Birdy Manu Leo by Leijing Zhou and Xin An

Birdy Manu Leo by Leijing Zhou and Xin An is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award Hao in Hoʻolālā Lako Leo a me Mea Kani Competition Category.

HaoLako Leo· 2023

Birdy Manu Leo

by Leijing Zhou and Xin An

Client: Zhejiang University

A' Design Award Hao Winner in Lako Leo 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 Manu Leo

He manu leo ʻo Birdy me kahi lāʻau hoʻokele i kālaiʻia i ke ʻano manu e hiki ai ke hoʻokele ʻia ka hoʻokani mele ma ka lima. ʻO ka ʻāpana lalo he manu leo i ke ʻano hue me nā mea hoʻokani ʻelua (5W kēlā me kēia) a me kahi hoʻonui leo kelasi D ʻelua kahawai. Aia ma luna o ka hue kahi mea ʻike joystick e ʻike ai i ka neʻe ʻana o ke kiʻi manu ma nā kihi ʻelua. Ke hoʻoluliluli ʻia ke kiʻi manu i mua a i hope paha, hoʻoponopono ʻia ka leo nui; a ke hoʻoluliluli ʻia ia i ka ʻākau a i ka hema paha, koho ʻia ke mele mua a i ʻole ke mele aʻe. Hana pū ʻo Birdy ma ke ʻano he kōkua home akamai e pane ana i nā leo manu. Ua hoʻolālā ʻia kēia mea e hoʻokumu i pilina kūlohelohe a naʻau ma waena o ke kanaka a me ka ʻenehana.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Hao

Ua lanakila ka hoʻolālā Birdy Manu Leo i ka A' Design Award Hao, he ʻike hoʻohanohano i hāʻawi ʻia i nā hoʻolālā maikaʻi e hoʻokō ana i nā koi ʻoihana a ʻoihana hana i manaʻo ʻia mai nā mea hoʻokumu i hana maikaʻi ʻia. Hōʻike nā lanakila Hao i ka mākau nui, ka loea kiʻekiʻe, ka ʻike akamai a me ka hiki hana noʻeau o ka poʻe i hana iā lākou. Manaʻo ʻia ʻo ka hoʻolālā Birdy Manu Leo he mea hoʻokumu i mahalo nui ʻia, hoʻohiwahiwa ʻia a aloha ʻia e pono a hou. ʻO kēia hoʻolālā i lanakila i ka A' Design Award Hao e hoʻohui ana i nā hana maikaʻi loa o ka ʻoihana a loaʻa nā ʻano ʻenehana mākaukau i hui pū ʻia me ka ʻike hana a me ka makakoho. Mahalo ʻia ka hoʻolālā Birdy Manu Leo no kona nānā pono a ua hoʻolālā ʻia e hāʻawi i nā hoʻomaikaʻi ola e kōkua ai i ka hana ʻana i ka honua i wahi maikaʻi aku.

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