Poly Beat 節奏練習玩具 by Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai

Poly Beat 節奏練習玩具 by Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 A' Design Award 鐵獎 in 玩具、遊戲及消閒產品設計 Competition Category.

鐵玩具· 2024

Poly Beat 節奏練習玩具

by Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai

Client: Zhejiang University

A' Design Award 鐵獎 Winner in 玩具 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 節奏練習玩具

Poly Beat係一款專為兒童設計嘅節奏練習玩具。透過幾何多邊形將音樂節奏視覺化,幫助兒童理解音符同節奏模式。呢款玩具採用注塑塑膠製成。小朋友可以將音符積木插入圓盤,再將四個圓盤放入柱形底座。頂部嘅鏡頭會讀取積木嘅顏色,按一個按鈕就會播放對應嘅節奏聲音。第二個按鈕可以切換音色,包括鼓、馬林巴琴、鋼琴或結他。積木可以自由組合,讓小朋友創造屬於自己嘅節奏。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 鐵獎

Poly Beat 節奏練習玩具是 A' Design Award 鐵獎得主，這是授予滿足人們對設計精良的創作所期待的專業與工業要求的優良設計的聲望認可。鐵獎得主展現出其創作者的高超技藝、高度專業化、專家級的理解力和創造能力。預計Poly Beat 節奏練習玩具將成為一件備受推崇、令人欽佩且被珍愛的創作，既實用又創新。這件贏得 A' Design Award 鐵獎的設計整合了行業最佳實踐，並擁有與專業知識和才華相結合的稱職技術特性。Poly Beat 節奏練習玩具因其嚴謹而受到尊重，旨在提供有助於讓世界變得更美好的生活品質改善。

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