Much more important than you might think, says Russ Jones.
How important is sound to mobile applications? Games developers think about it a lot, but the quality is more variable for non-gaming apps. In fact, many don’t have sound at all. That’s not something that London firm Condiment Junkie thinks is a good thing.
The company describes itself as a sonic art and sound design house, and works with brands to create ‘sonic identities’ across different platforms, including in products, TV and radio ads, websites and now mobile applications. If you’ve used Jamie Oliver’s 20 Minute Meals iPhone app, that’s them – working with developer Zolmo.
“Sound is such a powerful way of forming memories and joining the senses,” creative director Russ Jones tells ME. “We all have our own experiences of sounds, and we’re pioneering ways to use audio to express brand identities and engage people.”
He expresses bemusement at the plethora of silent smartphone apps, saying that adding sound creates a “tactile element” and reinforces whichever brand has commissioned the app. He thinks developers have often had their priorities in other areas, whether it’s back-end tech, graphics or user interfaces.
“It’s not been foremost in their priorities, and unless you pay attention to it, you don’t necessarily miss it,” he says. “Once you do see it, it’s a much fuller experience. Time is running out for the old attitudes though: in two to three months, if you don’t have sound, you’re going to stand out.”
Jones admits that sound can be seen as somewhat intangible – if people are deciding how to spend their development budget, splashing the cash on audio may seem like it’s unlikely to make them extra money or generate more downloads.
However, Condiment Junkie’s preferred method is to work with brands on all aspects of their sonic branding, including mobile, rather than just tack on sounds to an existing mobile app at a late stage in development.
Jones talks about how the company might work with a hybrid car manufacturer to design the way the vehicle sounds – but then carry that through to its advertising and any spin-off mobile apps too. “It’s about getting this cohesive brand experience,” he says.
“If someone’s been in the app and then logs onto the website, it’s the same. We’ll do any individual part of it, but ideally you’re involved in every single touchpoint of that brand.”
That said, the Jamie Oliver app – which won an Apple Design Award last week at WWDC – is a good example of how Condiment Junkie can work with an individual developer on an app. It produced navigational and button noises, as well as a ‘sonic ID’ for the start of the video clips.
“It was also things like sonic ergonomics, so they were going to have Jamie reading out each step in the recipes, but we suggested that this would get annoying over time, so we had him doing one line every four or five steps,” says Jones. “It’s another major part of our approach: when you’re doing sound for an app like that, silence is as important.”
Condiment Junkie is keen to work with more app developers, and Jones says that when the company goes out pitching, it’s seeing those developers become more savvy in their awareness of and expectations for in-app audio.
He’s also excited about new mobile technology, including Apple’s iPad. In fact, Jones is already formulating ideas for how sound could bring a new dimension to e-books on this kind of device, riffing off the interactivity seen in apps like Alice For the iPad.
“You could be reading books to children, and with an iPad you could have it take in your voice and add effects to it, so you have reverb when Alice is really small, and things like that,” he says. “It can really bring things to life. There’s much more that can be done.”
Condiment Junkie has already worked on one iPad app: Phaidon Design Classics, which is a collection of design milestones – taking in Le Corbusier, Philippe Starck, the clothes peg and the Braun portable radio, among 1,000 products.
“Every sound had to have a certain craftsmanship and quality to it,” says Jones. “We were thinking about where we could get these sounds from, and then we thought about precision watchmaking and clockmaking, so we went to this watch museum and recorded all these beautiful sounds – clicks and chimes – and used that as the basis for the sound in the app.”
Is sound design important to apps? Jones certainly thinks so, and the Jamie Oliver and Phaidon Design apps are powerful calling cards. “We’re interested in any way you can use sound to enhance experiences,” he says. “It’s about things interacting with the world.”
Advertisement
