In this tutorial you will learn how to add color to text within your custom layout file.
By default we will print your text colors as they are submitted to us. It's very important to make sure that whatever text colors you use in your file are the text colors you want printed on your keycaps.
For example: on our site customizer you have a black key as your "Esc" key, but you want it to say "Esc" in white text, please make this text white on your submitted file.
Follow our tutorial below on how to change the color of text on your submitted file.
1. Select the text you want to add a custom color to
2. Open the Fill and Stroke Dialog panel, Object > Fill and Stroke (Ctrl+Shift+F)
3. Click on the Fill tab, next click on Flat Color, then click on the Wheel tab
Use the color wheel to select the color you desire. Use the outer wheel first to select the color, then use the inner triangle to fine tune your selected color by adjusting the saturation and tint.
2. Open the Fill and Stroke Dialog panel, Object > Fill and Stroke (Ctrl+Shift+F)
3. Click on the Fill tab, next click on Flat Color, then click on the Wheel tab
Use the color wheel to select the color you desire. Use the outer wheel first to select the color, then use the inner triangle to fine tune your selected color by adjusting the saturation and tint.
If you want to match the text color to some of the keycap colors you have chosen on the site customizer, here is a reference;
| Black #1A1A1A
|
White #FFFFFF
|
Beige #D0CCC0
|
Slate #96938E
|
Graphite #60605B
|
Charcoal #373534
|
Pink #FBBBC9
|
| Red #C9282D
|
Maroon #5F3032
|
Mint #8ED7B0
|
Green #1DB63A
|
Woodland #53682B
|
Sky #5EB1E7
|
Royal #0046AD
|
| Navy #002E5F
|
Yellow #F8D615
|
Orange #F67F00
|
Olive #766E54
|
Brown #6F4C23
|
Lavender #AC97D8
|
Purple #43165E
|
This can also be viewed here; https://www.wasdkeyboards.com/designer-text-color
Comments
15 comments
Is it possible to use a custom text color in the layout along with custom keycap colors? In that case, do I choose 'blank' for the alphanumeric layout style when checking out?
You can use any text/print colors you like in your custom layout file, and leave the default text color field as black priority on the product page. If you just want one text color for everything, you can set it in your file, or leave everything in your file as black and choose a custom text color on the product page. We have someone look over the file when setting it up for print, so if we have any questions, we'll contact you.
You can set the various layout options to "blank" if you wish. These will be overridden when submitting a custom layout file, so it is OK to leave these sections at their defaults.
I have been having some trouble custom coloring the keys in inkscape. I made the key grids and key frames invisible and just left the clipping mask, then used the fill tool but it never filled the entire outline to the line and leaves a white space around the entire key on the inside, then if I try to fill the white space, it only partially fills it with tiny slivers of color and leaves tiny white lines between each attempt. It also seems to do it with each fill attempt. For example, if I fill it once with black, then fill it again to change the color to red, it will have the white ring just inside the line, and then a black ring all around it inside of that.
I noticed I can also just make boxes of color that cover the entire clipping mask key outline, it goes over the rounded lines for the corners though. I am wondering if it would be safer for me to do that so I know for sure the color will cover the entire thing?
Here is an example of most of the things I mentioned, pictured. The white ring inside the outline on all the reds, and the black ring when I changed the top ones from black to grey, then the top red ones are the box strategy.
https://gyazo.com/93fbc884c42cb71cba557801ad2baee5
Edit: I think I just accidentally found somewhat of an answer. If I use the fill tool when zoomed in really far (so one key takes up most of the screen) the white lines are much, much smaller. It still exists but it is workable. Still open to a proper solution though and I would still like to know if it makes more sense to go over the lines to be sure like in the picture.
Also curious if the image is printed just on the top of the key and the base color is used for the sides regardless, or if everything from the outline is stretched over the entire key (down the sides).
Example: (zoomed in fill on left, fill at normal size on right)
https://gyazo.com/4ffe31c1a1d8191ba8c35ea30ccf1c43
Key colors should be designated in the online designer tool on the product page, not in the Inkscape file. Your custom layout file should only contain what you want printed on the key tops.
We can print on the entire top surface of the keys (key frame shapes) The sides of the keys will just be whatever color the key is, and not receive any printing.
I hope that helps, feel free to email us if you have any more issues with Inkscape.
Is anything printed on the parts left transparent in the template?. Ie if I were to define just the letters, the tops of the key caps will remain the same colour?
That's correct. Anything you leave transparent in your template file will not receive any print. In your example, the letters would print in the color(s) designated, and the key color will show everywhere else.
For the keycaps colour, am I only allowed to choose those on the V2 Designer? Can i get keycaps with custom colours using the template?
We carry 21 keycap colors, as shown on the online designer tool. The custom layout file can only contain what you want printed on the keycaps. We are not able to create custom colored keycaps order by order, sorry.
I'm looking to make a two-tone keyboard, with blue keycaps / yellow text and with yellow keycaps / blue text.
To do this I will need the RGB correspondence of the "true" color of the "Navy Blue" and "Yellow" keycap, to make the text color match the keycap's color.
Having all the RGB color correspondences for keycaps maybe also be useful for other novice designers like me ;) .
Unless the online designer tool already provides the "true" colors of keycap, in this case i can "get" them via a print screen.
Hi,
On the new site, there are swatches for all our standard colors already, so you can just select the navy blue swatch and the yellow swatch and those colors are preset to match out keycap colors.
If you're creating a custom layout file and would like the exact color values, we can certainly provide them. https://www.wasdkeyboards.com/designer-text-color
Thanks for the suggestion of listing them, we'll see about doing that in the future.
Hi Paige!
I have a question: I created my own custom layout for a WASD V3 88 ISO keyboard.
It was made on Adobe Illustrator. Left the colors on the keycaps and characters untouched, I just changed the contents with my own font and icons.
So, before that I used the layout designer on the website to go through those series of steps.
Even selected the colors I wanted for the keycaps and for the text on those keycaps.
Then, once I've uploaded my AI file (200kb) I couldn't preview my layout and I'm not sure that you guys will print the correct colors on the keycaps (letters included).
How can I be sure of this? I'm using the default colors you guys have at the website.
Should I edit my custom layout and insert the colors there?
Can you help me, please?
Thank you!
Hi,
The site only allows the keycap colors to be selected for custom layouts, sorry for any confusion. Everything you want printed should be contained in your file. If you're unsure about exact print colors, you can request we use the print colors to match our keycap colors. The keycap color hex values can be used from the previous link, if desired.
Thank you for your reply :)
So, if I understood correctly, I have to:
- Edit my AI file to include the desired colors I want on the keycaps and letters.
- Also choose the colors on the layout designer.
- Also mention that I want the keycap colors on my file to match the ones I selected on the layout designer.
(I don't know if this last one is an unnecessary extra-step, but I might as well be safe and mention that)
Your AI file only needs to contain the print: any colors, images, and fonts you want to use. The keycap colors are referenced from the online designer tool. If you want to make sure the print colors in your file match some of the keycap colors you use, you can mention that if you like. I hope that helps! Sorry for any confusion.
So, can we use the colours we want to, or are we fixed to the ones of the site?
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