Sound Branding – How to Make a Sonic Logo
Sonic logos are between 3 and 7 seconds long and are basically short jingles used for brand development. Basically these logos use sound to convey the values and personality of a particular brand. Corporations and businesses pay to create sonic logos in order to make the public aware of their brand and they apply these sound identities across many different touchpoints including television, mobile technology, radio, and the internet.
Before a note is played or any audio is recorded in the actual creation of the sonic logo by musicians and sound designers, there are other factors to consider. It is necessary to first research the history and character of the brand with which you are working. So that the finished sonic logo captures the brand’s identity, designers must determine the personality of the brand. The process of creating sonic logo includes the following steps.
1. The first part of the process is to understand the core values of the brand with which you are working. For instance, is the brand part of a particular heritage, promoting conservative values, or technologically oriented?
2. Next, figure out the history of sound use by the company which may afford some sense of the brand’s identity. Use of audio in the past could be useful knowledge in what direction to now take.
3. Moving on, establish the types of sounds will best represent the brand’s values. For a cell phone provider, for instance, a variety of rings or button sounds might work well.
4. Subsequently, decide if the human voice will be part of this new sonic logo. Will there be a line such as “I’m loving it.”
5. Finally, make sure that your final product is original and easily remembered because its sole purpose is to represent one unique brand.
The above steps are a great guide for making sonic logos that are relevant and effective. Always be certain that your client is proud of their new sonic identity and that the product you have made for them is original from anything else heard before. Once you accomplished these elements you have succeeded.
Filed under: Branding