Poly Beat Función Principal: Xoguete de Exercicio Rítmico by Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai

Poly Beat Función Principal: Xoguete de Exercicio Rítmico by Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 A' Design Award de Ferro in Deseño de Xoguetes, Xogos e Produtos de Lecer Competition Category.

FerroXoguete· 2024

Poly Beat Función Principal: Xoguete de Exercicio Rítmico

by Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai

Client: Zhejiang University

A' Design Award de Ferro Winner in Xoguete Category

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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

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The Design

About Poly Beat Función Principal: Xoguete de Exercicio Rítmico

Texto do Libro: Poly Beat é un xoguete de exercicio rítmico deseñado para nenos. Utilízanse políxonos xeométricos para facer visible o ritmo musical, axudando aos nenos a comprender as notas e os patróns rítmicos. O xoguete está feito de plástico moldeado por inxección. Os nenos inseren bloques de notas en discos e colocan catro discos nunha base en forma de columna. Unha cámara na parte superior le as cores dos bloques, e un botón reproduce o son rítmico correspondente. Un segundo botón cambia o son entre batería, marimba, piano ou guitarra. A montaxe libre dos bloques permite aos nenos crear os seus propios ritmos.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Ferro

Poly Beat Función Principal: Xoguete de Exercicio Rítmico gañou o A' Design Award de Ferro, un recoñecemento prestixioso outorgado a bos deseños que cumpren os requisitos profesionais e industriais esperados de creacións ben deseñadas. Os gañadores Ferro demostran a gran habilidade, a alta especialización, a comprensión experta e a capacidade creativa dos seus creadores. Espérase que Poly Beat Función Principal: Xoguete de Exercicio Rítmico sexa unha creación moi apreciada, admirada e querida que é práctica e innovadora. Este deseño gañador do A' Design Award de Ferro integra as mellores prácticas do sector e ten características técnicas competentes ligadas ao saber facer e ao talento. Poly Beat Función Principal: Xoguete de Exercicio Rítmico é respectado pola súa minuciosidade e está deseñado para proporcionar melloras na calidade de vida que axudan a facer do mundo un lugar mellor.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

Unique Properties: PolyBeat is designed for children, aiming to help them learn music theory through a fun and interactive way. Geometric polygons have a strong correlation with music rhythm, which can visualize the sound of rhythm, help children understand the relationship between music genres and drum rhythm patterns, and figure out the rhythm pattern.
Dimensions & Packaging: The dimension of the product is 140mm*140mm*280mm, and the dimensions of each disc are 130mm*130mm*18mm
Tags: Music Interaction Tool, Multi-sensory, Children, Visualization, Rhythm Learning
Production Technology: The product is made of injection-moulded plastic and uses a camera on the top to identify the colour of the blocks that the child is building, so that the corresponding music can be played.
Design Challenge: PolyBeat offers children with a new multi-sensory way to learn rhythm and provides an easy-to-use tool for children to create music . However, the musical score also includes pitches and more complex advanced beats. We did not evaluate whether PolyBeat can have a long-term impact on children’s learning and interests. We will conduct a long-term follow-up study to further evaluate the practical effects of PolyBeat in music education. In the future, we could consider how to better integrate PolyBeat into real-world scenarios, such as home and school, to expand the possibilities of multi-player collaboration.
Research: Orff Schulwerk teaching method encourages that children should feel and express music with whole heart and improvisation. But understanding the abstract concept of musical notes is still very difficult. We propose PolyBeat, a toy that provides interactive rhythm practice and creation for children. The tool visualizes the abstract notes in a multi-sensory way to develop children’s musicality with a more interesting, gamified learning procedure. We designed 8 types of tangible blocks which can be stacked like a rainbow tower to represent basic notes, distinguished with different colors and block sizes. Children can play in two modes: a) learning mode and b) creation mode. We conducted a user study to evaluate children’s rhythmic control. The results show that PolyBeat significantly stimulated children’s interest in playing music, thus improving the efficiency of children’s rhythmic education and creativity in music.
Inspiration: For preschool children, they can try simple clapping and tapping exercises based on music. However, the current music education system requires learners to repeat the exercises many times, which is boring and tedious for them. Building blocks are always a favourite type of toy for children, so we wanted children to be able to learn and create music through the use of building blocks.
Project Duration: The project started in April 2023 in Zhejiang, China and finished in August 2023 in Zhejiang, China
Operation Flow: Children can assemble the blocks freely to create their own rhythms. The child inserts each music note block into the disc, and then puts the disc into the column base. After 4 discs are put into the column base, the child can press the "Play Music" button to play the corresponding rhythmic sound. When the child presses the "Switch Instrument" button, the rhythmic sound can be switched to different instruments, including drums, marimba, piano, guitar, and so on.
Team Members: Leijing Zhou
Haoye Dong
Kecheng Jin
Xueyan Cai
Shichao Huang
Zhengke Li
Xin An
Shang Shi
Xiaolong Li
Yuqi Hu
Cheng Yao
Image Credits: Haoye Dong
Kecheng Jin