[GB] MTNU Modern Dolch

After the success of Modern Dolch, we found ourselves asking, “What’s next?” Should we run the set again or explore something new? What began as a joke quickly became reality, and Modern Dolch Light was born. This time, in collaboration, Janglad and G Bur (founder of Omnitype) crafted a stunning palette of soft grays and lighter accents, creating a “light mode” version of the original set. We also introduced the famous (or infamous depending on who you ask) horizontally-centered icon mods.

The response was overwhelming. Modern Dolch Light sold over 1,000 base kit units in the first 24 hours, once again setting a new record as the highest-selling keycap set in the mechanical keyboard community at the time with 3,000+ base kits worldwide (over 6,000 total kits).

With one successful run of each colorway and extras selling out in seconds, the aftermarket for Modo® was booming, with sets going for over $350 each! The community was growing rapidly, and what once felt like large numbers couldn’t keep up with the demand. So in 2020, we brought GMK Modern Dolch® back for another run.

As always, we aimed to improve the design, enhancing compatibility and introducing more child kits to suit nearly any keyboard. We also introduced a new base colorway, Modo® Mist, which featured all teal legends in place of the standard white. This round was a massive success, selling over 8,600 base kits and 16,000 total kits worldwide, once again breaking the record for the best-selling set in the community.

Despite the large number of sets, the extra stock sold out in just a couple of months—remarkable at the time, as extras usually sold out within hours. This marked the moment we committed to stocking more extras to make the sets less elusive after the group buy.

t had been a while since the group buys of both Modern Dolch® and Modern Dolch® Light, and the community was shifting toward more in-stock products. To meet this demand, we decided to produce Modo® Light in dye-sub PBT. This allowed us to order larger quantities at a lower cost than GMK double-shot and the product be in-stock, which was very uncommon at the time. After months of searching for a manufacturer that met our standards, we launched OTC Modo® Light in summer 2022, and it quickly sold out multiple times, proving to be a great success.

We never produced the dark version of Modo® in dye-sub due to the need for reverse dye-sublimation, where everything but the legend is printed. This method is required when the legend is lighter than the base color, but it’s significantly more expensive, and we were never able to reduce costs enough to make it viable for customers.

This experiment did allow us to rework some of the colors in the Modo® Light palette for a much more cohesive feel to the set. We lightened up the modifiers and the teal color.

What happens when you blend a modern take on a vintage colorway with a modern twist on a vintage profile?

You get the perfect marriage of modern and classic—a refined design deeply rooted in its original inspiration. Even though Dolch is traditionally tied to the iconic Cherry® profile, it seamlessly fits into MTNU. So much so, it feels like it was always meant to be this way.

For Modo® Light, we decided to tweak two of the colors to better align with our original vision, which didn’t quite come through in the first run. The teal accent has been lightened slightly to create a better complement to the classic Modo® teal. We’ve also lightened the modifier base to achieve a more cohesive contrast with the alphas, ensuring the entire colorway blends together in perfect harmony rather than standing out as separate shades.

We’ve distilled the best elements from past Modern Dolch® runs to create a streamlined lineup of kits. This time, we’re offering base kits in both the OG Modo® and Modo® Light colorways, released simultaneously, along with an accent kit featuring mono accents. And for the first time ever, we’re introducing dedicated base kits for Mac users!