Sound in User Interface Design

My talk on the twentieth edition of up.front.ug

Transcript

1. Hello @marcohamersma
2. sound in UI design We spend a lot of time thinking about design, and usability, how things work, but not a lot about sound. When to use it, if we should use it, etc
3. by default: • Any user that joins • Any user that leaves • Someone got kicked • Any user that gets voiced • Any user that gets devoiced • Any user that gets bricked • Private message • Highlighted words / beeps Really? How important is this for the average user?
4. Why is this bad?
5. Too much sounds
6. Too much notifications
7. Bad Sounds
8. Bad Sound Design
9. Reasons to use sound …in your UI
10. Feedback… That is otherwise lacking. For example, the ATM + same with the phone (although that’s kinda nostalgia)
11. Like with resistive touchscreens where you have to tap through layers
12. Notifications So something happened in the background
13. A WILD DIALOG APPEARS!
14. Your attention is required… Or generally… Unfortunately these “reasons” are pretty generic, and people stop thinking here
15. by default? • When signing in • When signing out • Call is connecting • Message sent • A contact becomes available • A contact becomes unavailable The problem with skype is that everything makes noise, and it’s just too much, to name a few… Skype learned from the best,msn messenger was bad to, but skype is acting worse (more sounds)
16. by default? • When signing in • When signing out • Call is connecting • Message sent • A contact becomes available • A contact becomes unavailable The problem with skype is that everything makes noise, and it’s just too much, to name a few… Skype learned from the best,msn messenger was bad to, but skype is acting worse (more sounds)
17. Think of it as part of your User Interface and like interfaces, you need to put some thoughts into this. Also, there is the art of elimination.
18. BECAUSE WE CAN DONT EVER think, let's put sound in the interface *because we can*
19. in most cases: having no sound is fine! In most cases interfaces are not an audible medium.
20. Rude… You are not the only app that is running, maybe people have music playing, It's just rude to think that everything that happens in your application is important enough to interrupt what the user is doing.
21. Yes… some people might care For example, channel ops might care when someone gets opped / voiced etc, because it’s their job
22. Do users really have to know if…? But do most people really have to know if X happens? Someone leaves a channel / goes offline?
23. “Design for the probable; provide for the possible” Alan cooper
24. Think of it as part of your User Interface Again…
25. But what about personality? Exception!
26. What about games? immersion?
27. Tweetbot takes this approach, it’s sound design is pleasant and adds to the experience
28. Sound Design What is sound design?
29. You wouldn’t use a buzzer or alarm sound to indicate that a message has been sent
30. Good sound design is an art
31. Colours Fonts Patterns Communication Style Contrast Similar how you use this to communicate visually…
32. Timbre Instruments Melodies Keys Tempo Loudness You’re using this to communicate using sound, to say something
33. But it isn’t always about sounding pretty
34. For example…
36. In movies and games, a lot of sounds have to be created
37. Sound design is part of branding…
38. Talking about sounds in interfaces… car companies are designing the way things like doors sound
39. Mac OS X has pretty nice alert sounds
40. Windows on the other hand didn’t really do a very good job in the past, but Windows 7 is doing a better job, not so much at the amount of sounds, though…
41. Not all sounds need to make a big impact
42. Subtlety is good But also; good sound design might have made Skype and MSN bearable (for me)
44. How to get good sounds? Difficult question, I don’t really have a good answer
45. There are some decent websites…
46. Metaphors… Think about what you want it to sound like and start from there. This tweet…
47. Experiment! You could even experiment. Take a real sound and add some filters and effect to it
48. So… What I’m trying to say is
49. Think about sound in the same way as you think about other parts of your UI
50. Thanks for listening! @marcohamersma