Bring your content to life with our latest high-quality human reaction sound effects
Sound design and the computer-user interface grew together from the earliest days of the latter. There was always a need to have some sort of audio feedback to a device to provide confirmation, enhance usability, and reduce confusion. Thoughtful audio design is a key component of the user experience.
In today’s high-tech world, sound continues to play an integral role in how we interact with computers, apps, and other digital interfaces. For our latest release, we’ve focused on creating high-quality sounds for those modern user interfaces. If you get a subscription to our service, then you’ll have instant access to these 500 top class sounds.
Here we’ll tell you a bit about the principles of modern sound design, the sounds we’ve included, and the best ways to use them. So read on, my fellow creators!
ORIGINS OF UI SOUND DESIGN
For decades, engineers and designers focused mostly on the visual aspects of software, relegating only a simple bleep and bloop for one notification or another. The earliest were those bloopy bleeps for the BIOS, usually to alert the user of something wrong. Instead of having different tones, they relegated the information to patterns of beeping like Morse Code.
This is, of course, still the case for the BIOS. But over the years, audio feedback became more sophisticated and tailored to specific user actions. And as more people owned their own personal computers, the user interface became ever more important. Today, UI audio is a key component of user experience and emotional design.
CREATING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN BRAND AND SOUND
Just think of how ubiquitous certain sounds are – from SMS to Facebook notifications. Each time you hear one, you know that you or somebody nearby just got a text and through which service. You might also get a shot of dopamine to feel good about it, or a shot of stress hormone if you use that app for work. But it’s interesting and automatic feedback, isn’t it?
On a basic neurological level, our auditory system has evolved so that we can quickly process sounds from the environment around us. We’re hardwired to figure out what tones, patterns, and other sounds mean. The right audio feedback tells a user right away what the results of their actions are without the user having to spend any time processing it. That reduces confusion and makes the app easier to use.
Choosing the right sound means that the brain will quickly wire those connections into place. If the sound is too out-of-context, this process will be slower (but not impossible), but it might become a nuisance, which means people will start to switch it off. Imagine a chicken sound for the notification? It might be funny for some, but most users would end up turning it off.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF UI SOUND
The sounds your app or website makes provide important feedback to users and can also be the difference between bringing them back to your app sooner than later. Before we tell you how to use the sounds, it’s important to understand the difference between the two main types of user interface sounds.
- Notification sounds – These are sounds that are designed to alert you to a new condition. You received a new email, the status of the nuclear reactor core has changed, etc. This can be more jarring or subtle, depending on upon the urgency of the alert and if you really want to distract the user’s attention. Big caveat: If the average user is not inclined to agree with your idea of urgency, then keep in mind they’re likely to turn off the notification.
- Interactive sounds – These are sounds that give an audio feedback to the user to let them know they successfully (or unsuccessfully) did something. My most dreaded sound is when a new window pops up in Windows and I didn’t see it, then I click somewhere else, and it goes DOOP! Since there’s not much tactile experience to typing and mouse clicking other than a static keyboard, the sound design on the interface is super important. Think of how many people buy mechanical keyboards just so they know their button press was input? (I typed this blog on a mechanical keyboard myself, btw).
WHAT’S INCLUDED IN OUR LATEST UPLOAD
This new update of over 500 modern UI sound effects is perfect for any project needing high-tech interface sounds with a slick, futuristic vibe. Sounds come in both neutral and sci-fi flavored versions, giving you maximum flexibility. From subtle woody hits and percussive clicks to swooshes, positive feedback sounds and negative feedback sounds, this library has everything you need to make your user interfaces come alive. Some highlights include scanning beams, digital boops and beeps, static, interference, digital confirmations and denials, and intricate transitional effects for loading data. The sounds are crisp and detailed, with no unwanted artifacts. They work equally well in games, apps, product demos, and more. This essential toolkit will save you hours of sound design time.
What to see a list of all the new sounds? Check that out here.
A FEW BEST PRACTICES
Keep in mind the two distinct types of sounds we outlined above, and the intention of each sound. Let that shape how you assign your sounds. Make sure that the sounds you pick aren’t annoying. Depending on your app, it is helpful to have notification sounds being a bit distracting, but not too distracting because then you might get them shut off.
When dealing with interactive sounds, you need to focus on how the user interacts with the product and how each sound should make them feel (accomplished, finished, failed, half-way there, and so on). So, you need to make sure that each sound gives the proper emotional feedback, and it should also not be alien to the object that is being interacted with – it needs to be stylistically the same as the graphics.
For modern UI especially, take a minimalist approach. Don’t make the sounds too obtrusive or distracting, and if you can’t decide whether you should have a sound or not, then the answer is likely not.
SOUND AS GOOD AS IT LOOKS
In conclusion, it’s best to remember subtlety often means strength in modern design. If you need a few examples of great UI audio, look no further than games like Cities: Skylines and apps like Facebook or X. Testing different options is key. As technology evolves, sound will play an increasing role in making experiences feel more natural and immersive. With resources like Smartsound’s UI library, designers now have the tools to make interfaces sound as good as they look.
This new upload is an adaptable library of sounds that may help you realize your creative idea in any medium. So why wait? Join now and unleash your inner content creator!
