Māori Language System - Design Award Winner

MEDIA RELEASE

18 October 2016

Māori Language System - Design Award Winner

Te Māngai Pāho language recognition system, Kōkako was named a Supreme Winner (interactive category) and awarded a Purple Pin in the Designers’ Institute of New Zealand NZ Best Design Awards 2016. Kōkako is a technology developed by Dragonfly Data Science that recognises spoken or sung Māori content and provides data on how much is being broadcast and at what times. The identity and user interface for the software was designed by the team at Salted Herring, a Wellington based brand and digital agency, who picked up the award.

In congratulating designers Salted Herring on the win, Te Māngai Pāho Board Chair Prof Piri Sciascia said the technology had played an important role in helping to promote modern and natural Māori language use and to make Māori programmes and music more accessible to a broader audience.

“We know that being able to speak te reo Māori on air naturally alongside English, encourages increased use of Māori language. Kōkako provides a way of measuring segments of Māori content as it appears,” he said.

“Kōkako is a great example of a successful combination of an innovative idea that emphasises clever technology, and a beautifully crafted user experience. This has been recognised by the fact that it is has been announced a Supreme Award category winner at this year’s Best Design awards and we congratulate the team at Salted Herring on their design.”

The Designers’ Institute of New Zealand announced its national Best Design Awards for 2016 on Friday, which included eight supreme awards in categories of spatial, product, graphic, moving image, interactive, best effect, public good and multi-cultural design collaboration.

ENDS

© Scoop Media