Background
Yale is a world leading brand of lock makers. It started in 1840 with mechanical locks to secure homes. Ever since, Yale has evolved together with people and society from a mechanical innovator to driving the evolution of connected, smart locks and homes. In 2020 Yale reshaped their visual brand profile and the next step in their brand building strategy was to develop a sound concept to fit the reshaped brand. With design and engineering expertise, Efterklang was given the assignment to define The Yale Audio Experience.
Assignment
The first challenge was to create a sound concept that harmonized with the new visual profile of the brand and at the same time conveyed the brand DNA of protecting homes and providing peace of mind. The sound concept was to be applied in all customer touchpoints – from market communication in various channels to the product experience.
Second challenge was to break the long history of home products sounding like toys. It is common that a lot of well-designed products with good quality materials still are using sound components that only can make them beep as sound communication. Yale wanted to change this status quo of product sound communication.
Another important parameter was to know how the products would work and interact with the users in their home environment. Therefore we created a protocol to keep track of all the factors that could impact the overall experience and used focus groups – a method of user testing sounds to find the quality enhancing parameters.
Result
In a project like this design and engineering is of equal importance. To make a sound concept work in technical products, a full understanding of the properties of sound in small loudspeakers and other sound affecting hardware components are required. The combined effort of designers, UX specialists and technical engineers made the project such a success. When all these disciplines collaborate, a sound concept can be implemented in an effective and powerful way. The result was a tailored audio branding concept that considers both the customer and user experience and an extensive sound hardware analysis of home products used today.
All of this constitutes a unique sound concept on how to communicate with sound in all customer touchpoints – The Yale Audio Experience.
So, whenever the customers are hearing Yale, in retail stores, in marketing or using one of Yale’s products they will hear a synergy, a family sound, that will define Yale as the sender.
Awards
Transform Awards Europe 2022
Brons
Transform Awards Nordics 2022
Gold
International Sound Awards 2022
Winner – Product
Better Sound – Audio Branding
Better Sound – Product
Red Dot Design Awards 2022
Red Dot
