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New Razorfish site awash in sound effects Yesterday, Avenue A/Razorfish sent word that it's dropping the Avenue A brand. This makes sense, since most people already referred to the agency as simply Razorfish. Ah, but there's more: a "new all-Flash Web site." Awesome. I'm obsessed with cataloging the latest agency Web sites. Razorfish does the usual with its new offering, adding in links to company blogs and position papers. As promised, it also brings the Flash big time. What stands out to me are the sounds. There are lots of them. Every link seems to have its own sound effect. I spent a little time on the blog list trying to compose a sweet rendition of "Old McDonald" by mousing over the different options. (Somewhere, an editor is wondering why I haven't filed my story yet.) More to the point, what does this do for the user experience? Are people clamoring for a noisier Web? —Posted by Brian Morrissey

October 21, 2008 in Agency web sites, Morrissey, Razorfish | Permalink

Comments

Aaaargghhh... Sound on websites: My bête noire!

I'm not too worried about flash since it can lead to much better navigation if properly designed (not a necessarily easy task) and adding rich content even on B2B sites is starting to add value (if used sparingly and properly).

Sound, however, is intrusive, especially when there is no incredibly easy to find mute button. It has its use on B2C sites (again if it has the mute button), but I find it terribly annoying to find this on the site of an organisation I might use for my work.

In my opinion, the sound adds terribly little and I simply don't want to have to mute my PC for one site. A big thumbs down for me just for the sound alone. Without it, it would be a good site.

(Hmmmm... I think it's pretty clear what I think from that!!! :))

Posted by: Emily S | Oct 21, 2008 11:49:43 AM

Thank you for your comments, Brian. Your points are well taken. Digital today is like the motion picture industry in the 1920s -- still in its early stages. We believe digital, like film, will evolve into an experience that encompasses motion and sound, and we continue to push ourselves in the direction that we believe digital is going. We definitely appreciate feedback about our website. What do others think? (David Deal, vice president of marketing, Razorfish.)

Posted by: David Deal | Oct 21, 2008 1:28:56 PM

I love the new site. It embodies all the things that Razorfish represented to me and now represents for the future. Excellent!

Posted by: Jeffrey Dachis | Oct 21, 2008 6:45:20 PM

I liked it!!
If I hadn't seen this site I would have agreed with the above poster's opinion that sound on websites is intrusive, esp. if I can't find the mute button in about 2 seconds.
But on this site, sound has been used very smartly. It adds to the experience of moving between sections, and even oddly, making it seem that the links are opening faster than they would on another site.

Posted by: Priya | Oct 22, 2008 4:56:32 AM

Wake up, people. The box is alive.

Razorfish's thoughtful approach to sound adds both functional and emotional depth to the experience, and it's integrated holistically into other elements of the experience.

For a while, TV was just 'radio with pictures.' And until now much of the sonified web has been merely 'text with noise.' They get it.

Posted by: Noel Franus | Oct 23, 2008 1:18:34 PM

Emily, what's the deal? R U against video too? How about multimedia in general? The idea should not be to eliminate sound, but to make sound on the web better, in fact, make it good, then put your headphones on when your on-line and get immersed in the experience. I think this site sounds great, and gives me useful, and engaging user feedback, AND reflects on the brand identity to help distinguish Razorfish from the other, boring (and silent) b2b sites.

BTW< if you don't know where the mute button is on your PC it really makes me wonder....

Posted by: Nick Thomas | Oct 24, 2008 7:28:14 PM

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