this keyboard, the NSK-535R, supposedly released in 2005, does not have a lot of kind words written about it. none really, aside from some articles that lifted breathless ergonomic promises from the NSK's press release. i only know it because of a brief footnote mention of it in Shift Happens (a heavy and thorough history of keyboards) in a chapter about Dvorak layout and other qwerty alternatives. two sentences. no details about the layout, no mention of the dazzling colors, or the weird ergonomic curve.

on the web, there's a small handful of articles of reviewers being baffled by it. on one assistive tech store that has a listing for it (none for sale), there is a single review: one star, "Awful." written in 2018, likely by someone who has never used one. there are no photos other than stock ones, no accounts of using it long-term, so it's likely this never went to retail.

which sucks. i fucking love this keyboard. if i had the chance i'd pay a good chunk of change to get one. i'm pretty sure it's a lost cause though.

i'm here to write some kind words about it, not that i think it would be great to type on*, but that i appreciate the risks it took in 2005. it makes extensive use of layers (and labels them!). you can shift with a thumb! it has a primitive version of finger splay (but in the wrong places), and it's like a slightly-Aliced ortho otherwise. the case is friend-shaped.

*actually, if it had a colemak-dh layout, i would enjoy typing on it, i'm just that kind of gremlin

the NSK has a design kinship with the 40% community, it's like looking into an alternate past where that spirit of experimentation hit earlier. or someone time-traveled with a Vixen and showed it off, but left the designer to work from their memory of it.

most friends who i've shown this to can't get their head around why i would like this. i get that. yeah, that ABCD layout is no fun for people who are used to typing (though this layout could be useful for those who don't type). the colors aren't exactly Good. and for most people, layers and modifiers are off-putting ("SpFn," lol). but i love it and i wanted to know what it felt like, so i mocked it up in inkscape and printed it. it was a bit rough.

all of my good ideas seem to start with bad ideas, so i started playing around. i mixed it with some design ideas and started coming up with new stuff for the first time in a year. one result of this was the Scrunch, from the previous post. it had two goals: to be ergonomic; and to be weird by breaking the limitations of a fixed grid. (we met one of those goals! but it wasn't the important one)

the other i'll probably show off soon. i've handwired it and i've been using it when i'm not working. that one's cute and comfy AND functional and i like it a lot and i think it's going to become something. 🌱