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a quick guide to designing sounds for interfaces
Mating calls, warning grunts, and supportive coos are some of the sounds heard throughout the animal kingdom. All species use finely-tuned noises to communicate to one another and inform others of an action or behavior. We humans aren’t all that different.
Although we have a spoken language that is heavily complex, humans also use sound to communicate (the French, for instance, have an array of verbal cues that never form a word). As we’ve constructed cities and societies, we use all sorts of sounds to signify meaning. A truck beeps to warn others as it reverses, the kettle whistles when the water boils and the sound a highly-designed BMW car door makes when it closes signifies engineering prowess. And, with the ever-present digital world, a text message ping draws attention to a notification.
Audible sounds are integral to making sense of the world and our surroundings. Shouldn’t they be just as considered in the interactive experiences of UX design?
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Why consider UX in sounds?
What designers often forget is that visual components aren’t the only way to accomplish these things. Sound design in UX can (and should) contribute to:
- Providing feedback on a user’s action or system status
- Building context and understanding of a use case
- Drawing attention to important information, such as a warning or opportunity
- Establishing brand personality and recognition
Balance form and function
First, focus on utility
The best way to identify possibilities for sound cues is to look at the user flow. Consider where sound can enhance the full user experience. Is the upload done? Did something go wrong while saving a file? Is the device charging? Does the user need to act on something? The function of sound can be most effective when providing audible feedback to an interaction.
Use Metaphors instead of Skeumorphism
The first approach is called skeuomorphism, a method that makes digital interfaces look or flow like their analog counterparts. You’ve probably seen this first hand if you’ve ever used Apple’s Notes app mimicking a yellow lined pad of paper, or if you’ve deleted a file and heard the crumpling of paper.
While this strategy might seem like a user-friendly solution, it generally renders soulless interfaces. Skeuomorphism rarely creates an emotional bond with a user. Unless the design calls for 90s nostalgia, it’s best to not use literal visuals and sound effects.
A more humanized and sophisticated approach is to evoke or mimic the emotions surrounding a certain interaction. Designers can use the sonic metaphor: abstract audible feedback that users can immediately interpret and recognize because it feels like experiences they’ve had in the past. Emotions associated with scenarios like a surprise, a new beginning, and completing a task can be incorporated into their digital counterparts.
Unlike skeuomorphism, metaphors do not demand literal visual or sound recognition. Rather, the sensation a metaphor evokes during an interaction connects to a familiar and emotional experience.Ableton to design striking sound effects, designers should first think about the key actions for which users might want to receive feedback.
Create a “sound style guide”
It’s important to note that these concepts both emerge from, and build a product’s brand personality. Visual UI design components, microinteractions, and sounds will all aggregate in the user’s perspective and shape how they perceive a brand.
Keep UX sounds simple
Harmonically complex sounds indicate priority and draw attention to things of great importance. Consequently, when sound provides feedback to an action that doesn’t require immediate attention, a complex sound isn’t appropriate. In fact, it can cause more harm than good if a user addresses the sound to find nothing of importance.
The same level of simplicity applies to the length of a sound in UX design. As a rule of thumb, a transition or micro-interaction sound should never last more than 0.3 seconds longer than its associated animation. A sound should be just short enough to be perceived by the user. As a reference point, the Samsung whistle notification sound is overly excessive.
Design UX sounds for the device
- Does the sound feel heavy or muffled? Remove some of the lower frequencies and accentuate the higher ones.
- Does the sound feel squeaky or brittle? Carve out some of the higher frequencies and fatten up the medium to low range.
Mind the repetitive tolerance in UX sound design
Repetitive tolerance indicates that there is a limit to how often we can stand hearing the same sound over and over. It might be satisfying to hear a “ta-da” sound every time a task is marked as complete, but by the 100th time, people might prefer to use an alternative (silent) tool to check off completed tasks. Or, worse yet, the undesirable sound might have an impact far beyond the product and cause the user to procrastinate just to avoid hearing the annoying tune. There’s a limit for the number of times a sound is repeated before we wish it never existed. What’s more, the threshold falls significantly lower the more complex a sound becomes.
Audio clutter is often more annoying to users than a messy visual interface. Users can — and will — mute apps that have repetitively aggravating sounds, such as a beep every five seconds.
Testing UX sounds
All users’ abilities should be included in testing. While audio feedback can be very useful for visually-impaired people, a visual counterpart might be important to ensure that hearing-impaired users don’t miss an essential part of a product.
Just like the rest of an interface, iteration is fundamental to achieving sound effects that users will love. Designers should be on the lookout for unnecessary sound cues as well as interesting opportunities where sound could enhance the experience.
Unleash the power of UX sounds
As smart devices become more ubiquitous in modern society, sounds that are both beautiful and useful can enrich an experience in a non-invasive way. Sound can greatly contribute to an impactful product’s success.