Birdy Loft by Leijing Zhou and Xin An is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award yn Izer in Audio- en Lûdapparatuer Ûntwerp Competition Category.

IzerAudioprodukten· 2023

Birdy Loft

by Leijing Zhou and Xin An

Client: Zhejiang University

A' Design Award yn Izer Winner in Audioprodukten Category

16,701

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #149441

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Birdy Loft

Birdy is in lûdsprekker mei in fûgelfoarmige besturingsstok dy't it mooglik makket muzykwerjefte mei de hân te behearen. It ûnderste part is in kegelfoarmige lûdsprekker mei twa 5W-drivers en in dûbelkanaals klasse-D-ferstjerker. In joystick-sensor boppe-oan de kegel registrearret de beweging fan it fûgelfiguerke op beide assen. It hinne en wer swaaien fan it fûgelfiguerke nei foaren of efteren regelet it folume, wylst it swaaien nei links of rjochts it foarige of folgjende ferske selektearret. Birdy funksjonearret ek as in smart-home-assistint dy't reageart op fûgelroppen. It ûntwerp is bedoeld om in natuerlike en emosjonele ferbining tusken minsken en technology te kreëarjen.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award yn Izer

Birdy Loft is in winner fan de A' Design Award yn Izer, in prestisjeuze erkenning foar goede ûntwerpen dy't foldogge oan de profesjonele en yndustriële easken dy't ferwachte wurde fan goed ûntwurpen skeppings. Izerwinners litte grutte feardigens, hege spesjalisaasje, deskundich begryp en kreatyf fermogen fan har makkers sjen. Fan Birdy Loft wurdt ferwachte dat it in tige heech achte, bewûndere en dierbere skepping is dy't praktysk en ynnovatyf is. Dit winnende ûntwerp fan de A' Design Award yn Izer yntegrearret de bêste praktiken fan de sektor en hat feardige technyske skaaimerken ferbûn mei kennis en talint. Birdy Loft wurdt respektearre foar syn yngeandens en is ûntwurpen om ferbetteringen fan de kwaliteit fan it libben te leverjen dy't helpe de wrâld ta in bettere plak te meitsjen.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Birdy provides a more engaging way to control music playback. With its bird-shaped game stick, users can interact with their music in a unique and interesting way, making the experience feel more natural and intuitive. Designed to emulate the experience of touching and interacting with a live creature, Birdy provides a refreshing departure from traditional, lifeless speakers.
Dimensions & Packaging: The full height of the product is 316mm. The bottom cone speaker is 250mm high and the maximum diameter is 142mm.
Tags: Speaker, Emotional design, Bird, Bionics, Natural
Production Technology: The speaker features two 5W drivers with a dual-channel class D amplifier. On the top of the cone is a joystick sensor that detects the movement of the bird above it in both XY axes, thus controlling the music playback.
Design Challenge: The biggest challenge of the design is how to give an emotional connection to a technological artifact. We were inspired by the interaction between humans and birds, where birds have a natural connection to music. This led us to design Birdy, a speaker that offers a more natural and intuitive way to interact with technology, bridging the gap between the digital and physical worlds.
Research: People communicate emotionally with their pets and we have studied various interactions between people and their pets and found that we were inspired by the interaction between humans and bird pets, where on the one hand birds have a natural connection to music and on the other hand their physical interaction between human and birds can be extracted as a way to control the music.
Inspiration: The design of Birdy is inspired by the way bird breeders often stroke and interact with their pets. The bird is located at the top and the bottom is a conical speaker. It is designed to foster emotional connections between users and the device, creating a more natural and seamless user experience.
Project Duration: The project started in March 2021 in Qingdao and finished in September 2022 in Ningbo.
Operation Flow: Users can control their music playback by swinging the bird-shaped game stick at the top, similar to a joystick. Swinging the bird backward or forward adjusts the volume, while swinging it left or right skips to the previous or next song. Additionally, Birdy is also a smart home assistant that responds to different bird calls.
Team Members: Leijing Zhou
Xin An
Image Credits: Xin An