]

Fair enough. Remember that PMK is only a small window onto what's in SP's production pipeline. The GBs I'm on about are:

Round 5 (already manufactured) and Round 5a.
http://deskthority.net/group-buys-f50/d ... t6732.html

And Matteo's SA Retro.
http://deskthority.net/vendors-f52/sa-retro-t10615.html

That's just SA caps. It's a mad time for them.

[livingspeedbump]

Indeed. Im already in SA Retro and the new ctrl[alt] keycaps GBs. People will need time for their wallets to recover, and I definitely don't want to take any steam from any other GB. Hell, I'm part of them too. Timing is very important, and community interest/input will definitely play a role in it to some degree, of course PMK/SP being the overall deciding factor.

[overstrike]

I can dig it. How about some 50's slang instead of standard modifiers -- http://catslikeus.com/retro-style/rocka ... lly-quotes?

[livingspeedbump]

I thought about it, but I don't think it would tip. 1976 has even more recognizable era phrases and it didn't tip. Perhaps a later group buy though if there is enough interest.

[Anticube]

I like it very much, if I had the money I would buy this SA because I like very much these colors. I think it's indeed good if you consider to take the time to refine certain little things if you like them. For example, fonts in that time were not like recent apple fashion stile super thin font. On the other hand the fonts were quite bold.
Another idea is to use somewhere the yellow as in previous overstrike video, in the font color of green caps, or at least in your advertising.

[andrewjoy]

I see dark legends on light caps , PBT Dyesub !

[Anticube]

Ah, excuse me if I can be seen as an invasive person, I hope you don't feel offended. I think the shiny red esc is near to all the other sets. Honeywell obviously. Recent one just because everybody so. I think that if you make it different it would have more character. It could be simply the same green, or a strong yellow.
Another thing is that if you could consider a version where caps are simply with inverted colors as fonts (and so cream on green caps and green on cream caps) or dark legend (as andrewjoy suggest) as for example a darker red.

darkred.jpg (48 KiB) Viewed 8046 times

[overstrike]

I thought about it, but I don't think it would tip. 1976 has even more recognizable era phrases and it didn't tip. Perhaps a later group buy though if there is enough interest.

I hear you; my copy of 1976 arrives tomorrow, sans slang. But I don't think that's true, actually. I think the 50's are more universal, and the language has remained in the popular lexicon to a greater degree than the decades before or since. (I'm surprised 1976 tipped at all, to be honest. Garish 70's color scheme. But the designer really committed to it.)

[overstrike]

Also, SP might have tooling for a "Split" key already. Perhaps "Cool," too.

[scottc]

I just got an e-mail from PMK advertising this set. The OP included a GH, /r/MK and the third? MD.

HAH.

[Muirium]

Bit of a pattern of contempt towards our community from them, isn't there. I unsubscribed from those emails a while ago when every listed GB disinterested me too many times in a row. And that was about the time when they started showing up and pumping their wares here. Note I didn't say pimping. What does that make caps? And what does that make us!

Anyway, here's a thought. Any future PMK links I see, without Deskthority given equal credit with GH etc. on the linked PMK page, I'll delete and inform the poster who to turn around. Quid pro quo.

Note I mean the link. Not the thread. I hate removing conversations.

Or is that too harsh? Discuss!

[scottc]

Couldn't agree more. After seeing how unimpressive the Round 4 rip-off Symbiosis buy turned out, I really doubt I'm going to end up getting any of these hastily-thrown together SP sets. They all lack the true finesse that Matt3o or 7bit throw into the mix!

[seebart]

Not too harsh at all. But you know I'm one of the people here who are not into any of these cap threads.

[facetsesame]

Not too harsh, could be taken as sour grapes though. If DT doesn't seem so interested, why big 'em up? The answer of course is 'cause it stands more of chance getting them interested! Take care not to alienate potenial buyers.

