Behind the Scenes: The Magical Keycaps that caught 50 Cent’s eye

May 13

An interview with Mintlodica, the designer of the bestselling DSA Magic Girl keyset. At the time, she was new to the mechanical keyboards community. She discusses her inspiration, the process for creating a collection, and 50 Cent.

`DSA Magic Girl on polycarbonate Norbaforce Mark II. Photo by u/ninjapirate9901.`

Note from the editors: Welcome to the inaugural interview of our Insights interview series. We’re excited to spotlight creators and community members in the world of mechanical keyboards, and get to know them and their work.

`Photo Credit: Helena Price, Dagmar Studios.`

Tell us about yourself, especially for those who haven’t met you.

Hi there! I’m Mintlodica, AKA Susan. Most people in the mechanical keyboards world call me Mint. My favorite color is a mystery. Career-wise, I was a designer in the technology industry where I designed interfaces and managed designers. In the world of mechanical keyboards, I'm the creator behind DSA Magic Girl and Infinikey Pastel PBT. Both sets are among TheKey.Company's bestsellers.

How did you get started in design?

For my 9th birthday, I raised funds from the adults in my life to buy a PC booting Windows 95. I got my bearings building websites on Neopets and Geocities. HTML, CSS, and 1px div backgrounds became familiar languages. My dad gave me my first paid design gig. I got paid $50 to make a Chinese restaurant menu in Microsoft Word. I’ve come a long way since then.

What was your first foray into mechanical keyboards?

I hurt my wrists badly in 2015. So badly, it put me in physical therapy for 6 months. That's when I learned about Kinesis ergonomic keyboards. The Freestyle and Advantage were my first mechanical keyboards. I also switched from typing in Qwerty to Dvorak at that time.

In 2018, I bought my first ErgoDox EZ. It was a joy! I could meet my ergonomic needs while typing on a beautiful keyboard. I learned you could customize almost every aspect of the ErgoDox. I fell into the rabbit hole from there when I couldn't find any keycaps that suited my tastes perfectly.

`Mint’s first ErgoDox EZ with NPKC Sunset Gradient keycaps.`

“How hard can this be?”

As a serial creator, I believe everything is possible.

How did the whole collection come together?

Magic Girl launched in 3.5 months from conception to group buy pre-order. I worked weeknights and weekends to make it happen. Back then, I was working a draining day job as a design director. Magic Girl was my sanctuary for creative freedom.

`Early Illustrator mock-ups from designing Magic Girl.`

I leaned on my existing strengths to conceptualize the idea. With my creative background, Adobe Illustrator was no mystery to me. I’ve designed many UI Icons, so novelties came naturally to me. I tried to find any and all resources on keyboard layouts and threw together early mock-ups.

`The first auto-generated render with Photoshopped novelty legends.`

I reached out to individuals I admired for cultural insight. Concurrently, I ran the first Interest Check (IC) survey to get an idea of the community response. The first render I put out was a render from kbrenders. It got the job done. People were interested. The first IC survey brought in ~265 replies.

From there, I chipped away at my vision while trying to find the right vendor to run my first set.

`DSA Magic Girl on M0LLY. Render by Lucas Tafuri.`

What design considerations did you go through?

So many! Here are a few highlights.

The work which lead into my novelty’s artistic style.

A few years ago, I started an unfinished icon set. I nicknamed it “superflat” after an animation by Takashi Murakami. He’s one of my favorite artists and his work continues to inspire me. I enjoyed how his work is refined yet quirky, versus symmetrical and perfect. I carried that ethos into Magic Girl.

If you want to design a keyset, having a stance & vision is key.

Creating a whole collection of matched accessories.

As an artist, I had experience designing small goods. I decided the Magic Girl campaign would be complete with all of the accessories. Matching cables, enamel pins, stickers, sticker sheet, deskmats, and apparel! I went all out, believing that Magic Girl would be the only keyset I would design.

It was my endgame and still is!

`Some parts of the Magic Girl collection.`

How to do kits for layouts I’ve never typed on.

What I didn’t have experience with were keyboard layouts, especially non-ergonomic layouts. As you can imagine, it was quite the challenge trying to figure out kits. Although I am more knowledgeable today, the vastness of what’s possible still surprises me.

Learning to love yellow.

