Poly Beat Rytmträningsleksak by Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai

Poly Beat Rytmträningsleksak by Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 A' Design Award i Järn in Leksaks-, Spel- och Hobbyproduktdesign Competition Category.

JärnLeksak· 2024

Poly Beat Rytmträningsleksak

by Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai

Client: Zhejiang University

A' Design Award i Järn Winner in Leksak Category

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Verified Award Winner

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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Poly Beat Rytmträningsleksak

Poly Beat är en rytmträningsleksak designad för barn. Geometriska polygoner används för att göra musikalisk rytm synlig, vilket hjälper barn att förstå toner och rytmmönster. Leksaken är tillverkad av formsprutad plast. Barn sätter in notblock i skivor och placerar fyra skivor i en pelarbas. En kamera högst upp läser av blockens färger, och en knapp spelar upp motsvarande rytmiska ljud. En andra knapp växlar ljudet till trummor, marimba, piano eller gitarr. Fri sammansättning av blocken gör att barn kan skapa sina egna rytmer.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award i Järn

Poly Beat Rytmträningsleksak är vinnare av A' Design Award i Järn, ett prestigefyllt erkännande som tilldelas bra designverk som uppfyller de professionella och industriella krav som förväntas av välgjorda skapelser. Järnvinnare visar stor skicklighet, hög specialisering, expertförståelse och skaparnas kreativa förmåga. Poly Beat Rytmträningsleksak förväntas vara en högt skattad, beundrad och älskad skapelse som är praktisk och innovativ. Detta vinnande verk i A' Design Award i Järn integrerar branschens bästa praxis och har kompetenta tekniska egenskaper kopplade till kunnande och talang. Poly Beat Rytmträningsleksak respekteras för sin grundlighet och är utformat för att åstadkomma förbättringar av livskvaliteten som hjälper till att göra världen till en bättre plats.

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