I would also make a distinction between PMK and the individuals using it. It has felt weird sometimes how SP haven't seemed to quite acknowledge DT in some of my correspondence with them. This I don't really understand - are they just wary of picky we are?

As with everything on DT, a perception of turning up only to promote tends to sting. Given that this didn't seem to be a problem earlier (other than the increasing weight of more SA caps), it seems an impressive feat for a single cap mockup... Also I wonder if I'd be saying this if the topic was originally posted in the Marketplace!

So, the novelty key selection in this mockup: why no DT love?
It does seem strange that a commerce site gets the attention (and the site chosen isn't even PMK?? )
This aside, it's a great colourway. If my desk (or my keyboard) had dansette legs this would be the set!

Couldn't agree more. After seeing how unimpressive the Round 4 rip-off Symbiosis buy turned out, I really doubt I'm going to end up getting any of these hastily-thrown together SP sets. They all lack the true finesse that Matt3o or 7bit throw into the mix!

With the continuing apparent disinterest from the organiser, I remain unconvinced that Symbiosis was an intentional rip off. Considering the engagement, the result is better than I'd expected. The legends aren't bad but far from authentic, and the sloppyness of partly pushed down caps in that pic really doesn't help. The project screams missed opportunity!

[Muirium]

Sitting around, politely ignoring their continued message we don't exist (besides when it comes to wallet milking) isn't going to achieve anything either.

I doubt PMK drives much traffic anyway. Look at their sales figures. This is a principle thing. If we don't like being treated like that, we shouldn't act like we are.


@Seebart: If only I could resist them like you. I should have bought keyboards instead of caps. A nice set of caps doesn't compensate for a mediocre switch.

[SL89]

Mu you might be interested in this little tidbit from SPLady over on GH:

As most of you are aware, we have experienced many functional problems with the PMK website over the past year. This has not only been frustrating for you users but it has been equally frustrating for us as well. It’s time to make a change.

Over the next couple months we will be moving the site to a new platform. Hopefully this change will address the many frustrations you have experienced from lack of mobile access to simply checking out without any problems.

We also plan to make one major change to the site. The Interest Check and Group Buy format has been very successful, making some very creative designs available to a lot of people. Unfortunately we are seeing more and more of these great designs, many receiving hundreds of “like” votes, die during the 30-day Group Buy period. Under the new format we plan to still display designs in the Interest Check, but once they receive a certain number of “like” votes we will move the design into our production cue. Once produced, the sets will become available in our Key Shop where they can be purchased and shipped within days of ordering. This way you decide when to buy the keysets, minimizing the competition we are now seeing with so many new designs being launched at the same time. We would like to have at least 20 different custom designs available through our Key Shop.

And one more change. We plan to pay a 5% royalty on the net sales of each keyset design that is up for sale to the creator of the design. We feel the creative efforts that go into these keysets should be rewarded!

We thank you for your patience and support while we incorporate these changes. We also welcome any and all suggestions you may have on how to further improve the site.

[webwit]

I'm planning a "group buy" (trololo) where I generously will give a 5% royalty on the net sales of each keyset to the producer. I feel the productive efforts that go into these keysets should be rewarded! I welcome any suggestions by the producers how to further improve my group buy.

[SL89]

PMK is laughing all the way to the bank...

[facetsesame]

So they're moving to keeping inventory of submitted designs? Then independent bulk purchasing and redistribution is the only option to keep the flexibility we're used to. Production schedule permitting as ever, doubtless - and over 20 designs suggests they'll be busier than ever with these.

Thanks SL89. I can't find that on PMK itself... Hope you get a response to your questions on GH.

[seebart]

@Seebart: If only I could resist them like you. I should have bought keyboards instead of caps. A nice set of caps doesn't compensate for a mediocre switch.

I really only care for the original caps. I have never bought keycaps without a keyboard.

