Nigel CHOI

“Time and resource of a designer is limited. It is wise to engage more people and drive a new trend.”

The birth of a product is not given by the designer oneself. Take ChonkerKeys as an example. The designer, Nigel Choi, has been working closely with the manufacturer as early as the conception stage, for the purpose of identifying potential production obstacles, ensuring that they can be overcome before the product is eventually launched.

ChonkerKeys is designed for participants of video conferences to control their devices and use different functions simply by pressing on a USB keypad, as well as to notice whether they have muted themselves via visual feedbacks.

Though convenient, Nigel is well aware that new technology often gives people a sense of distance. Nigel observed many other product designs to spark ideas on how such distance can be shortened. Finally, he created elements including the large luminous buttons, changeable key caps etc., which making the final product fun, highly customized and user-friendly.

Hand in Hand and Drive the Product Trend

ChonkerKeys is currently on the market. As for the next step, Nigel plans to set up a platform and provide blueprints of key caps. Other designers and even people from all walks of life can generate new buttons, reposition them and make their own USB keypads. “Time and resource of a designer is limited. It is wise to engage more people and drive a new trend,” said Nigel.

Nigel CHOI

Founder & CEO, ANWC Limited

Nigel Choi invented ChonkerKeys after his “Leave Meeting” project went viral on the r/MechanicalKeyboards subreddit. Keenly aware of the “you’re on mute” problem, he developed ChonkerKeys to help people navigate Zoom meetings and computer programs with large buttons that can be repositioned and reconfigured. He used his multiple 3D printers and learned industrial design to iterate toward the ChonkerKeys product. Nigel was an engineer at Google and Yahoo!, where he developed online platforms and apps for mobile devices. Before working on ChonkerKeys full-time in 2021, Nigel was a business consultant with McKinsey & Company. He has a master’s degree in Computer Science from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.