Design

A 3D Artist Designed His Perfect Workflow Keyboard

A 3D Artist Designed His Perfect Workflow Keyboard

3D artist and motion designer Ben Fryc’s workflow requires a considerable amount of time toiling behind a keyboard and mouse. And as any digital creative knows, time means money. Any toolset that can shave minutes or even seconds can mean the difference between meeting a deadline or coming up short of the finish line. Fryc’s workflow, alongside his skills as a 3D artist, helped him conjure his own keyboard he’s working to bring to fruition: The Knob / k•no•b•1.

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Full size overhead render of The Knob keyboard. Upper right hand ESC key and four arrow keys are in orange, rest of the keycaps are all white, with two black rotary knobs in the upper right hand corner of the keyboard.

Angled full size image of The Knob keyboard connected by USB-C. Upper right hand ESC key and four arrow keys are in orange, rest of the keycaps are all white, with two black rotary knobs in the upper right hand corner of the keyboard.

The k•no•b•1 has the markings of a slightly bulkier Apple Magic Keyboard with a few colorful embellishments. Any tradeoff in size is intentional, noting mechanical keyboard enthusiasts gravitate toward the category of specialty keyboards for their audible and tactile characteristics.

Close-up of exposed mechanical Blue Gateron switch in the middle of white keycaps.

Designed as a low-profile mechanical keyboard, The Knob / k•no•b•1 is built around 78 custom designed keycaps and Gateron low-profile mechanical switches (clicky-loud). While not as flat as an Apple Magic Keyboard, the low profile key design paired with the k•no•b•1’s aluminum unibody enclosure design results in a profile somewhat reminiscent of Apple’s equally beloved and maligned peripheral.

Close up of The Knob's 100x310 customizable LCD screen displaying "9:42, Wed, Aug 9" on its display.

Angled view of four orange arrow keys with two dial controls in black in the upper right hand corners with the keyboard's small LCD screen displaying the time of 9:42. Keyboard is in plugged in USB-C connection mode with a cable snaking from the back.

Are you fan of Apple’s MacBook Touch Bar? Fryc’s k•no•b•1 keyboard cribs a small portion of that same information display feature in the form of a 100×310 pixel customizable LCD screen. Don’t expect to play even a game of Tetris on a screen so small, but it should work well as a volume or brightness slider, notification display, or simply as a clock.

Angled view of four orange arrow keys with two dial controls in black and a glimpse of the keyboard's small LCD screen.

Right above the mini LCD display are a pair of customizable rotary encoder knobs imagined to handle all varieties of tasks, including controlling volume, brightness, or any other input requiring incremental precision.

Close up of ESC key in orange located in the upper left hand corner of a mechanical keyboard. Surrounding keycaps are white.

Close-up of exposed mechanical Blue Gateron switch in the middle of white keycaps.

Fryc’s design is also more angled for improved comfort while typing, added by way of two snap-on feet underneath the keyboard.

3D render of The Knob keyboard with "KNOB" debossed across the keyboard's rubber coated dark gray underside

3D render of The Knob keyboard's underside with an add-on foot being installed onto the bottom to improve angled ergonomics.

A pair of snap-on angled feet add an ergonomic slant if that’s your preference.

You can check out the development of the k•no•b•1 keyboard by following Ben Fryc via his Instagram and over at the Knob website where the designer says he hopes to post updates as he takes the keyboard from concept to a real world product.

Source: design-milk

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