corsair gaming strafe

Mechanical Keyboard for the Grown-up Gamer

I worked on this project while at BMW Designworks. The project for Corsair Gaming was to introduce a new cohesive design language for three different products- Headphones, Mouse, and Keyboard.

My key sketch was selected for the design language. The sketch was a headphone design concept, which eventually became the Corsair Gaming VOID headphones. The mouse became the SABRE, and keyboard was the STRAFE. All were based on the same design principle of two interlocking shapes. While other designers have made their own interpretations to my key sketch for the headphones and mouse, I have shown the keyboard here, as it was my design from start to finish.

The purpose of this design language was to bring an element of subtlety to gaming products which are normally loud and sci-fi, sometimes toylike. Although many gamers are young, gaming culture in its core is much like any competitive sport. E-gaming is a rapidly growing market, and the competitors should be likened more to olympic athletes.

The keyboard is, essentially, the precision instrument that gamers use to compete. In the keyboard, the engineering of key switches is extremely important, in terms of response, feel, and visual and tactile feedback.

At the same time it was important to make this design a recognizable icon. The compact, clean design of the top is contrasted by the side lighting that highlights the split of the top and bottom “tectonic plates.” In a dark room, the light is highly visible but not distracting to the user.

The STRAFE became one of the most popular gaming keyboards in the market. Since the first release of STRAFE and STRAFE RGB, they have also released K63 tenkeyless keyboards, K68, and the STRAFE RGB MK.2, keeping nearly the same design language as the original.