GMK Daifuku

In the mechanical keyboard community, enthusiasts express themselves through the personalized choices of keycaps, keyboards, artisans, etc. GMK Daifuku explored the Daifuku theme, Japan’s strawberry mochi , on a keycap set. The product was sold internationally via group buys across the U.S, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia.

GMK Daifuku started as a passion project to design a visually appealing keycaps set. There was a lack of available designs featuring the specific pink shade and desired color combination. I was determined to address the following pain points that were observed in the community:

• Ensuring accurate color matching between renders and the actual product is essential, especially with the extended wait customers experience before receiving their orders.
• Some customers expressed concerns about the lack of regular communication regarding product updates.
• Customers desired accessories that would complement their keycaps and desk setups.

Due to the uncertainty in a new industry, I facilitated customer interest surveys via a community forum.  Moreover, I worked in close collaboration with talented artisans, including artisan keycaps and a project to create an acrylic keyboard.

There were a total of 3 color-matching rounds and I took the buyers along the way! Buyers could join the Discord channel or tune in to the Instagram account for product updates. They could engage in the process by voting for the samples they believed would best match the desired colors. The final options would undergo testing on the spectrophotometer to precisely measure the visual disparities between the samples and renders.

Along the way, we also run into manufacturing issues involving regulations. Due to new REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restrictions of Chemicals) regulations in the EU, one of the pigments for the keycap colour is on the new blacklist and thus the keycaps cannot be produced with that specific composition.

I would compare the new samples to ensure accurate color matching and communicate with the buyers accordingly.

The project concluded with 5+ collaborators including artisan keycaps, cable, switches, and keyboards. View below for the final order quantities, collaborations, and customer’s reviews!

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Throughout the design process, there were 2 rounds of customer interest surveys aiming to fulfill the diverse needs and desires of our valued customers. The first survey gathered 769 responses and 739 responses on the second round.

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