Press Release
A' Design Award in Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design Goes to Poly Beat Rhythm Exercises Toy by Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai
Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai recognized for toys, games and hobby products design by the international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 17, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Poly Beat Rhythm Exercises Toy by Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai, designed for Zhejiang University, has been granted the A' Design Award in the Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design category. The result belongs to the 2023 - 2024 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 scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the A' Design Award Means
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
About Poly Beat Rhythm Exercises Toy
Poly Beat is a rhythm exercise toy designed for children. Geometric polygons are used to make musical rhythm visible, helping children understand notes and rhythm patterns. The toy is made of injection-moulded plastic. Children insert note blocks into discs and place four discs into a column base. A camera at the top reads the colours of the blocks, and one button plays the matching rhythmic sound. A second button switches the sound to drums, marimba, piano or guitar. Free assembly of the blocks allows children to create their own rhythms.
About Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai
She has studied in the UK, the Netherlands and Singapore for many years. Her research direction is human-computer interaction and intelligent design. She has won more than 10 Red dot design awards, IF design awards etc. and published nearly 10 international journals and papers. She has participated in organizing the world industrial design conference, the world ecological design conference and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization ecological design leading class as the core personnel.
Award Record
With this recognition, Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai is a winner of 5 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted between the 2022 - 2023 and the 2023 - 2024 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.
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
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/160499
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/160499
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!160499
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/112694
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Poly Beat Rhythm Exercises Toy
- Function
- Rhythm Exercises Toy
- Category
- Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Kids
- Colors
- Silver, Dark Gray, Yellow Green, Dark Goldenrod and Goldenrod
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Zhejiang University
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin and Xueyan Cai
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2023 - 2024
- Design ID
- #160499
Credits
- Team
- Leijing Zhou, Haoye Dong, Kecheng Jin, Xueyan Cai, Shichao Huang, Zhengke Li, Xin An, Shang Shi, Xiaolong Li, Yuqi Hu and Cheng Yao
- Image Credits
- Haoye Dong Kecheng Jin
Design Details
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Realization and 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.
- Operation and Interaction
- 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.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in April 2023 in Zhejiang, China and finished in August 2023 in Zhejiang, China
- Specifications
- The dimension of the product is 140mm*140mm*280mm, and the dimensions of each disc are 130mm*130mm*18mm
- Keywords
- Music Interaction Tool, Multi-sensory, Children, Visualization, Rhythm Learning
