The company logos that stick in your brain often sound as good as they look. Think of the original PlayStation start-up sound, Intel’s “plink, plunk, plink, plunk,” or the choral Sega chant forever associated with Sonic the Hedgehog. Scottish audio specialist Euphonious is now making memorable sound logos affordable for any company — even those without budgets like the big boys.
Priced at just £30 each (around $47), Euphonious has rolled out an initial batch of 70 Sonic Logos, with titles such as Confidence, Ice Doors, and Moog. All the logos are sold on an exclusive basis, so once purchased, they can be used for anything and won’t be made available to anyone else.
The Sonic Logo initiative is an extension of Euphonious’ audio skin service, which offers ready-made sound packs for use by indie game developers. The company, founded by double BAFTA Award-winner Raymond Usher (Crackdown; Grand Theft Auto and its sequels GTA 2, GTA 3, and GTA: Vice City), has a solid pedigree, having previously provided audio for other, games such as Lego Pirates of the Caribbean and Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7.
Although Euphonious is able to create sounds to order, picking up a ready-made logo has the advantage of not needing to provide a potentially ridiculous brief. When Microsoft commissioned Brian Eno to create the Windows 95 start-up sound — that he created on a Mac — the company told him, “The piece of music should be inspirational, sexy, driving, provocative, nostalgic, sentimental…and not more than 3.8 seconds long.”
To give an idea of the potential for sound logos to reinforce brand identity, here are five memorable examples from the worlds of gaming and technology:
PlayStation start-up screen
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1gj8xFloHI?rel=0&w=558&h=314]
Intel Inside
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3AiWPBpDEU?rel=0]
Classic Sega logo
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKiTdohPV3Q?rel=0&w=558&h=419]
Microsoft Windows 95 theme
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUbjTapNImM?rel=0]
Xbox 360 start-up screen (old and new)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWzXntKotdE?rel=0&w=558&h=314]
[Hat tip to Scottishgames.net]
[Speaker image courtesy of Flickr/DeclanTM]