I’ve been reading Bruno Munari’s work “Design as Art” – that, btw, is originally called “Arte come mestiere” which sounds exactly the opposite in Italian than the English translation! Anyway, it’s making me see clearly how the evolution of Design in the XXth century is reflected now in the evolution of sound design and especially in product sound design and what we here at Lorelei call product sound branding.

Munari says, talking about advertising campaigns for everyday products and appliances: “(not the campaing) but the product should have character and personality, should be immediatly recognised”. If you have a product with a strong character, with personality (which is for him, of course, a good design) , the communication needs only to be coherent with that – and the message will follow.

What about sound? Well, it’s exactly the same. The sound of a product – feedback sounds for house appliances, mechanical sounds for cars, artificial sounds for mobile phones – have to add value to the character and personality of the product. This value becomes the sonic signature, the sonic character of your product. And there’s a name for that: the sonic logo.

The sonic logo is always thought of something that can be added – if one has money to spend – at the end of a commercial, matched with the visual logo. But if the sound signature is in the product, and a natural, essential part of it…well, when you will hear it again on TV, you will think of the product, and not of the artist that created the sound, immediately forgetting the product and the brand.

You need examples? The commercial for Nissan Qashqai:

Every time I heard it I said: great sound! indeed, it’s Amon Tobin. In fact it’s Amon Tobin, not Nissan.
There’s a huge new world opening up here that could lead to a coherent soundscape for cars with suited feedback internal sounds and external sounds – in the product and consequently on TV or web channels.

And the good one…could anyone please find something else?

so when you hear it here:

you think of the original product. From product sound design to product sound branding.
That is to say, if the sound logo is IN your product AND consequently at the end of the commercial (or in your merchandise, or anywhere else), you save time and money for it to be recognised.