Notice (8): Undefined index: Client [APP/View/Article/landing.ctp, line 97]"
Notice (8): Undefined index: Client [APP/View/Article/landing.ctp, line 97]
style="display:none;left:100%;">
Notice (8): Undefined index: Client [APP/View/Article/landing.ctp, line 106]
Notice (8): Undefined index: Client [APP/View/Article/landing.ctp, line 310]">
  • Notice (8): Undefined index: Client [APP/View/Article/landing.ctp, line 354]
    Notice (8): Undefined index: Client [APP/View/Article/landing.ctp, line 364]
    Notice (8): Undefined index: Client [APP/View/Article/landing.ctp, line 374]
inspr
Designing With Sounds
0:00 02:03

Most user interfaces forget to take into consideration an important aspect of the user experience ... sound. Now because of this, people might have an extremely bad experience or association when hearing certain sounds while using a phone or an app. The sounds made by your phone's app notifications can, at times, become annoying. Furthermore, a loud phone going off in the a quiet office or even an important meeting, can cause a bit of discomfort. However, there are several examples of apps that have harnessed the power of sound for the good. For example, in the app Strong, a smart phone application used for timing your exercise workouts, there is a bell that goes off that signifies your rest period is over and its time to get back to your routine. The idea of using something that we're already familiar with to help us in our current task is known as mental modeling. Another app that effectively uses sounds is the Facebook messenger app. It manages to use sounds in order to help make the texting experience more interactive and playful. For example, when pressing and holding the 'Like' button, it sounds like a balloon filling up with air. Furthermore, when you press the heart emoticon, it floats and fills up your screen like bubbles, and eventually 'pops' using a pleasing sound. In conclusion, sound is an important aspect of the user experience. However, there are several things to consider when implementing it. 1. Do not use sound just to use sound. There needs to be a good reason. 2. Sound should help to immersive the user in the uniqueness of an app's user experience connecting the user to what they are doing in a more definitive way. 3. Sounds must link back to the action that is being performed... an idea that's known as Skeuomorphism.