Some designers turn to sound to make emotional statements.
Jim Barton, chief technology officer at TiVo Inc., wanted to create a playful design for the company's digital video recorder. One of his tools was the sound that the machine generates, such as when users fast-forward through TV shows or select a program to watch.
"We sat down at an electric keyboard one day and we tried a bunch of sounds until we found the right ones," Barton said. "We felt they should be fun. That was the core principle."
It wasn't always so. Until the early 1980s, computers and other devices came in unremarkable, no-frills casings.
"They were metal boxes with knobs, and they looked like scientific instruments because they were aimed at people who were more interested in the technology inside the box," said Tucker Viemeister, president of Springtime USA, a New York design firm, and chairman of the jury for the 2005 Industrial Design Excellence Awards.
"Then in 1984 the first Macintosh computer came out," he said. "It was the first designed computer. It had a graphical interface that was fun. It had software that didn't penalize you if you made a mistake. It had a mouse. And it had this two-in-one design with the display integrated with the computer."
Apple changed the design paradigm again in 1998, when it introduced its iMac computer in translucent plastic "bondi blue," followed in 1999 by five candy colors -- blueberry, strawberry, lime, tangerine and grape.
"All of a sudden, companies realized, hey, if people can have different colored cars, why can't they have different colored computers?" Viemeister said.
Of course, design can cut both ways.
"We had a client that wanted us to pick three or four colors that would stand out and yet appeal to a broad group of people," Ideo designer Bradley said.
"It was a difficult starting point because colors can be very polarizing. Blue is safe, but it doesn't always stand out. Yellow stands out, but it's polarizing. You either really like it or you hate it."
And sound too has limitations, design consultant and author Norman said. "The problem with music," he wrote, "is that it can also annoy if it is too loud, if it intrudes, or if the mood it conveys conflicts with the listener's desires or mood."
This problem is one frequently faced by designers, not just with sound but with the whole notion of emotional design, Ideo's Brown said. "You're talking about reaching people at an emotional level," Brown said. "The risks of getting it wrong are quite high. Measuring functional performance is easy. Measuring emotional performance is tremendously difficult."
When it works, though, people just know -- or feel -- it.
More-powerful music players have come on the market since Rose bought his iPod two years ago. When he finds himself in an electronics store, he flirts with buying a new music player, but always returns to his iPod.
"These other products don't speak to me," Rose said.
"On the surface, they may look hot and sexy, like the iPod. But after two minutes with the product in my hand, I realize it's not the iPod. It's not my soul mate."
