Sound is powerful. Be careful.
Sounds seem to be commonly overlooked in GUI design. It’s hard to diagram sounds on a whiteboard; onomatopœias don’t cut it. Web design just doesn’t use sound because it’s too much of a mess to support.
The best example I can relate to is that of my “text message” sound. I love getting text messages, so hearing that sound gives me an excited Pavlovian response. It’s a shame Apple used the same sound for a receiving a text message as installing software on the Mac. Whenever I installed anything, I would hear the sound, perk up, realize it was just my Mac, get sad, and then get angry. So much so that I mute my computer now when installing things. I’ve since switched phones, but it still hurts.
The first thing I noticed (and liked) about Windows Vista were the sounds. Even my washing machine sings a little song when it’s done drying my clothes. ∞
