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bobalover
89
Nov 19, 2021
The biggest suggestion I have here is remove the white glyphs from the Lava and Stream styles. Sometimes less is more. The overall vibe of these artisan keycaps feels cheapened by their implementation. Even if the eye was turned sideways to be more accurate, I still think the Lava cap would look nicer without it. Capture the moment, and focus on making the lava/magma pop (I've seen other artisan makers do 'lava'/'fire' a little bit better than what I can see in these photos). Similarly with the Stream, it would be far better without the sword. It would capture the tranquil beauty of nature/water, juxtaposed by the dangerous ring awaiting in the stream, waiting to be found. Bonus if you make the grey rock look a bit closer to the top half of a grey skull, to hint at the death that surrounds the rings' lore/power. The forest ring is the only style I feel that is acceptable with the white script. I do wish there was a touch more organic detail in the scene (not too much, like a bit more green, like a fallen leaf or shroom/flower) to add a bit more vitality, because all I see is wood and moss. The way the branches end also seems incomplete (hollow and washed out), making them resemble look more like coral than branches/roots. Perhaps this can be masked a bit better, and with less colour loss. I guess you could partly rationalise that the ring cause decay around it or something, but I do feel darker brown wood tones would make the whole artisan look a bit more 'natural'.
MiTo
13953
MiTo
Nov 19, 2021
bobaloverThose are some interesting ideas but just a reminder - when creating licensed product the actual creator have little to no freedom when it comes to details like that, majority of what is shown/proposed to the license holder (based on my experience with Noctua) gets denied. I am absolutely sure the same happened here, the same happened with those Marvel sets because that's just the way it is. These companies and license holders have a vision about what they think the product should be and there's small to no wiggle room on that. Remember, licensed products are put under the microscope and the license holder has to approve everything, absolutely all aspects of it are considered especially with massive IP's such as LotR, Star Wars, etc.
bobalover
89
Nov 19, 2021
MiToThat's fair enough, thanks for the other perspective. Yes I agree, there are likely significant restraints/restrictions behind the scenes on how creative the creator can get with licensed products (i.e. S-Craft Studio who does licensed Pokemon artisans has expressed how the rules under licensing significantly hamper their vision/details they want to include). But I guess the general community won't really ever know how much in each case, how much the influence the license holder has on the final vision (and/or the technical restrictions/limits of the medium the creator is working in). So we can only just express our general thoughts, and hope if there's a a future round, things are tweaked (After all, removing the white glyph would actually be quite easy here). I honestly don't expect the product here to change at all at this stage, given that its now for purchase, with product photos/official approval. I know that many of these products are kept under tight wraps for various reasons during development, but one of the great things I've loved about the MK community, are how many projects spend a fair bit of time gather feedback, and seeing the creation evolve to a better product. I do wonder if the Marvel sets were developed with wider community feedback in the process, if it would have made a difference? Perhaps the IP holders could be convinced to allow some further refinement, if they could see how many people were disappointed with the current implementation not reaching the full potential that fans felt could be achieved. However cynically, I guess it's hard to expect license holders who aren't familiar with the medium to have the same expectation/knowledge that an enthusiast would. Although it's great to see Drop have more licensed products of fan favourite IPs, it has sort of led to quite few misses that would've been hits. Perhaps this is a growing pain/necessary evil in the development of more 'corporate' products, versus the typical traditional keycap projects that enthusiasts are more familiar with, where there is much more feedback and communication between the designer and the community in the 'interest check' stage. I know you gather plenty of feedback within your discord server on your current projects. I do wonder if Drop (and associated creators) would consider showcasing an upcoming product to gather feedback/interest, instead of just immediately popping up for pre-order, leaving no room for changes.
MiTo
13953
MiTo
Nov 19, 2021
bobaloverI agree 100% with you and all your points, thanks for sharing your perspective with such elaborate and well written, considerate reply.
psxndc
203
Jan 24, 2022
bobalover"(i.e. S-Craft Studio who does licensed Pokemon artisans has expressed how the rules under licensing significantly hamper their vision/details they want to include)." My understanding is that S-Craft only did one or two rounds as officially licensed and then dropped it for exactly this reason - The Pokemon Company was exerting too much creative control. Such a shame too.
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