Jabarkan Reka bentuk dari Layang-layang Melayu dalam bahasa melayu

The Malay is similar in design to the standard Eddy design. The precise design of the kite consists of two flexible cross sticks, diverging at right angles, to form a lozenge-like shape. The horizontal stick is preferably slightly longer than the vertical one. Once they have been bound together, a string or cord is tightened around the resulting lozenge. The design is then enveloped in the kite material, such as paper. This particular design, when correctly executed, allows the wind to carry the kite to great heights, despite its lack of any kind of tail.

This diamond-bowed design gave inspiration to other designs, such as the aforementioned and now popular "Eddy" kite, designed by William Abner Eddy of Bayonne, New Jersey. The "Eddy" model, created four years after the Western appearance of the Malay in 1894, and patented approximately twenty months after that — application for "Kite" filed on 1 August 1898, by "William A. Eddy of Bayonne, New Jersey", U.S. patent number 646375 (issued on 27 March 1900) — has grown to become one of the most common and popular designs of kite in the 21st century.

The Malay kite design is also known to be capable of holding a man aloft for a substantial period of time. W. A. Eddy himself demonstrated this when he remained suspended in the air for approximately 15 hours. Using nine Malay kites tied together by a two mile long cord, Eddy reached—at his highest point—somewhere around 5,595 feet (1,705 m) in altitude.