Knobworks
An AI design asset library that lets product and dashboard designers drop authentic Soviet-era control-room aesthetics — analog dials, oversized toggle switches, indicator lamps — into their mockups with one click.
Product designers, UX designers, and creative directors building dashboards, admin tools, or industrial-themed interfaces
- Curated vector library: 500+ analog gauges, dial clusters, rocker switches, CRT-screen textures, panel rivets
- 'Control room' style transfer that re-skins a Figma dashboard into an industrial-aesthetic mockup in seconds
- Material/print spec sheets so mockups translate to real-world industrial design (brushed steel, bakelite, painted steel)
- Community gallery of 'concrete brutalist dashboards' designers can fork and remix
The article is trending on Hacker News 8 years after publication because the aesthetic is back in vogue — brutalist web, anti-skeuomorphic dashboards, and industrial-style creator portfolios are everywhere on Are.na and Dribbble, but a focused asset library for the look doesn't exist.
Niche aesthetic with limited scale: Dribbble shows only 25 'Industrial Dashboard' designs; the original 2018 HN article did not surface in current search results, suggesting the trend is not broadly active.Industrial Dashboard designs, themes, templates and ... - Dribbble ↗Vintage UI Design Gold Mine: Here's a Photo Database of Old Control Panels - Core77 ↗
Already partially served by 'Vintage Industrial Controls' and 'Dials in UI' Figma community files, plus a 'sovietic design' tag on design.rip — no single focused Soviet-control-room library, but the niche is occupied.Vintage Industrial Controls - Figma ↗Dials in UI - Figma ↗sovietic design - UI/UX Design Resources, Mockups & 3D Assets ↗
Figma Community files are overwhelmingly free; premium UI kits exist but a hyper-specific Soviet-control-room niche caps addressable buyers and willingness to pay above standard asset rates.How to Actually Make Money With Figma — And Which Path Fits You ↗How to Make Money with Figma in 2024: The Expert's Guide ↗
Aesthetic micro-trends like brutalist/industrial UI tend to be cyclical 2–4 year waves; the Soviet-specific framing narrows it further than general brutalism.Dashboard Design Examples That Actually Work | Muzli Blog ↗
A curated Figma/Sketch library plus AI-augmented variant generation is straightforward to assemble from existing renders and is well-trodden territory for solo creators.Vintage Industrial Controls - Figma ↗