The UX of sound

September 12, 2022

Tom Ridley shared a few interesting methods and techniques to plan the design of sound.

One of the most memorable talks that I have attended in a tech conference was on The UX of Sound, by Tom Ridley, in UX Bristol in 2021.

Although I am following Preston So’s work on voice interface and conversational design for voice for a while now but the UX of sound is totally different. Here we are talking about the sound made by objects and machines and this sound is embedded into the digital design on physical devices.

The UX of Sound—such a great talk by Tom Ridley at @UXBristol right now! Lots of new things in how #voicetech is also about #listentech—the mechanics of sound as a disciplined-sense. pic.twitter.com/7vA2wuuJ0T
— Vinish Garg 🎗 (@vingar) July 16, 2021

Tom shared a few interesting methods and techniques to help us understand how to design the sound. It could be for the sounds of machines or objects such as the beep of a coffee machine or in a microwave, or in the elevators.

_{Two images from Tom Ridley’s talk on The UX of Sound, at Bristol 2021.}

Google’s Material Design has defined a set of practices on how to apply sound to UI.

Watch Tom’s talk recording on YouTube. I am sure you will love the smart coffee machine example for sound design.

_{Watch Tom Ridley talking about the UX of sound at the Bristol 2021.}

Vinish Garg

I am Vinish Garg, and I work with growing product teams for their product strategy, product vision, product positioning, product onboarding and UX, and product growth. I work on products for UX and design leadership roles, product content strategy and content design, and for the brand narrative strategy. I offer training via my advanced courses for content strategists, content designers, UX Writers, content-driven UX designers, and for content and design practitioners who want to explore product and system thinking.

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Vinish Garg is an independent consultant in product content strategy, content design leadership, and product management for growing product teams.