CASE STUDY 2
When Usability Isn’t Enough: Improving Product Brand Identity Using Sounds1
Problem: The Usability group had defined design requirements for the sounds products make to provide feedback to users for control inputs, changes in system states and error conditions. However, the product brand managers wanted different sounds for each of several brands in order to both differentiate the brands as well as to create a user experience aligned with each brand character.
Approach: A study was conducted to measure the semantic qualities of product. A technique called Semantic Profiling was used, which measures products on each of several dimensions of semantic experience. A semantic profile for a given product is created by connecting the various scores for that product across dimensions to produce a graphical form. The shape of the semantic profile visualizes the semantic character of a given product and is useful for differentiating the brand character of different products.
The chart below shows scores for twenty nine sounds on each of four semantic dimensions obtained from ratings by thirty five participants. The sounds were short tonal sequences typical of those one might hear when a product powers up and were created by a professional sound designer to capture a range of brand characteristics targeted by brand managers. Several sounds (indicated by smaller circles) were designed to mimic current sound emitting technology available in many home appliances, which is based upon pure tone electronic buzzers. Remaining sounds were CD quality. Lines have been drawn connecting the scores for two sounds across dimensions in order to visualize their semantic profiles. The difference in shape between these two profiles illustrates that the two sounds created a different semantic experience in the users who listened to them. The sound represented by the dashed line has the semantic qualities of being elegant, delicate and complex, but neither active nor passive. This sound would be ideal for any brand targeting these particular semantic qualities. The sound represented by the solid line has the semantic qualities of being ‘neutral’ in style (i.e., neither elegant nor crude), somewhat robust, simple and passive. This sound would be ideal for any brand targeting these semantic qualities.
Application: Present data allow a brand manager to identify a particular target Semantic Profile for their brand and then select a specific sound that best matches that profile. A sound chosen in this way will be very likely to create the desired semantic experience in a user who hears it. A family of more simple sounds typical of those used to provide feedback and information to users can be created using the musical elements of timbre, musical key, complexity and note attack taken from the target tonal sequence.
Present results can also be used as a design tool for the purpose of creating new sounds that fit a target semantic profile. By examining the sounds nearest the poles of each semantic dimension, common musical properties can be identified. For example, sounds nearest the elegant pole of the first dimension have timbres of classical instruments whereas sounds nearest the Crude pole of that dimension have timbres of pure-tone electronic buzzers common in current home appliances. Therefore, an elegant semantic quality can be created by targeting classical timbres in the design process. Similarly, robust sounds contain bass notes whereas delicate sounds contain treble notes. Simple sounds are played with one or a few instruments whereas complex sounds are played with multiple instruments. Finally, active sounds are played with a sharp note attack whereas passive sounds are played with a softer, muted note attack. Choosing among these musical properties in the design process will result in a semantic experience consistent with the attributes associated with each property.
The present example illustrates the use of Semantic Profiling to design product sounds. However, Semantic Profiling is a general method that can be used to enhance the semantic character of products using other sensory qualities such as vision and touch.
1Based upon research reported in: Kleiss, J. A. (2008). Characterizing and differentiation the semantic qualities of auditory tones for products. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 52nd Annual Meeting. pp. 1692-1696.