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KAT Iridescent ✨ - update: deskmat designs!

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Description

KAT Iridescent

IC Form
https://forms.gle/nXmUXBf2Rn3bMjAG6

Website
https://katiridescent.com

About

This set was inspired by the colours of my radiant acrylic Arisu:

It’s hard to believe one piece of plastic can give off so many different colours! Iridescence also appears gorgeously in nature (gems, shells, butterflies…) and sometimes also in our everyday lives (soap bubbles!).

I aimed to capture this feeling in the gradient top row of the set as well as the multi-colour novelties. A lowercase serif font was chosen to give the set an elegant yet slightly whimsical look.

Manufacturer: Keyreative
Profile: KAT, 4-4-3-2-1-1 sculpt (like KAT Napoleonic / other sculpted profiles)
KAT usually uses a 5-4-3-2-1-1 sculpt, but I chose to use a 4-4-3-2-1-1 sculpt so that the base kit accent row can be used flexibly between the function row and numrow.
Material: Dye-sublimated PBT
Dye-sublimation was chosen over doubleshot KAT for more affordable pricing, given the all-custom legends.

Gradient top row

I adore accent numrows (e.g. Red Alert; my previous set KAM Sewing Tin also had one!), and thought it’d be an interesting way to showcase a gradient. I started with the accent numrow for 60-65% keyboards, and decided it’s more appealing for the accent to be on the function row instead for larger boards. This also makes the accent row optional for smaller boards.

To allow more flexible use of the accent keys, they are all novelties. ✨

Smaller boards (<=65%) have one complete run of the gradient from blue to yellow; for larger boards or boards with numpads, the gradient wraps around. Here’s a graphic to show how the accent row works on different kinds of boards:

Why not a uniform profile?

A uniform profile (e.g. KAM) would make the gradient top row more flexible! It would make the biggest difference in the 40s/Ortho kit. However, I personally wanted to make this a KAT set as I’ve already designed a KAM set in the past… and yes, I’m aware the profile for KAM Sewing Tin might’ve made more sense swapped too, but it’s too late for that 😅. There is a question in the IC about KAT vs KAM - I’ll consider switching the profile if KAM would be significantly more popular.

Photos of samples
With so many colours in the set, I requested a full set of samples for the IC to give a more accurate representation of how the set will look, rather than relying on renders.

These colours are approved and will be used in the production of the set. However, please note that there may still be slight visual differences in what you see depending on your browser, display and lighting.

Photos of the sample keycaps in studio lighting & on the CKC Discipline in studio lighting are by dakfu. Photos can be viewed in an imgur album here.

Sample keycaps in studio lighting: these are the most accurate colour reference.

On a CKC Discipline in studio lighting

On a CKC Discipline in indirect sunlight

On a Promise TKL in indirect sunlight

On my radiant acrylic Arisu in indirect sunlight

Kits

I've intentionally kept the number of kits small as:
1/ I’d like to run this as an in-stock set
2/ Keyreative now adds a percentage surcharge (sorting fee) for every additional kit beyond the 3rd i.e. more kits is now more expensive. (source: MOQ calculation spreadsheet in their discord server). This set is already going to have additional colour surcharges and I’d like to make it as affordable as possible.

So, it has “all in one” kitting like older Keyreative sets like KAM Wraith, Kitty KAT, etc. That being said, I’m very open to kitting feedback and suggestions - please feel free to let me know your thoughts in the thread or in the IC form. I will consider doing more traditional KAT kitting if I really can’t run this in-stock.

You can view all kits as an imgur album here.

Base
Supports TKL, 75%, 65% and 60% layouts. Add Numpad kit to support 100% and 1800.

For 100%, TKL and 75%, the accent row must be used on the function row.
For 65% and 60%, the accent row can either be omitted, or used as the number row.

40s/Ortho
Supports common 40% layouts including Minivan (12.75u), JD40 (12u), JD45 (13u), Dimple/UT47.2 (12.5u), prime_e (13u Alice), Bolt (12.75u Alice). Has physical support for QAZ with a 5 colour gradient rather than 6, since that looks more balanced.
Supports ortho including Preonic, Planck and ortho splits including Lily58, Iris, Corne
Supports 40s boards with partial numrow like V4N
With numpad, supports Milk Truck, Garbage Truck. Candybar supported with split backspace only (no 2u backspace, ask in IC if you want it added)

Two versions of the accent row are included: R3 for 40s boards (replaces qwerty row) and R4 for 5-row Ortho boards (replaces numrow). The accent is optional for 40s but must be used for 5-row Ortho boards as a cost compromise (as kit does not include regular numrow).

I originally planned omitting the R4 keys also for cost, meaning 3-3-2-1-1 profile instead of 4-3-2-1-1 profile for those ortho boards, but in the end decided to include them for the 5-row ortho users.

Ergo
Supports Ergodox, Boardwalk and Sol.

I wanted to be able to use the set on my own Ergodox, and think the top row gradient works well split across the two halves! To keep the kit more affordable, the gradient must be used on the top row (no regular numrow is provided), and there are many novelties to give more flexibility with legends. Text mods were chosen based on frequency of use in NoPunIn10Did’s KAT ergo kitting guide.

Numpad
Combine with Base Kit for 100% and 1800: 1800 users have the choice of using the R4 gradient as the numrow or not.

Combine with 40s/Ortho for Candybar, Milk Truck and Garbage Truck. R3 gradient can be optionally used as qwerty row.

Tailor

The interactive configurator from KAM Sewing Tin returns, with new boards and a new feature, changing the case colour!

You can try it out here: https://katiridescent.com/#tailor

Here's a GIF preview of the functionality:

Deskmats

"clouds" is inspired by iridescent clouds - with stylised iridescent, cumulus and cirrus clouds
"border" is a more minimalist design featuring my favourite novelty motifs from the set

Illustration to show what the deskmats might look like as part of your setup and with a keyboard wearing KAT Iridescent:

Similar to the keycaps, I hope to get samples of the deskmats made ahead of sales/production for a more accurate preview of the colours, etc - above are not final, just a preview!

Next up

- Deskmat designs
- Finding collabs
- Finding vendors

Credits

- Keyreative for the lovely samples and fantastic partnership
- dakfu for the gorgeous photography
- NoPunIn10Did for the KAT ergo kitting guide
- Devin Elle Kurtz for the fantastic cloud painting tutorial & brushset
- Everyone who supported KAM Sewing Tin, for giving me the energy to make another set 😊

Contact

Email: [email protected]
Discord: minicat.
Instagram: @minicap.cat

Updates will be regularly posted to this thread as well as to my Discord server.

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IC Form

https://forms.gle/nXmUXBf2Rn3bMjAG6

Thanks for reading this far! If you’re interested in the set or have any feedback, please fill out the IC form - I’ll be reading every response 💙