Client
Sanofi
Services
Spatial Audio, Audio Design, UX Research, UX Design, Voice Branding
Year
2020
Sanofi is an innovative global health company constantly looking for new ways to prevent, treat and cure diseases and disorders. Sanofi is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in discovering and developing innovative medical solutions. During the pandemic, they had to find new ways to show their facilities in the UK and learn about their equipment, processes, and expertise. Partners and clients could meet in an immersive and interactive on-brand Sanofi environment with exact replications of the rooms and equipment.
For this Sanofi world, we designed and replicated all the facility equipment and machines sounds. Every sound was carefully placed and balanced in the virtual space for the most optimized 3D spatial experience. It was important to replicate the real-life sound for the equipment and process sounds as much as possible. To achieve this, we have used foley sounds and our sound library and carefully mixed some elements to recreate the facility sounds.
User interface Sounds
On top of that, we designed user interface sounds to create an engaging auditory response and inspire users to explore the facilities and their equipment. The interface sounds had to match the atmosphere of the environment and unique virtual interface. Together with the visual design team, we made a distinction between visual and audible interactions and notifications. A well-considered balance was designed to make the experience feel as intuitive and engaging as possible and not to feel intrusive.
Before we started designing the interface and ambient sounds, we extensively explored the brand value and visual perception of the experience together with the visual design team. For us, this is an essential part of the design process. We ensure we understand how the experience should feel and how we want it to come across and mean the same by the words that describe it and will use throughout the projects communication.
Immersive Audio Experience
Each sound had its place and was designed to make the experience as engaging and informative as possible. We have chosen not to make every sound spatially audible to create a more immersive and spatial effect. Based on our experiences in previous immersive audio projects, we decided to keep some mono sounds compared to ambisonics, binaural, or object-based sounds for spatial differentiation. This method makes it easier for users to localize spatial sounds in an immersive environment. Sounds that invited users to try something out or enter a new facility room were more spatially prominent and noticeable.
The Voice of Sanofi’s world
As the users who enter the immersive and interactive Sanofi facilities are often not from the UK, and English is their second language, we wanted to have a voice that could guide them through the facilities and explain the processes of each room. We made a selection of voices who had experience working on educational en informative content and could speak with a clear UK accent and pronunciation. We listened to several demos with the design team and chose the voice with the most votes and positive feedback based on the projects and client requirements. The result was a female voice with an informative character, clear pronounciation, accesible speaking rate, and a voice timbre that was intelligible in contrast to all the sounds of the facility.
