The central question
I used to think sound was wallpaper, nice to have but not essential. Then I spent time with a sound brand designer and my entire sense of subtle influence got gently, insistently corrected. Sound is never neutral, it’s a communicative layer, and music is one of the most powerful levers we ignore when shaping user experience.
Music and sound design do different work
Erwin de Boer put it plainly, “music is more a thing on its own and sound design is supporting something else.” That distinction matters. Music can stand alone, it can tell a story without visuals, it can carry cultural baggage and evoke memory. Sound design, on the other hand, is there to support, to signal, to provide feedback. Combine them well and you control feelings. Combine them badly, and people notice something is off, without always knowing why.
Why sound matters more than you think
Think about the tiny sounds you already know by heart. You hear the Windows startup chime and you know what happened, even from across the café. You hear the Nokia tone and you know someone just got a message. That recognition is not accidental, it’s the simplest form of audio branding. Erwin explained it like this, “sound branding is just one part of using sound for branding or for marketing or for communication.” It’s identity, function, and mood all at once.
There are three practical roles sound plays in user experience
- Identity, like a sonic logo or brand score that makes a company recognizable.
- Functional feedback, those tiny interface sounds that tell you a button worked.
- Behavioral and emotional influence, the background music that makes you stay longer in a store or feel calmer in a waiting room.
Do not leave emotional design on the table
If you ignore any of those, you’re leaving emotional design on the table.
Mood setting is underused, not mysterious
People underestimate how much music adjusts behavior. Erwin gave the simple example of a store, where the background music is not only a branding cue, it can make customers linger, relax, or sprint to the checkout. He also said, “you can use that music, of course, to make people feel at ease, or to make people, feel comfortable to stay longer in store.” That’s strategic. It’s not just playing what you like.
Volume, context, and health effects matter
Restaurants are a classic demonstration. If the place is elegant, quiet, intended for long dinners, the soundtrack should be lower, supportive, not overpowering. I’ll say this bluntly, loud does not equal better. I said it to him during our talk, and I still stand by it, loud doesn’t mean better. If your music is drowning conversations, you’ve already moved from UX to user-hostility.
Music matters beyond retail too. Hospitals trial music in waiting rooms and before operations, with measurable effects on heart rate and anxiety. In one study that stuck with me, playing music before anesthesia correlated with lower heart rates and a smoother recovery experience. It’s a small intervention with outsized returns, and yet it rarely gets prioritized.
License or commission deliberately
A question businesses always ask is whether to license an existing track or commission original music. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but there are trade-offs. Licensing a well known song can give instant recognition, but it can be expensive, time-limited, and restricted by media use. Creating music gives you ownership and longevity, but only if you have strategic clarity about where and how the music will be used.
Custom work is often the long-term play
Erwin pointed out that licensing deals can be surprisingly steep, and they often come with strings. If you want a song to permeate your overall identity, commissioning custom work is usually the smarter long term play. If your goal is a single, timely campaign and a trending song fits perfectly, licensing can be justified for the short term.
Common sound mistakes
- Choose music based on personal taste rather than brand personality. This is the biggest rookie move. Your favorite playlist is not automatically your brand’s voice.
- Treat audio as an afterthought. Music and sound deserve the same strategic attention as visuals and copy.
- Confuse volume with quality. Cranking poor audio makes everything worse.
Start with the right questions
Erwin said something simple and useful, “clients always think they know what they want and not just clients, just people, people in general.” That’s true. And it’s why starting with clear questions about your brand voice, audience, channels, and objectives is the only honest way to design meaningful audio.
What I want researchers to study more
We need better, usable research on how specific musical elements affect people in real environments. There is research on tempo, on basic physiology, and on music’s historical and cultural power, but it’s fragmented. I’d like to see more work that mixes practical variables, things like tempo, instrumentation, cultural associations, and volume, and tests them in realistic settings, not just lab isolations. If you’re a scientist reading this, build a matrix that shows how combinations shift mood and behavior in real world contexts. We need guidance that composers and designers can actually use.
Tactical takeaways
- Start small, but start deliberately. Identify the roles sound needs to fill for your product or space, and tailor the music to each role.
- Create a sound style guide. Yes, for music. Define instruments, tempo ranges, mood adjectives, and use cases. It saves headaches later.
- Test in context. A track that works on a demo may fail in the noisy reality of a store or waiting room.
- Beware of hype. If a viral track fits your identity, great. If not, don’t force it. Your customers will notice the mismatch before you do.
The practical point
Sound is not an afterthought, it is a design tool, a mood maker, and yes, a brand asset. Start treating it like one and you’ll earn a subtle, meaningful edge in how people feel about what you build.