Every year the Creative Team at Sentry produces a holiday gift for everyone at the company in a tradition we call Spectivus. Last year we decided to make a keyboard. It turned out pretty rad:

Why a keyboard?

This time around we wanted to do something with more staying power than past gifts, focusing specifically on creating less waste and providing more long-term utility. We thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if this gift was the start of something instead of the end?”

Being an engineering-heavy company, we felt a mechanical keyboard was sufficiently nerdy and could pull double duty as both an awesome gift and a trophy case. The pitch was that over time we would introduce new, limited edition keycaps to celebrate our teammates’ accomplishments at the company.

A few key details

After surveying some of the fastest typers on the team, we decided to go with a 75% layout. This ended up being perfect because it let us have a small/cute form factor, while keeping common characters like the backtick out of tricky function key combos.

We wanted the keyboard to be clearly “Sentry”, so we explored custom colorways that utilized our brand colors. In the end we landed on a scheme that mirrored our use of muted purples and pops of yellows/pinks that you see across the website and app.

The keyboard shipped with Cherry MX red linear switches, a custom programmable knob, and 10 Sentry special edition novelty keys:

Some real talk about vendors

Choosing the right vendor is important. We landed on a partner who was able to customize the keyboards, print custom packaging, and get them to us in time for the holidays. However, while the keyboards looked amazing, the firmware they shipped with has had endless issues. Many units also arrived with hardware problems. The vendor was fast to address what they could, but we ended up spending a lot of time in support mode for our teammates and we hadn’t anticipated that.

Next time around we’ll likely just buy a barebones kit like the GMMK Pro off the shelf, produce a high-end keycap set, and work with our fulfillment partner for assembly. Or better yet, let the recipient build it themselves. That’s part of the fun, right?

What’s next?

Now that this is a thing, we’re following through on building on the keyboard as a platform. We’re starting with tenure keys, hack week and other awards, and keys to commemorate important company milestones.

Every new hire gets one - why not come get your own?

Credits

Design: Hannah Katz and Christine Gan

Copywriting: Maddie Ritchie

Project Management: Yana Boldyreva