Dinkum Aikace-aikacen Wayar Hannu by Tobias Kappeler

Dinkum Aikace-aikacen Wayar Hannu by Tobias Kappeler is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 Kyautar A' Design Award ta Baƙin Ƙarfe in Wayar Hannu Competition Category.

Baƙin ƘarfeWayar Hannu· 2022

Dinkum Aikace-aikacen Wayar Hannu

by Tobias Kappeler

Client: Tobias Kappeler Design

Kyautar A' Design Award ta Baƙin Ƙarfe Winner in Wayar Hannu Category

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The Design

About Dinkum Aikace-aikacen Wayar Hannu

Dinkum wani aikace-aikacen wayar hannu ne na sadarwa ta sauti mai fadin sarari. Dinkum yana sanya tattaunawar nesa a cikin yanayin sauti wanda za a iya daidaitawa. Masu amfani za su iya zaɓar ɗaya daga cikin girman ɗakuna guda uku, waɗanda aka bayyana a matsayin na kusanci, na yau da kullun, da kuma na kasada. Masu amfani kuma za su iya zaɓar sautukan bango na ambisonic, wato tsarin sauti mai kewaya sarari gaba ɗaya, wanda ya dace da nau'in tattaunawar da mahalarta. Za a iya canza nisa zuwa sauran mahalarta a lokacin kiran. Manufar ita ce ƙara jin kasancewa da kuma sa tattaunawar nesa ta zama ta dabi'a da sauƙi.

The Recognition

About the Kyautar A' Design Award ta Baƙin Ƙarfe

Zanen Dinkum Aikace-aikacen Wayar Hannu ya lashe Kyautar A' Design Award ta Baƙin Ƙarfe, wata karramawa mai daraja da ake bai wa kyawawan zane-zane waɗanda ke cika buƙatun ƙwararru da masana'antu da ake tsammani daga ƙirƙire-ƙirƙire da aka tsara da kyau. Waɗanda suka lashe kyautar Baƙin Ƙarfe suna nuna babban ƙwarewa, ƙwarewa ta musamman, fahimtar ƙwararru da ikon ƙirƙira na masu ƙirƙirar su. Ana sa ran zanen Dinkum Aikace-aikacen Wayar Hannu ya zama ƙirƙira da ake girmamawa sosai, ake sha'awa da ƙauna wacce ke da amfani kuma mai sababbin abubuwa. Wannan zane da ya lashe Kyautar A' Design Award ta Baƙin Ƙarfe yana haɗa mafi kyawun ayyukan fannin kuma yana da halayen fasaha masu cancanta da ke da alaƙa da sanin yadda da baiwa. Ana girmama zanen Dinkum Aikace-aikacen Wayar Hannu saboda cikakkiyar kulawarsa kuma an tsara shi don ba da ingantuwar rayuwa da ke taimakawa wajen mai da duniya wuri mafi kyau.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

Unique Properties: Dinkum is a spatial audio communication tool that allows users to immerse themselves in customisable audio environments. Users can select from three room sizes (intimate, casual, adventurous) and different ambisonic (full-sphere surround sound format) background sounds that match the type of conversation and people they are speaking to. People can change their distance to other participants throughout the conversation, which adds an extra layer of interaction to remote conversations. Dinkum can increase participants sense of presence and intimacy in the conversation and increase conversation fluency.
Dimensions & Packaging: Dinkum was developed using the 3D Tune-In Toolkit real-time binaural spatialisation tool. This was utilised as a VST plugin within Ableton Live. The 3D Tune in Toolkit simulates the reverberation of different room sizes, the distance to the listener and the direction to the sound source. For user testing, I’ve developed a signal processing path that allows me to send an audio recording from a binaural microphone through Zoom.
Tags: Communication, Spatial Audio, Interaction design, Immersive experiences, Audio & Sound, Mobile application, Teleconferencing, Conversations,
Production Technology: The project was developed through iterative prototyping, intensive user testing and a strong collaboration between academia and industry. I used different plugins for the spatialisation of mono audio files in a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and tested the experiences with different people. Furthermore, I built a binaural microphone for in-depth user testing with multiple people. I established a signal-processing path that allowed me to test with various users while being remote.
Design Challenge: The challenge was to create an environment that allowed me to test with the necessary fidelity and change the audio in real-time. An additional challenge was the visual representation of a 3D space with characters on a small smartphone screen which is easy to understand, interact with and is visually pleasing and unique. I overcame this through prototyping the interactions on the phone while affecting the audio and visual interface in real-time through OSC protocol and user feedback.
Research: The project started with an academic literature review and interviews on real-time spatialisation technologies. After intensive ideation on different applications, I moved into early experimentation and prototyping to get a better feel and understanding of the technology and its value. I used an iterative and human-centred design approach focusing on the experience. Experiments were analyzed with questionnaires with a Likert scale focusing on the presence and intimacy.
Inspiration: Throughout the pandemic, I realised the difficulties of remote collaboration and the lack of attention to the audio side of the experience. We are flooded with visual stimuli but a lot of these experiences lack the emotional aspect of the experience. User research and secondary research into spatial audio technologies strongly informed the development. As a music producer and DJ, I’m fascinated by the emotional characteristics of audio.
Project Duration: The project started in January 2021 and was developed by myself for my MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering until June 2021. The project will be exhibited at the yearly graduation show of the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London in June 2021.
Operation Flow: To start a conversation, select the participants you want to speak to, select the room size which matches your conversations and participants, (Intimate, Casual, Adventurous) select the ambisonic background sounds and then start the call. Users can leave the room and create a new room during the conversations with individual participants. For recurring conversations, users can save groups and settings. In case a conversation drastically changes the topic.
Team Members: Tobias Kappeler