To celebrate the launch of the book, I partnered with Max Voltar, an industrial designer from MVKB to design a unique metal keycap that will only be available during the Kickstarter campaign.

The keycap’s interchangeable tops are made out of copper and beadblasted stainless steel and attach to the anodized aluminum bottom with the magic of magnets. This cap mounts on any standard Cherry mount.

The keycap was produced by Protozoa Studio, who has a track record of delivering beautiful, high quality artisan keycaps made of various materials.

The design

This keycap design is inspired by a few moments in keyboard history, and celebrates the 150 years of the evolution of keyboards.

The lightning bolt is directly inspired by the Return key on the Hermes Ambassador Electric typewriter from the 1960s, which used a lightning bolt to signify that the era of electricity has arrived – carriage return was no longer an awkward lever that needed to be dragged. It was now a key, like every other key on the keyboard.

However, the lighting bolt is also a nod to today’s keyboards, filled with emoji ⚡️ and used to talk, not just to write.

The unique two-piece design is an obvious nod to change: a keycap within a keycap. However, the choice of metals and colors is also inspired by typing pins from long ago, which – like olympic medals – recognized when you achieved certain goals. (Yeah, there were also gold variants, but gold is often so tacky!)

So, you can choose the top solely to match your keyboard’s appearance, you can switch the top to match your mood, or you can set an internal goal (words per minute? mastering a few shortcuts? switching to a new layout?) and reward yourself once you achieve it.

The box

The keycap comes packaged in a unique box.

Adjustments

While the keycap tolerances have been finely tuned for most switches, your mileage may vary depending on which switch you mount to, as all switches have differing stem tolerances.

If the keycap feels too loose, gently squeeze the mounting pins with some pliers or place a small scotch tape on the switch stem before mounting. If the keycap feels too tight, gently lever the pliers inside the mounting pins to increase the gap.

The keycap is using the Cherry profile.

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