Press Release
Soundmotion Interactive Music Speaker by Zhujun Pang Receives the A' Design Award in Audio and Sound Equipment Design
The international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Zhujun Pang for audio and sound equipment design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 17, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ Soundmotion Interactive Music Speaker by Zhujun Pang has been granted the A' Design Award in the Audio and Sound Equipment Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The award was conferred within the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the A' Design Award Means
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
Regarding Soundmotion Interactive Music Speaker
Soundmotion is an interactive music speaker designed for couples in long-distance relationships. Each partner owns one device, and each device is linked to the Soundmotion application. Sliding the top of the device to a set position switches between private listening and a shared Couple Channel, where songs play at the same time. A colored ring allows users to select and send emojis to express feelings. The device measures 110 by 160 by 110 millimeters. Soundmotion joins music sharing with simple tangible interaction to support a sense of presence between partners.
About Zhujun Pang
Zhujun Pang is an industrial designer proficient in multiple 3D design software, with a solid foundation in aesthetic expression. During her studies in the Netherlands, she extensively explored and studied new human-computer interaction technologies and user experience-related design research methods. This enabled her to venture beyond traditional aesthetics and explore experiential innovation from multiple dimensions. She is dedicated to researching how to create rich interactions through tangible and multi-sensory interactions, striving to achieve a harmonious integration of form, function, and interaction in design.
Award Record
With this recognition, Zhujun Pang is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Audio and Sound Equipment Design Award
The A' Audio Products Design Award is an international product design competition recognizing best audio equipment by leading designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to audio product designers, sound equipment designers, industrial designers and product engineers from all countries. Typical entries include headphones, microphones, speakers, amplifiers, soundbars and turntables. The awarded audio products designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/audio-products
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/157471
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/157471
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!157471
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/352196
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.behance.net/gallery/179177771/SoundMotion
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Soundmotion Interactive Music Speaker
- Function
- Interactive Music Speaker
- Category
- Audio and Sound Equipment Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Electronics & Appliances and Entertainment
- Colors
- Silver, Light Gray, Snow, White Smoke and Dark Gray
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Zhujun Pang
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2023 - 2024
- Design ID
- #157471
Credits
- Image Credits
- Zhujun Pang, 2023
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Soundmotion is a communication system crafted for long-distance relationship couple, aiming to foster seamless interaction through the integration of synchronized music listening and tangible engagement. The physical device is integrated with the Soundmotion application. By flipping the top of the device to different specific angles, users can choose between using the device as a regular music player or playing songs from the Couple channel and engaging in simple interactions with their partner.
- Inspiration
- Research shows music-sharing significantly contributes to maintaining and enhancing intimate relationships. Existing music players and streaming platforms, focused on individual experiences, rarely notice the potential of integrating the two aspects. Hence, Soundmotion is designed to deepen the connection between long-distance relationship couples through shared music experiences, enriched with a rich interactive design.
- Research
- Exploring the use of music to facilitate implicit emotional communication between long-distance couples has emerged as a new design exploration space. Data collected through interviews and workshops conducted during the early stages of this design project indicate that music sharing can create daily topics for couples, provide a sense of presence through synchronized listening, and convey emotions and care through shared music.
- Challenge
- The core challenge faced by this project is how to create a rich yet lightweight music-sharing experience for users. It aims to satisfy the entertaining aspect of couples' interaction while ensuring that such interactions do not pose a communication burden or disrupt their respective daily lives. Additionally, the project emphasizes emotional design, requiring simultaneous consideration across the dimensions of form, function, and interaction. It must meet the functional needs of emotional communication while providing users with a sense of presence and companionship from both the product's physical form and interactive feedback.
- Realization and Technology
- Soundmotion utilizes the ESP8266 as its hardware platform to control the product's hardware and establish a connection with the Soundmotion server. This enables the transfer of emoji feedback data generated during user interaction, allowing Soundmotion to analyze the data using the Web API and provide personalized music recommendations for couples.
- Operation and Interaction
- Both partners in the couple each own a Soundmotion physical device, which is linked to their respective app accounts. Couples establish online and offline connections by jointly creating a Couple Channel in the app. Users can switch their status by sliding the device's top to a specific position, choosing between enjoying music individually or synchronizing with their partner in the Couple Channel. Additionally, users can express their emotions by selecting and sending emojis through the colored ring on the device.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in January 2023 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and finished in June 2023 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
- Specifications
- Length 110mm x Width 160mm x Height 110mm
- Keywords
- Music sharing experience, Tangible interaction design, Long-distance relationship, Sound and Media, Multi-sensory Experience
