I know the two rivals are on a single keyboard as the proper one was hard to come by at the time of shooting, my apologies.
Astral Keycap
Premium components at your fingertips
The Astral Keycap takes the visual cues from state of the art GPU, and turned it into playful gadgets that can be (physically) interact with.
Individual Project
Year: 2024
Client: ASUS
Software: Solidworks, Illustrator
Production (y/n): y
As the new generation of GPUs enter the market, brands like Republic of Gamers (ROG) are hoping to accompany their ever powerful yet costly component with a unique and unconventional accessory.
Initially, several prototypes were made in order to find a feasible manufacturing process best mimic the silhouette of the graphics card, without sacrificing too much quality.
Process tried including digital printing, name plate adhering and dye-sublimation was also evaluated for potential use.
Eventually leaned towards a sculpture-liked solution to recreate the sleek and machine-liked contour.
This is the first time the company had ever used pressed-in ball bearings on a in-house product, and the end result was not achieved without any lessons.
Towards the end of trial run, issues regarding fan movement and higher assembly defect loss were discovered, which was subsequently resolved by tooling modification and change of material.