Close
The GMK Tribal keycap box, wrapped in abstract mask artwork, lying on a fabric printed with the set's glyph pattern

Gallery · OhType · 2024

GMK CYL Tribal

At a glance

The idea Vai, a West African syllabary not derived from Latin or Arabic script, as the starting point for a keycap set celebrating Black art and creativity.

base kits sold, now sold out
250
keycap set, in Alexotos' The Best Keyboards of 2024
Best of 2024
regional vendors at launch
8

Designer · Sold out

A fun exploration of black art and creativity, that pays homage to the origins of the culture through abstraction.

Client
OhType
Role
Designer
Year
2024
Made by
GMK
Units sold
250 base kits
Status
Sold out

Features

Origins

In a world, filled with Chinese sublegends and novelties that celebrate a wide range of topics and experiences, I saw an opportunity to add to that wealth of creativity with some of my own experiences. While researching for the project, I came across an African language called Vai that is spoken by the Vai people in parts of Liberia and Sierra Leone, it had an incredible history and syllabary and was known for being one of the few African languages whose writing system wasn't derived from Latin or Arabic script. I saw it as the perfect opportunity to use something that is uniquely black and creative, in a fun way, to pay homage to the origins of blackness and black creativity. This kickstarted the journey down the rabbit hole of the origins of Black art and creativity.

Custom Vai-inspired alternate legend chart mapped across a QWERTY keyboard layout

Tribal Red

#D13934

Accent Keycaps, Modifier Legend & Sublegends, Illustrations

Tribal Green

#316D60

Accent Keycaps, Modifier Legends & Sublegends, Illustrations

Tribal Yellow

#DF943E

Accent Keycaps, Modifier Legends & Sublegends, Illustrations

Tribal Black

#000000

Base Keycap Color

Tribal White

#FFFFFF

Alphanumeric Legends, Modifier Legends, Sublegends, Illustrations

Ten African mask illustrations in coral, teal, mustard, and black, part of the Tribal visual language

Tribal wordmark logo beside a tile of the full glyph and pattern language used across the set

Kitting

The final choice in base kitting was meant to cover as many keyboard layouts as possible, and while there were some limitations, I was able to include both a Novelty and Extras kit to cover some of those gaps.

Full keycap kit reference sheet showing the Base, Novelties, and Extras kits with row-by-row legends

3D Renders

I've met some amazing, talented and very creative people in my time in the keyboard community. During the project a few of them offered to do some 3D renders of Tribal to bring it to life. Here are a few of my faves.

Avinash Kunjamboo • @avi

3D render of the GMK Tribal keyboard on a warm terracotta tile backdrop

Two 3D-rendered lifestyle shots of the Tribal keyboard in soft daylight and against a red backdrop

Tim Van Damme • @maxvoltar

3D-rendered Tribal mask keycaps beside a rendered keyboard on a dark tribal-pattern surface

3D-rendered keycap flat-lay and closeup mask novelty against a dark tribal-pattern backdrop

Steven Olver • @stevenolvercg

Four 3D renders of the Tribal set across an Alice-style split, a green TKL, a black board, and a beadwork-inspired closeup

Photography

As surreal as it was, to see the physical manifestation of something that had existed only digitally, the feeling of seeing it captured in stills, was unmatched! Here are a few of my faves from myself and some of my friends in the hobby.

Personal Shots • @oh.type

Four product photos of the yellow GMK Tribal kit shot on a woven mat

Four product photos of a red GMK Tribal board styled with a cap, a book on Black beauty, and mask keycap closeups

Shots from the Community

Eleven community-submitted photos of the GMK Tribal set styled in different desk setups, including a solo artisan cap, a yellow keyboard beside a handheld game console, a split ergo build, an outdoor shot on kente cloth, and individual mask keycaps

Collabs

I didn't pursue many of collabs for this project but opportunities that I thought were a good fit, did present themselves. One such opportunity, was finally getting the chance to collab with my good friend Tim Van Damme aka Max Voltar @maxvoltar, he designed a uniquely beautiful artisan that paired perfectly with the set.

The Pyramid by Max Voltar • @maxvoltar

Grayscale artisan keycap with an angular Tribal-pattern sculpt, shown alone and mounted on a keyboard

...and in a twist of events...Matrix Keyboards reached out and asked me to design a badge for their 8XV 3 1/3 Keyboard!!! 😱

Tribal Matrix 8XV 3 ⅓ Badge [1/1]

Tribal-pattern badge graphic beside a yellow keyboard with the badge mounted on its case

Regional Vendors

Major S/O to all the vendors that were apart of this endeavor, especially NovelKeys! Mike, Riley and the rest of the NK team, who have been nothing short of wonderful partners on this project. I'm forever grateful. ❤️

Logos of the vendors involved in the GMK Tribal launch: NovelKeys, DeskHero, Oblotzky Industries, Isolation Mode, zFrontier, proto[Typist] Keyboards, IUMKB, and Daily Clack