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Building the Product You Want to Buy<\/H2>
In his career writing open-source software, Vincent tried just about every keyboard available to help his aching wrists. He wanted something comfortable to type on that would stand up to punishment and \u201cthat would be pretty.\u201d What he found instead: a lot of products that were uncomfortable, unattractive, and poorly made. So, in the spirit of hackers and entrepreneurs everywhere, he built his own.<\/P>
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Vincent started making prototypes by hand, using YouTube videos to teach himself to solder. People in caf\u00e9s began asking him about the unusual hardware, and then he wrote a blog post about building your own keyboard that attracted a lot of readers. From that post, a mailing list was born, which he and his wife have put to good use as Keyboardio has progressed.<\/P>
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It took Vincent dozens of prototypes, \u201cbut finally I built the thing that I was desperate for someone to sell me.\u201d During this process, Vincent and Dekker read deeply into ergonomics research. They discovered that there are a lot of things people have forgotten about the design of keycaps, which is why keyboards from the 70s and 80s are often more comfortable than new ones.<\/P>
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The entrepreneurs refined their product during a stint at the Highway1 hardware incubator<\/A> in San Francisco. Along the way, Vincent \u201cinadvertently learned CAD\u201d by using Fusion 360 to design the keycaps. As Dekker points out, Keyboardio\u2019s product is unusual because \u201ceach keycap is individually sculpted\u201d for ergonomics, so \u201cno two are alike on the entire keyboard. While honing the Model 01 keyboard, they used Fusion 360 for 3D-printing prototypes, and then to convey their designs to a manufacturing partner in China.<\/P> <\/P> <\/P> The keycaps on the Model 01 are crucial. They are made to connect you to the keyboard by guiding your fingers to exactly the right places. Meanwhile, the keys are laid out in columns rather than staggered, which puts your hands in a more neutral, natural position and minimizes stretching and reaching. Shift keys are moved away from your (weak) pinkies and under your (strong) thumbs. All of this means that you can type more comfortably and more accurately for longer periods.<\/P> <\/P> Dekker and Vincent have also given a lot of attention to the look and feel of the overall product. The anodized aluminum enclosure and wooden palm rests are meant to be warm and beautiful.<\/P> <\/P> Mechanical switches under each key improve responsiveness, just as they do on high-end gaming keyboards. The distinctive butterfly shape of the keyboard emerged by accident over time, but now the cofounders have included a butterfly in their company logo as well.<\/P> <\/P> As befits Vincent\u2019s roots in the open source community, the keyboard is designed to be completely hackable. Users can create shortcuts and macros to speed up their work, and the logic board is Arduino-compatible to make customizing the hardware even simpler.<\/P> <\/P> Dekker takes inspiration from the great furniture-designing couple Charles and Ray Eames<\/A>, who designed iconic furniture that is beautiful, comfortable, and just as elegant today as when it was introduced in the mid-20th century.<\/P> <\/P> Some keyboard manufacturers think it\u2019s foolish for Keyboardio to make keyboards with such exhaustive, loving detail, but Vincent and Dekker disagree. \u201cYou spend a huge part of your life in front of a keyboard,\u201d Dekker says. \u201cIf you’re going to spend all that time using something, why not make it the best tool you possibly can?\u201d<\/P> <\/P> Now the pair are bringing that lovingly crafted tool to the world via a Kickstarter campaign<\/A> and a 23-city roadshow<\/A> that will take them to hackerspaces all over the United States and Canada.<\/P> <\/P> The long roadtrip might be a good metaphor for the journey that has brought them to this point, and that they hope will carry them much further. As Vincent puts it, \u201cI had no idea what I was getting into when I got started. If I did, I probably would have stuck to software.\u201d But then he adds: \u201cI\u2019m really glad I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/P> <\/P> <\/p>\n<\/P>
What Keyboardio Does Differently<\/H2>
Bringing Something Practical and Beautiful to the Market<\/H2>