Keychron on Designing New Mechanical Keyboards

Mechanical keyboards are no longer a niche trend – they’ve firmly established themselves, favored by gamers, typists, and remote workers for their tactile feedback and customizable designs. Leading this resurgence is Keychron, a company known for its extensive lineup of wired and wireless keyboard options that cater to both professional and casual users.

In recent months, Keychron has expanded its offerings significantly. This past September alone, the brand launched five new keyboard models, each varying in layout and design while maintaining the signature Keychron aesthetic that its customers have come to expect.

Design has always been a key focus for Keychron. While mechanical keyboard enthusiasts appreciate the ability to swap out keycaps, Keychron ensures that their products look great right out of the box. The company continually experiments with different color schemes, minimalist professional styles, and high-quality materials to provide a versatile range of options.

So, what drives the design of a new Keychron keyboard? We had the opportunity to sit down with Paul Tan, Keychron’s chief operating officer, to discuss the process behind creating their latest models and what goes into making a Keychron keyboard stand out.

Walk me through the process of designing a new keyboard.

Typically, when designing a new series, we start with research in the supply chain. We carefully assess customer feedback and community input to identify and learn their needs and incorporate the best tech to address them. Then, we start designing, building, and testing. We build keyboards for the community.

Traditional companies only design and make products that most people will use. They don’t care about the needs of small groups of people. That’s how we’re different. We listen and apply what we’ve learned to building new products. For example, we made some products that very few people want, like Q11 (a split keyboard), Q65 (65% macro keyboard), and K15 MAX (a low-profile Alice keyboard).

If you had to choose one aspect of keyboard design as the most important, what would it be?

Usability. The keyboard is an input tool that facilitates communication with people and with AI. It is the most effective tool designed for computer-based communication. That’s why it’s so important that people can use it easily and comfortably.

How important is build-quality and design, compared to the features on offer by a mechanical keyboard?

Build quality is essential because people will touch and feel the keyboard. If the build quality is bad, people won’t enjoy using it and their output will decrease.

Design is a passion of mine, and we believe electronics is a personal tool. Just like a warrior’s own sword or a writer’s favorite pen, the keyboard needs to reflect the user’s personality. In the modern age, the keyboard is an everyday tool that belongs to its user and represents them. Design is the only way to make the keyboard customizable and personalizable.

Keychron now has a massive lineup of great keyboards, with more on the way. Are there any holes in the lineup that you hope to fill next year?

There’s still a lot of room for us to build new keyboards that respond to customers’ needs. Our future product lines will include more slim keyboards, slim metal keyboards, portable keyboards, and gaming keyboards.

As your lineup grows, what kinds of new products are you planning on building?

We will build more HE magnetic keyboards.

Mechanical keyboards have become more popular, but plenty of people still don’t use them or know about them. What’s the biggest selling point for a customer who is completely new to the idea?

Mechanical keyboards offer an upgraded tactile typing experience. People only need to type on a mechanical keyboard once and never go back to a normal keyboard.

What features are you most excited about in the new keyboards?

We will have more customization of the keyboard’s software. Users will be able to create more shortcuts on keyboards, such as opening an AI tool and a function via the combination keys or a single key. It will be easy to create anything you want.

What keyboard do you use and why?

I use the K2 HE. It’s a magnetic keyboard with an excellent overall typing experience and one-of-a-kind design.

To learn more about Keychron and their mechanical keyboards, visit keychron.com.

Christian de Looper is a consumer tech reporter based in sunny Santa Cruz, California. Christian has reported on tech for over 10 years, with bylines in many of the largest tech publications, including Digital Trends, Forbes, CNN Underscored, Tom’s Guide, and PCMag. Christian has an obsession with how tech companies balance great design with great functionality, and lives at home with his wife, daughter, and cat.

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