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CONTROL-KNOBS: OKW’S AWARD-WINNING TUNING KNOBS FOR MENU-DRIVEN ELECTRONICS

OKW already offers smart, modern potentiometer knobs for menu-driven electronics. They’ve proved to be extremely popular and continue to be in demand. And now CONTROL-KNOBs are building on that success by offering you greater choice. They’ve just won an iF Design Award 2022, adding another of these prestigious trophies to our burgeoning collection. Here’s an insight into the design ethos that made CONTROL-KNOBS a winner…

Like enclosures, standard tuning knobs must be very discreet in their design. No designer wants to see ‘their’ standard knobs appearing on a rival product. It’s as disappointing as discovering that the door handles of your classic James Bond Lotus Esprit are the same as those used on a humble Morris Marina.

And if anything, knobs face an even greater challenge than enclosures when it comes to discretion because they’re likely to be even more prolific; one knob may be used on any number of different enclosures. That means the knobs must enhance the aesthetics and match the design language of every enclosure they’re used on. They can never be too recognisable in their styling (though our highly distinctive TOP-KNOBs also won an iF award – proving that you can push the boundaries of convention if you do so by offering a wide choice of options).

CONTROL-KNOBs underline their aesthetic credentials by being visibly comfortable to operate: they look good because they look as if they’ll feel good. How? The secret is in the combination of plastics in these two-part knobs.

The inner is moulded from reassuringly tough polycarbonate, known for its strength and rigidity in applications such as car body parts, ski clamp components and anti-vandal glazing. On the outer is soft-touch TPE that we know is popular because we’ve used it on a number of our handheld enclosures. The addition of functional grooves around the edge further enhances the look and feel.