Cross-Sensory Branding: Crafting Inclusive Sonic Identities
Isabel Chun
Sonic branding is defined as the strategic use of sound to reinforce a brand's identity, evoke emotions, and enhance
consumer engagement. The goal of this project is to broaden the multisensory approach of sonic branding by increasing
its accessibility to people and ultimately integrating it more intimately into daily life. The project aims to secure a
richer branding strategy by combining sonic branding with traditional branding. To achieve this, I developed the sonic
branding toolkit. With the toolkit, simply combining geometric forms automatically generates sound that corresponds to
shapes, colors, positions, and sizes. The images created in this way can serve as brand identities, and the generated
sounds can be used for sonic branding. This toolkit is designed not only for corporations but also for individuals
seeking to establish their own personal branding.
Sonic ID Toolkit
It is actually aimed more at individuals than at corporations. Through the toolkit, users can create their own unique Sonic ID and share it on social media and beyond. Anyone can generate a personal sound simply by combining their name with their favorite colors or shapes. The resulting images and sounds can not only be uploaded to social media but are also free for commercial use. As the fusion of sonic and traditional branding becomes more widely recognized, the public’s understanding of a multisensory approach to branding will grow, potentially delivering more synergy than conventional branding alone. Research shows that engaging multiple senses can enhance emotional connections and brand recall, which further supports this approach. Additionally, individuals with hearing or visual impairments, who have been marginalized by single-channel branding, will also be given the opportunity to experience branding.
Sonic ID Toolkit Prototype
The Sonic ID Toolkit Prototype demonstrates how sound can be translated into visual forms like color and shape, paired with vibration. It offers an early model of inclusive branding that allows users to “see” and “feel” sound, supporting accessible identity expression across sensory differences.
Thesis Book
This thesis explores how multisensory branding—integrating visual, auditory, and tactile elements—can create more inclusive and emotionally resonant brand identities. By translating sound into color, shape, and movement, it proposes a hybrid system that enables accessible self-branding for individuals with sensory impairments, redefining identity through shared sensory language.
Research- The Sound Portrait
The Sound Portrait is a cultural probe that visualizes how individuals perceive and express their identities through sound. Participants mapped personal traits to sonic elements like rhythm, pitch, and timbre, which were then translated into visual forms—serving as a foundation for developing inclusive, multisensory branding strategies.
Previous Exercise 1- Bird’s Alarm Seismograph
Bird’s Alarm Seismograph is an experimental project that visualizes the sound of bird alarms as seismic waveforms. By converting natural alert calls into visual vibration patterns, the work explores how instinctive, non-verbal communication can be translated into sensory data—highlighting new possibilities for multisensory design and environmental awareness.
Previous Exercise 2- Visualization of Station Jingles From Around the World
Visualization of Station Jingles From Around the World is a project that transforms global transit jingles into visual compositions. By mapping rhythm, pitch, and melody into color, shape, and motion, it explores how auditory identity can be reinterpreted through visual language—aligning with the thesis’s focus on inclusive, cross-sensory branding systems.