Birdy Altiparlans by Leijing Zhou and Xin An

Birdy Altiparlans by Leijing Zhou and Xin An is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 Praemium A' Design Award Ferreum in Producta Auditiva Competition Category.

FerrumProducta Auditiva· 2023

Birdy Altiparlans

by Leijing Zhou and Xin An

Client: Zhejiang University

Praemium A' Design Award Ferreum Winner in Producta Auditiva 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 Altiparlans

Birdy est altiparlans cum baculo moderatorio in avis formam facto, qui musicae lusum manu gubernari sinit. Pars inferior est altiparlans coniformis cum duobus movimentis quinque wattorum et amplificatore bicanali generis D. Sensorium baculi rectoris in vertice coni motum figurae avis in utraque axi deprehendit. Figura avis antrorsum vel retrorsum mota, sonus augetur vel minuitur; sinistrorsum vel dextrorsum mota, cantus prior vel sequens eligitur. Birdy etiam ut auxiliarius domus sollertis functionatur, vocibus avium respondens. Consilium est ut nexus naturalis et affectuosus inter homines et technologiam creetur.

The Recognition

About the Praemium A' Design Award Ferreum

Birdy Altiparlans victor est Praemii A' Design Award Ferreum, honoris amplissimi formis bonis dati, quae postulatis professionalibus et industrialibus ab creationibus bene formatis exspectatis satisfaciunt. Victores Ferrei magnam peritiam, altam specializationem, intellectum periti et facultatem creandi auctorum suorum ostendunt. Exspectatur Birdy Altiparlans creationem multum aestimatam, admiratam et carissimam, practicam et novam fore. Haec forma Ferreo victa optimas industriae consuetudines integrat et proprietates technicas idoneas, cum scientia et talento coniunctas, habet. Birdy Altiparlans ob diligentiam suam honoratur et ad vitae qualitatem emendandam formatum est, ut mundum meliorem reddere iuvet.

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