Brands now have sound and motion

For a long time, brand identity was understood as what is seen: logos, colors, typography, images. A complete identity system means a full set of files. However, the environment in which brands exist has fundamentally changed. Users listen to podcasts while driving, watch short videos with headphones, and interact with applications using their fingers. Brands are no longer just seen; they are heard, felt through movement, and in some cases, touched. A static logo on a small screen is just a small part of the entire experience.

The multisensory identity mechanism

Brand identity operates on the mechanism of associative memory. Each time a specific signal appears, the brain activates the network of associations linked to that brand. Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at Oxford, has documented for decades that the senses do not operate independently: sound changes how we perceive images, and images change how we hear. A brand that knows how to consistently combine signals from multiple senses will create associations that are stronger, deeper, and harder to erase compared to a brand that relies solely on visual elements.

Jenni Romaniuk in her book Building Distinctive Brand Assets measures identity assets along two axes: market prevalence and exclusivity to the brand. This principle applies to all types of assets, not just visuals. Distinctive sounds, unique motion styles, or the tactile feedback of an app can all be measured within the same framework, and can be built or squandered in the same way.

Brand sound: a forgotten asset

Brand sound, or sonic branding, encompasses everything a brand emits: background music in videos, notification sounds in apps, voiceovers in advertisements, hold music, and at a higher investment level, an audio logo (a short sound signature that is instantly recognizable). What sets sonic branding apart from simply "choosing background music" is intentionality and consistency. Not every pleasant-sounding piece of music fits a brand, just as not every shade of blue can replace Tiffany blue.

Mastercard has invested in building a global brand sound system since 2019, including a primary melody that is adapted for each market, music genre, and usage context: from point-of-sale payments to television advertisements. This system does not replace visual identity but operates in parallel and reinforces each other. When users see the logo, they almost hear the melody in their heads. That is the asset of association.

A brand is not a logo. A brand is the feeling in the gut of customers about a product, service, or organization.

Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap

Motion: personality made visible

Motion design is not a skill added after the identity system is complete. In the digital environment, movement is how a brand behaves, not just how it looks. When an app interface responds to a touch, when a logo appears on an introduction screen, when a notification slides into view. Each of those moments is an opportunity to express personality or to contradict it.

A brand that positions itself as reliable, stable, and sustainable will use slow, weighted movements with clear inertia. A brand that positions itself as agile and youthful will use short, decisive, high-energy movements. There is no technically right or wrong movement, but there are movements that are appropriate or inappropriate for each brand. If the brand's personality says one thing and the movement says another, users will feel a dissonance, even if they cannot name that feeling.

Touch and non-screen environments

In physical brands, packaging, spaces, and surfaces also convey messages through users' hands. The weight of a box, the texture of paper, the click of a bottle cap are all identity signals, even if no one writes them into the brand guidelines. Premium brands have understood this for a long time. The difference between unboxing a generic phone and unboxing an iPhone is not just the materials, but the carefully designed sequence of sensations from the resistance of the lid to the order in which each accessory appears.

For service brands, non-screen environments can be the sound at the point of sale, the scent in the reception area, or the quality of printed materials. Not all of these elements need to be designed from the outset when building the brand, but they need to be acknowledged: the brand exists here, whether designed or not.

Starting from where it is practical

Not every brand needs a complete sonic system or dozens of pages of motion guidelines from the start. A practical starting point is to take inventory: in what environments does your brand exist beyond static images? Videos? Apps? Physical spaces? Sound advertisements? In each of those environments, what decisions are being made about sound and movement, and who is making those decisions, based on what criteria?

If the answer is "everyone does it their own way," then that is not cost-effective design. It is accumulating identity debt. Each video uses different background music, each app uses animations at different speeds, and each touchpoint uses different motion languages. As a result, customers have no way to build lasting associations with the brand, even if they interact frequently. Inconsistent exposure does not accumulate into recognition. It is just noise.

Distinctive assets only create mental availability when repeated consistently. Consistency is not about aesthetics, but about memory mechanisms.

Jenni Romaniuk, Building Distinctive Brand Assets (2018)

A strong brand is not one with many assets, but one with assets that are operational. Sound, movement, and other senses do not replace the visual foundation, but when built intentionally and consistently, they turn each touchpoint into an opportunity to reinforce what the brand wants people to remember about it.