Skip to content

Press Release

DesignNewswire · COMO, Italy ·

Dudo Synthetic Music Enlightenment Toys by Hsin Chen Lin and Zi Yun Hsu Wins the Silver A' Design Award in Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design

Hsin Chen Lin and Zi Yun Hsu honored for toys, games and hobby products design by the international grand jury of the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 20, 2023 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design category for Dudo Synthetic Music Enlightenment Toys by Hsin Chen Lin and Zi Yun Hsu, designed for Dudo. The recognition forms part of the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.

The Silver A' Design Award Explained

The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.

About Dudo Synthetic Music Enlightenment Toys

Dudo is a modular synthesizer toy designed for children aged four to twelve. Dudo joins sound and light effects so that basic music theory can be learned through play. Five simple modules cover sequencing, wave change, filtering, rhythm and amplification, and nine connection methods allow expanded functions and multiplayer use. The difficulty level can be raised as children grow older. Capacitive sensing triggers drum sounds when the drum module is tapped. Non-toxic plastic is used, and the size follows the ergonomics of children.

About Hsin Chen Lin and Zi Yun Hsu

Hsin-Chen, Lin and Zi-Yun,Hsu decided to design a music product based on their upbringing with music. They recalled their own learning experiences and realized that if they could break away from traditional learning methods and focus on a "play" approach to learning, it might be more suitable for inspiring children to explore music freely. To create a music exploration toy with "play" as its core, the selection of sounds became especially important. They captured the synthesizer sounds from their childhood electronic games and hoped to use the synthesizer as a medium for children to freely control the variation of sounds.

Award Record

This recognition makes Hsin Chen Lin and Zi Yun Hsu a winner of 1 A' Design Award.

About the A' Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design Award

The A' Toy Design Award is an international toy design competition recognizing good toy designs by best toy designers, manufacturers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to toy designers, game studios, industrial designers and hobby product manufacturers from all countries. Typical entries include dolls, action figures, board games, puzzles, plush toys and educational toys. The awarded toy designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/toy

About A' Design Award & Competition

Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com

Press Resources

Media Contact

Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953

###

Fact Sheet

The Work

Project
Dudo Synthetic Music Enlightenment Toys
Function
Synthetic Music Enlightenment Toys
Category
Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design
Discipline
Industrial Design
Industry
Kids
Colors
Light Gray, Dark Gray, Rosy Brown, Dark Olive Green and Dark Slate Blue
Images
5
Client
Dudo

The Recognition

Laureate
Hsin Chen Lin and Zi Yun Hsu
Country
Taiwan (China)
Recognition
Silver A' Design Award
Edition
2022 - 2023
Design ID
#148791

Credits

Team
HSIN CHEN LIN and ZI YUN HSU

Design Details

Unique Properties
Dudo is an auditory and visual synthesizer designed for children aged 4-12 to learn music through playful, hands-on experience. Its difficulty level can increase with age, while its different connection methods allow for expanded functions and multiplayer mode. Dudo teaches basic music theory and synthesizer knowledge to stimulate children's creativity and imagination.
Inspiration
Synthetic music has flourished in recent years. We found out that there is a lack of entry-level synthetic music tools on the market, so we want to design a toy that can be used as an enlightenment for children to synthesize music and can accompany children to grow up.
Research
This project conducts field research to examine children's exposure to music and proposes a new interactive model centered on "playing" to create a new way of musical enlightenment for children. We combines music learning experiences with today's children's needs for sound and light effects to create musical toy products that are novel and sensory-stimulating.We simplified the module interface into five basic modules. The project has a MIDI output for more advanced editing in the future.
Challenge
During the design process, we not only spent a lot of effort on making the function, language, and music theory of Eurorack Modular Synthesizer into a range that children can understand but also thought about making it easier for children to operate and more tempting to them. As age grows, the difficulty level can be increased. The purpose is to make this combination of synthesizer toys accompany the children in their growth, so that synthesized music can be widely used for children to operate and play.
Realization and Technology
In terms of product size, it refers to children's human factors engineering and adjusts it to a size suitable for children's operation. In the way of using drums, we choose to use capacitive sensing to trigger drum sounds through beating. In terms of material, non-toxic plastic suitable for children is used.
Operation and Interaction
We have taken advantage of the free assembly of Eurorack Modular Synthesizer, allowing children to connect 9 different connection methods. First, connect sequencer to hub and then to amplifier to create a melody with the sine wave. Secondly, connect wave change and filter to switch between three different wave timbres and adjust the frequency of the cutoff to create your exclusive timbre. Thirdly, connect drum to add rhythm to the melody that had been created. Finally, you can choose to connect to MIDI output port of hub and input into the music editing software, so that the music you create can be upgraded and more advanced.
Project Duration and Location
The project started in September 2022 and is still ongoing today. It is expected to be exhibited at the Young Designers' Exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan in May 2023.
Specifications
Sequencer:176x266x54 Wave change:67x154x82 Filter:82x93x142 Hub:58x188x32 Drum:91x91x81 Amplifier:95x112x94
Keywords
music, toy, education, synth, kids

Good Design Deserves Great Recognition

Nominate Your Work for the A' Design Award.

Nominate