Identity systems

Member lesson

Sonic identity

Lesson 17 of 18 in Identity systems.

Why Is Mastercard’s Sonic Branding Strategy More Than Just Noise? · Brandata
Lesson

Sound is the one brand asset that works when nobody is looking at the screen, which is most of the time somebody is using a phone. Intel, Netflix, McDonald's and a handful of banks have built audio signatures recognisable in under two seconds, and almost every other brand has nothing.

highertime →every music notation is a graph of pitch against timewhat changes between cultures is what the page counts asworth writing
Pitch drawn as height and time as distance across the page.
An ink drawing of a woman cooking at a stove with her back to a face-down phone on the counter, short curved sound lines rising from it towards her as she smiles.
Someone cooking hears a short sound from a phone lying face down and knows what it is without looking. Sound can carry a brand when nobody is watching a screen.
Member

The rest of this is for members.

You have read the opening of this lesson. The rest of it comes with a membership.

One membership covers all four courses and Brands.

  • All lessons in the four Learn courses
  • All brand breakdowns in the Brands section
  • All quizzes, flashcards and crosswords
  • An AI teacher on every lesson, for up to 60 questions a day
  • All course material published during the membership

Price

Membership is from $12 a month on the Yearly plan, which is charged at $144 once a year. Lifetime access is $59, paid once.Membership is from ₹200 a month on the Yearly plan, which is charged at ₹2,400 + GST once a year. Lifetime access is ₹3,999 + GST, paid once.

Check what stuck

Members only

You can't take this check yet.

Members answer these 3 questions and keep the ticket for this lesson. Every lesson has one.

  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A short fixed audio signature. Usually one to three seconds.”

    • Commission brief
    • Sonic logo
    • Generative identity
    • Cypher
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “The rules for everything else that makes a noise: interface sounds, hold music, video beds.”

    • Audio brand guidelines
    • Endorsement
    • Stroke weight
    • Lockup
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A short functional sound in an interface. A notification, a success, a failure.”

    • Stroke weight
    • Lockup
    • Earcon
    • Emblem

Elsewhere in the library

Hear about new courses.

Leave an email and we will tell you when something new lands. We do not write often.