As usual the board looks best if you design it as a PCB.

With low cost PCB printing alternatives like jlcpcb, pcbway,... you can get your PCBs nowerdays really cheap.

I use KiCad Open Source Software to design my PCBs. 

Goal was to have 9 Keys orientated around the Board and a proper position for a volume Knob(Rotary Encoder).

The keys should be located around the EInk Display. During the Design phase I could not decide between the Waveshare 2.9" and the Waveshare 2.7". 

If it comes down to Pixel Area the 2.7" has a larger pixel Area but oriented more in a square format(even the numbers woudl guide you in another direction)

On the other hand thge 2.9" was oriented more in a landscape mode and was capable of faster updates.

This decision to make faster EINK updates dominated the pro/Con list.

In the picture below you see The Size of the 2.7 EInk Board compared against the final layout with a 2.9".

(Please note the Art in the silk Screen)

So how does the board look:

Top Side:

Bottom Side:

Honestly Speaking I was using this EINK Part in a different design before. Thats why i recyled this part for this poject 

What gave me most trouble in this design: 

• How much space between the keys. 
• How much space does a Joystick need?
• How much space does a Volume Knob need?
• Does the RGB LED Shine trough the MX Keys Buttons bright enough?