Shiva is a product and 3D designer bringing ideas to life and the intersection of digital design and physical products. 3D Designer at 404-GEN and currently based in Brooklyn NY.
Keyblocks:
The Modular Keyboard
Timeline: September 2022 - May 2023
Team: Shiva V.
Role: UX Designer, Product Designer
Skills: Figjam, Fusion360, 3D Printing, Prototyping,
Final Thesis Presentation & Research Paper
Click Here to View the Research Paper
The Problem Statement
The keyboard is one of the most used tools amongst humans with its ability to help users navigate the internet. 60% of the worlds’ population uses the internet and that needs to be done through a keyboard. Manufactuerers have stopped evolving the keyboard and that has resulted in a stagnant product that is no longer performing as effectively.
Potential Iterations
Taking reference to many of the other products that have evolved with its usage such as the phone, I wanted to find more human ways that people can easily change their layouts and setups. This would mean I would have to tackle and solve a design system that is 160 years old.
Initial Prototyping
To figure out how users would interact with a modular keyboard, I first began early portotyping in wood panels. I used spare keyboard parts I had to create it and let users rearrange keys and blocks around. This prototype was praised for providing a practical potential method of moving modules but was found to be impractical to be used as a keyboard if working.
Design Process & Digital Fabrication
Once I had gotten the feedback from initial iterations, I began to design housings for the keyboards using Autodesk Fusion360. I started with a basic 2D sketch of the keyboard layout and used it as a reference to frame the rest of the project. From there I split each section of the keyboard into its respective module and modeled housings for each. For each module I designed slots for small neodymium magnets to be inserted to stick the magnets together. This made the keyboard sturdy together but open to customization.
Pushing the Design Further.
With the help of Laguardia Studio, I was able to 3D print these housings with an ASA material which made the models sturdy enough for practical use. While I was able to get general keyboard printed, my initial drafts included extra modules to incorporate quality-of-life aspects. I surveyed 12 individuals and found common items they had or wanted for their desk to include as modules that could be attached with their keyboard for more personality.
Final Product
This final product is the culmination of almost a years worth of prototyping and research to build a customizable keyboard for the user. It’s a modular keyboard connected by magnets to help you reevaluate and curate your typing experience. It is the pinnacle design of what a human centric keyboard in the market could look like.
Takeaways and Next Steps
This project is the culimination of over three years of keyboard tinkering, a year of explorative design and a year of actually working on this thesis project. Theres much more I want to do with this, but as a design product, I feel like it has the qualifications to push the design forward into simple manufacturing and more prototyping. It only stopped at the prototype stage and many products since creating keyblocks have been able to use modular systems in intuitive manners.
Few of the key lessons learned:
- Remix the empty module so that users have a better semblence on how to use it.
- Keep in mind how PCBs would be inserted into the modules and redesign the modules to support screws and the pcbs.
- More testing and data analysis with common ways that users want to redesign their keyboards to.
Next Steps:
- Better module housings.
- Create PCBs to support the modularity of the keyboard.
- Create packaging.
Credits
Christina Dacanay
Alexandra Palocz
Tinrey Wang
Capstone Class 23’
LaGuardia Studio
Andrew Buckland
Dhemerae Ford
Sharan Mohanadoss Balaguru
Andriana Mereuta
Phil Caridi
Luke Bunn
Leia Chang
Paul Mandel
Parker Blumenberg
August Luhrs
Marlon Evans