I'll pimp this thread once again:

http://deskthority.net/photos-f62/topic9926.html

[Muirium]

I'll pimp this thread once again:

http://deskthority.net/photos-f62/topic9926.html

I can change your avatar if you like.

[seebart]

Ahhh..nooooooooo. Please don't!

As long as I don't fall back into "seebarting" I don't deserve that...

[facetsesame]

Yikes. And I'm guessing avatars aren't all you can change

[Muirium]

Ahhh..nooooooooo. Please don't!

As long as I don't fall back into "seebarting" I don't deserve that...
Last edited by seebart on 2015-May-16, 16:16, edited 1 time in total.

As if you would!

Anywho, a few thoughts about PMK's change in direction…

• Oh look how we heard about this. Thanks for keeping us in your loop again, SP.
• PMK was optimised for saving SP storing any inventory. It was a kind of Just In Time mechanism. Not any more. Now they're talking about keeping an inventory again. That makes sense as the number of people looking for caps in a short period is small, compared to long term demand. But how do they pick which GBs to overproduce? All of them? Or just a hand picked selection? SP has never shown the least interest in using their taste. We've all seen the egregious errors they will gladly manufacture like a robot.
• Likes are not the same thing as actual interest. The good thing about getting people to cough up in PMK was that demand was accurately measured. SP just found it wasn't nearly as much as they expected once Matteo's GBs were done! People "like" all sorts of shit on Facebook, never to return.
• A 5% cut of the action? Uh oh. If we weren't already getting enough if these showing up, you can bet some cash prize will motivate a lot more.
• And quantity is not the same as quality. Not at all in fact. Where's the signal going to be with more noise?
• Naturally, they're still going to shaft all of us in Europe by shipping from the US. We buy so little from them over here because it costs TWICE as much. And PMK routes around proxies, yay…

Anyway, all quite irrelevant if they don't engage our community here at DT.

[livingspeedbump]

I saw this thread for the first time after quite a while and must say I am quite ashamed for not following up with it more.

This was my first set, and my first time really interacting on the keyboard forums in any real fashion. Until this point I had always used DT/GH as resources for all of my questions, though was not very good with how the site itself worked in terms of keeping up with threads. Upon the initial reactions I simply assumed there would not be much interest on this forum for my set. It is not a very "serious" set in many ways, and I was also very intimidated by the fantastic sets like Round 5 and Retro that were mentioned that are very popular here.

Being my first set I was completely unaware of how GB's worked as well, and knew that I personally didn't have the time or credibility to run one on my own. The fact that Massdrop showed interest in my set was extremely surprising to me, and thus the MD key was thrown together in appreciation of that. It was very surprising to me that people did want this set.

It saddens me that I did not continue to actively check this thread, and I do wish to sincerely apologize for that to everyone here. I can assure you that there was no malevolence in leaving DT out of the "Forum" keys either. I incorrectly gauged that there was no interest in Jukebox here due to some comments and the slower moving nature of DT compared to the other forums. I was also extremely intimidated by the DT community. Compared to GH/Reddit the knowledge base here seems to be very concentrated, and I honestly felt unworthy and lacking the knowledge to continue posting here. I felt like users here may also be embarrassed or angered if I did put a DT legend in my set, and I did not want to seem like a "poser". I know realize that I completely misjudged the situation, and see that a DT key should be included in any set out of respect and appreciation for what it has given the community, regardless of participation in a set. I am not trying to make it seem like you did not participate by this comment either, as I know the lack of participation was indeed all my fault. This is not excusable as I should have continued to check this thread.

This has been a very humbling learning experience, and I hope you can accept my sincerest apology. My actions in this case were not excusable and completely my own fault and responsibility, and I certainly will not expect any of you to support any of my future sets should I ever make one again. It was indeed important to me personally to apologize publicly to Deskthority for my actions (or lack of action rather) and I do hope I can do much better next time, and regardless of feedback will try to be much more engaging with the DT community.