So much of mobile design is focused on the visual experience – and rightly so. With a mobile app, you’re trying to simplify a user’s life. You’re trying to make it easier (and dare we say it, more enjoyable) to access essential information, empower communication or increase collaboration. How easy your app is to use in the logistical sense is, obviously, a major factor in all of the above.
But there’s another element of mobile design that far too many people just don’t pay enough attention to – and it has absolutely nothing to do with what we see. Rather, it speaks to what we hear – namely, the important role that sound and other audio elements play in the value you’re trying to offer.
The Function of Sound Design
When executed properly, a rich sound design can both create a more fulfilling experience on behalf of your end user and bring a much needed sense of utility to an application – essentially at the exact same time.
Think for a moment about the average user experience that someone goes through when navigating your product. Even something as simple as the subtle keyboard clicks when you type an SMS message on your iPhone can absolutely add another layer to that journey. Even though we primarily exist in the digital realm these days, these types of warm sounds can still tether us to the tangible world around us. When incorporated thoughtfully into the UX you’re already building, it can be a way to make an app more enjoyable and more “human,” for lack of a better term.
Many experts agree that this level of sound design can also be a way to inject personality into your applications as well, both separating it from every other app that a user may be working with and acting as an opportunity to convey your brand’s own personality as well.
By making your sounds unique and including them with a specific purpose, it can also add an additional layer of valuable functionality to an app as well. Think about the last time you tried to send an email from your mobile device. You may have taken it for granted, but that “whoosh” sound actually acts as a fairly significant signpost – it’s a subtle way to confirm that yes, your message did make its way to its intended recipient. It’s a small element, but for many people it’s an important one all the same.
Sound design on this particular level can also be an excellent way to make your application more accessible to those with disabilities or other difficulties that may hinder more traditional use. There’s a reason why Apple’s own iPhone accessibility options place a heavy emphasis on sounds and other hearing aids – whether you realize it or not, they really are that important. To not pay every bit as much attention to sound design as you do the rest of your user experience would be doing your product, your company and your users a massive disservice.
Now, it’s absolutely true that all of this effort to create a meaningful experience using sound has a pretty big downside attached to it – namely, the chances are high that a good percentage of your users probably walk around with their devices muted all day long. But at the same time, that doesn’t make it any less important. Provided that you’re able to walk that fine line between utility and distraction, and by considering sound design within the context of the user experience you’re trying to build, it can absolutely add a new layer of interaction and engagement to an already quality product that compliments your users and their behaviors across the board.
Contact us today to discuss custom software for your organization!
Image by FreePik.com
