Anyone involved in the day-to-day business of editing video, designing layouts or any number of other creative computer-based endeavours will know that it’s all about the buttons. Mice and pens are excellent interfaces, but the modern obsession with touchscreen control cuts no ice with creators weaned on complex keyboard shortcuts and the physical feedback you get from dials and buttons.
Logitech has unveiled just the product to keep muscle memory in training, joining a coterie of specialist tech suppliers like Wacom and Xencelabs who have long tapped the design market’s very demanding requirements. Can the MX Creative Console elbow its way to designers’ desktops around the world?
The product consists of two elements, a battery-powered customisable dial and roller, along with a separate keypad grid of nine keys that can accommodate up to 15 pages of inputs. Each key can be assigned to a shortcut, from commonly used tools to media tools in applications like Spotify. Combine this with the dialpad and you have fingertip control over the relevant software.
Bluetooth support also comes as standard, and the MX Creative Console is finished in either Graphite or Pale Grey. Logitech has managed to use 72 per cent post-consumer recycled plastic in the housing, together with specially developed ‘micro textures’ instead of conventional paint finishes, and renewably produced aluminium components.
The hardware looks to be up to Logitech’s usual high standards, bolstered by decades of building accessories across both Mac and PC eco-systems. The MX is also cross-platform and has a particular focus on the tools in Adobe Creative Cloud, with tailored plugins that work across Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro and the other widely used packages. Each console will also come with a three-month Creative Cloud membership.
Logitech MX Creative Console, £199.99, Logitech.com, Amazon.co.uk