Most of the design suggestions from the IC surveys deviated strongly from my vision. But I will say, it was because of survey feedback I ended up keeping the yellow. I had almost cut it out. Now yellow is my favorite pop of brightness in a cold world. It’s infiltrated my personal style and interior design as a result of this project!

Advice for those interested in this journey.

Ultimately, if you want to design a keyset, having a stance and vision is key. Not everyone will be happy. And you’ll have to make trade-offs to maintain the fine line between covering everything and costs. When I’ve guided collaborators in their process, for any decisions that did not compromise feasibility, I’d say, “it’s the designer’s choice.”

`DSA Magic Girl artisan brass keycaps by Salvun on Ivy macropad by Adron.`

Who were the different parties you worked with to bring it to life?

I partnered with TheKey.Company (TKC) because of their reputation for customer service. Jason, Founder & CEO of TKC, and I got along from the get-go. I was pleasantly surprised. Most business owners quickly dismiss me.

Within our first chats, it was clear my technical background could help. Prior to the Magic Girl group buy, I provided direction for TKC’s website. We hired Nic, a web developer, and got to work. In 2 weeks, our squad brought the Shopify site into a new era. Fancy MOQ bars and all were ready for Magic Girl.

`TheKey.Company’s website redesign before & after.`

I did consider if I should run the group buy myself. I reached out directly to a few manufacturers before teaming up with TKC. However, it was clear that I would benefit from a partner who was an expert in production, ordering, and fulfillment. I left many of those decisions up to Jason. He made sure to communicate any potential constraints as they came up.

DSA Magic Girl teaser music video.

I originally met Jason through an introduction via Qlavier. I, like many others in this community, saw Qlavier’s acrylic cases and was in awe. He was essential in guiding the marketing strategy behind Magic Girl. We had Lucas on board to do all of the renders. We even made a music video. My friend Don provided music for it.

What challenges did you face in the design process?

I almost don’t want to admit it, but we were scrambling. I Photoshopped assets at the final hour. We pushed back the release time the day of. Jason and I had sporadic chats when both our schedules permitted, which wasn’t often. Given that, sometimes I’m shocked Magic Girl sold as well as it did. The team was non-existent and it was the 2 of us trying to make it work. This was a TKC before Rise, Latte, Jyro, and Lovecraft, who now make up the present day Core Staff. They keep the ship tight.

Some folks didn’t like the idea of a femme set existing on the market, even though there was clearly demand for it.

What surprised you about the process?

`Jillian’s Planck combines DSA Magic Girl Alphas with DSA Astrolokey Modifiers.`

Some folks didn’t like the idea of a femme set existing on the market, even though there was clearly demand for it. And there’s definitely room for more than one set!

Magic Girl was TKC’s best-selling keyset at the time; now Infinikey Pastel PBT is another one of TKC’s top sellers.

My work was pitted against DSA Astrolokeys in a false narrative. One of the creators of Astrolokeys, sailorhg, is a friend of mine of many years. It so happens we’re also collaborating on a Cute Keyboard Club jacket right now.

At this point, I’ve talked to most visible womxn creators in the keyboard community. There’s few of us in number. I hope over time, we’ll have more creators in this space who represent different identities, backgrounds, and regions.

How did 50 Cent end up using Magic Girl?

`A mechanical keyboards celebrity moment.`

My latest gig in the tech industry was at BuzzFeed. Celebrities come and go to film at the studio. The studios happen to be on the same floor where my desk was.

Because I’m a curmudgeon, I prefer my work from my home set-up. So, I was not present for this moment. When 50 Cent came to promote a show that morning, he was cruisin’ around the floor saying hi to folks. He walked by my row and noticed my desk.

“What’s going on over there?”

Bless my seat partner. She invited him over for a photoshoot. A direct report encouraged him to take one of the Magic Girl stickers on my desk.
He struck up small talk with another teammate who informed him that I made and built mechanical keyboards.

“She fuckin’ built this?”

I shared this photo on r/mk, where it currently sits in the Top 10 of all time posts.

`The battle station which caught 50’s eye.`

What do you envision moving forward?

After the group buy ended in July of 2019, Jason and I stayed in touch. Less than 2 months later, we were working together again. Both of us had missed our jam sessions. Since then, I’ve joined the TKC Core Staff, mostly advising on strategy.

The enthusiasm I have for this world could not be contained, so I’ve slowly built up our collaborators line-up. Now we present Artists x TKC Deskmats monthly.