Birdy Speaker by Leijing Zhou and Xin An

Birdy Speaker by Leijing Zhou and Xin An is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award Basi in Produk Audio Competition Category.

BasiProduk Audio· 2023

Birdy Speaker

by Leijing Zhou and Xin An

Client: Zhejiang University

A' Design Award Basi Winner in Produk Audio 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 Speaker

Birdy adolah speaker jo tongkek kontrol babantuak buruang nan mambuek musik bisa diatur jo tangan. Bagian bawahnyo marupokan speaker babantuak karucuik jo duo driver 5W sarato amplifier kelas D duo-saluran. Sensor joystick di bagian ateh karucuik mandeteksi garakan figur buruang tu pado kaduo sumbunyo. Kok figur buruang tu diayun ka muko atau ka balakang, volume ka bakurang atau batambah, sadangkan kok diayun ka kida atau ka suok, lagu sabalunnyo atau lagu barikuiknyo ka dipiliah. Birdy pun bisa bafungsi sabagai asisten rumah pintar nan manyauik bunyi buruang. Rancangan iko batujuan mambuek hubungan nan alami sarato baraso antaro manusia jo teknologi.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Basi

Birdy Speaker adolah pamenang A' Design Award Basi, sabuah pangakuan nan bapresti nan dibarikan ka rancangan nan elok nan mamanuhi kaparluan profesional jo industri nan dipaokan dari ciptaan nan dirancang jo elok. Pamenang Basi mamparlihatkan kamahiran nan gadang, spesialisasi nan tinggi, pamahaman pakar jo kapasitas kreatif panciptanyo. Birdy Speaker dipaokan manjadi ciptaan nan sangaik dihormati, dikagumi jo disayangi, nan praktis jo inovatif. Rancangan nan manang Basi iko mamasukkan praktik tabaik industri jo punyo ciri teknis nan cakap nan bapautan jo ilimu jo bakaik. Birdy Speaker dihormati karano katalitiannyo jo dirancang untuak maningkekkan kualitas hiduik jo mambantu manjadikan dunia tampek nan labiah elok.

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