Core77

Flotspotting: "Engrain Tactile Keyboard" by Michael Roopenian

By Ray Hu - April 20, 2011

in Object Culture

While Coroflot regulars may have noticed increased activity in terms of featured work and portfolios, we're also pleased to announce a new Twitter feed expressly for sharing the Best of Coroflot: @bestofcoroflot. We're currently featuring about 20-25 new works per week, so we'll try our best not to flood your feeds!

At risk of sliding down the slippery slope of shameless self-promotion, I've been sifting through hundreds of thousands of work on Coroflot, our sister portfolio site, in my role as the "curator" of the Featured Work section (not an official title). As such, I come across several particularly interesting projects every week—which earn Featured status—and at least a couple that merit further recognition. Hence, Flotspotting.

The latest piece of ID work to catch my eye is Michael Roopenian's "Engrain Tactile Keyboard." It's an interesting—if not necessarily practical—approach to the straightforward brief to improve the typing experience.

Michael maps out the process over the course of just a few elegant slides, explaining how he arrived at the final design primarily through images with nominal captions.

Most importantly, the images clearly represent the work.

For aspiring designers looking to get noticed, my best piece of advice is that presentation—in terms of renderings, photography and even image thumbnails—is paramount. Michael's work simply looks highly polished, from the processwork to the finished prototype (no pun intended?).

It's also worth mentioning that the rest of his portfolio is also highly composed and worth exploring, should any Coroflot (or Core) users care to check out Michael's other projects.

Oh, and one more tip for Coroflot users: please, please name your projects, since @bestofcoroflot will be tweeting the title of your work and we're already seeing a lot of "untitleds"... which doesn't help anyone.

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I want it

13 years ago

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I would buy this, i hate these plastic keaboards made in China with health risk issues..
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Alysa

13 years ago

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I think those who love reading a book vs. the kindle/nook will appreciate the tactile feel of this. (Like me!)
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Lee

13 years ago

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"Oh, and one more tip for Coroflot users: please, please name your projects, since @bestofcoroflot will be tweeting the title of your work and we're already seeing a lot of "untitleds"... which doesn't help anyone."

Coroflot should make 'title filed' compulsory when uploading work to the site! At the moment its only optional.

Of course designers should name their work anyway, but this is easier than pleading with them to do so!
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Aaron

13 years ago

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Would this be available for purchase as an add-on to the underlying Apple keyboard?

I'd pay up to $75.

Sold as separate key caps with supertac on the back?
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Vicky

13 years ago

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Beautiful concept, but how I wish he'd got the spell check on it ('consistancy', sigh). Still, better than the usual design gaffes principal/principle and flare/flair.
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Adam

13 years ago

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Where are the nubs to signify the F and J! Other than this looks great, good work.
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