Sound Branding - How to Make a Sonic Logo

submitted: Aug 10th 2008 | by: SFXsource | Total views: 1 | Word Count: 387 | PDF View | Print Article

Sonic logos are short audio jingles that are used by brands to identify themselves and are usually less than 7 seconds. It is essentially the harnessing of audio to represent and communicate the values and personality of a company. Associations and companies use sonic logos to grow public awareness of their brand and they use them in many medias including the web, radio, mobile technology, and television.

While the creation of the sonic logo itself is a matter of musicians and sound designers working in the studio, there are actually other steps to consider before a single note or sound is recorded. Research into the character and history of the brand is very necessary and precludes any studio work. The creators must determine who the brand is exactly so that the final sonic logo will accurately depict the brand's identity. There are several basic steps in the process of creating a sonic logo that follow.

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. Third, determine what audio ambience or sound effects might work to convey the values of the brand. An technology company, for example, may have computer or data sounds incorporated into some sort of futuristic melody.

4. Then, determine if this sonic logo will use a vocal line. Is the logo just going to have a musical melody or something such as "Um um good?"

5. Fifth, ensure that the sonic logo is unique and memorable since it is meant to identify one brand and one brand alone.

These five steps provide a basic outline of the important elements of the process of creating sonic logos. No matter what you do, make sure that the finished product is different in some way from anything that's come before and that your client is proud of their new sonic identity. If you've achieved those two things you've done your job.

About the Author

SFXsource writes articles on a variety of interesting subjects, hosts a sounds library at Sound Effects and offers vast amounts of royalty free production music which can be heard at Royalty Free Music


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