To provide some context, let’s look at who Hager Group is and what their needs were.

Hager Group is an independent family-run electrical manufacturing company that originated in 1955 out of Germany. They’ve since expanded to the point today where they have manufacturing sites in 10 different countries around the world to help create products that fit the local installation requirements.

With the change in their design philosophy and exploration into increased interactive technology, sound has become a big player in the use of many electrical installation products being made for homes, apartments, offices and pretty much any other building that wants a modern touch. As we joined the creative process, the brand was relatively new to the idea of user interactive sounds (UI) in their products and apps. They had recently created an outdoor intercom device that had some UI sounds, like a phone ringing and verbal commands.

Have a listen to their existing ringtone below.

Outdoor Ringtone (Audio track) – Disclaimer: not a sound we have made

The Process

It is important for us at Sonic Minds to always begin the exploration by understanding the identity of our clients. With Hager Group, after workshopping ideas and collecting brand insights we understood that the company prided itself on being seen as having the family-owned, friendly personality. Always there to keep people feeling safe and heard through being simple, serene, refreshing and meaningful. It was important that the sounds designed for the intercom shared these traits, ensuring brand fit.

The Solution

Have a listen to the sounds of Hager Groups newly released indoor intercom system. Let’s open our ears and listen to each of these unique ringtones and talk a bit about how they fit the key attributes that mesh the soundscape and visuals of Hager Group.

We landed on this sound for their standard ringtone. The ringtone is utilizing the same melody present in the outdoor intercom, which was an important backbone to what we built on. The instrumentation was built around the piano, a familiar sound that people tend to find familiar, warm and comforting. But it also lends to being clear, with some additional instruments around the piano to give it a full sound.

Along with the standard ringtone we provided Hager with a collection of different ringtones that played with the tonality and melodic interpretation of the standard version. Serene was a reinvention of the melody by removing two notes, but maintaining the upward scales. Allowing for each note to be held a bit longer, which gave a deeper weight with this option.

With accessibility in mind, the melodic structure was maintained, while the timbre of the instruments became brighter. This gave an alternative option, to produce a light yet sharper ringtone that could help attract attention over an indoor atmosphere populated with music or other lower frequency sounds.

Here we have a real classic. While our main project was focusing on taking the outdoor intercom ringtone melody and creating new versions for the indoor and mobile application, Hager Group had also been interested in giving users a chance to choose a classic sound that could keep the function reminiscent of its early years, before touchscreen and smart electronics took over the doorbell market.

This choice strips away the reverberations of each note, and instead plays the melody in a punchy staccato format. A bit softer and more neutral for someone that would prefer hearing the ring in a quieter environment or from their mobile app, without disrupting the other people having a lively conversation in the kitchen.

We’ve got to give credit when credit is due, and none of these sounds could have been given a home if they hadn’t been beautifully designed by our good friend and composer, Ivo Thiemann. Building something uniquely Hager, Ivo incorporated the natural and digital worlds to a balanced scale of sonic bliss. But with all our personal praise of his work, we also felt it was important to allow him to say something about his creation, and the process of working on this unique project.

“I wanted to create something truly original that conveyed the brand’s values while also being suitable for UI sounds. So I mixed some synthetic tones, like sine waves, with organic elements, such as piano and mallet sounds, along with field recordings I made. It took a couple of rounds to reach the point where it felt ‘just right’.”

Ivo also noted the unique nature of this project compared to typical endeavors;

“With this project I spent a lot more time on the sound design stage than normal. Usually I work on projects that require many different instruments and sounds to create a piece of music. In this project, there are really just a small handful of sonic elements in the final product and therefore there was a bigger focus on perfecting those sounds.”

With the unlocking sound, the design was meant to be informative of the action that was taking place, sounding similar to the turning of a key that releases the bolt. It was also important to make the sound fit the tone of the ringtones and other sounds. Ivo explains;

“[when interacting with the sounds], users should know straight away what’s happening. But beyond function, there is also an emotional component to it: the sound should be pleasant, even give you a sense of satisfaction. Since this is an indoor system, the sounds also needed to complement the home environment without being too intrusive.”

A unique set of sounds that came into existence when it was discussed that this sound shouldn’t be like other DND (do not disturb) sounds from other brands. In part the action is activating a silencer on the system’s notification, and what better sound to tell the system to be quiet than a ‘ssh!’.

On his participation, Ivo says;

“I was really excited by the opportunity to design sounds that will be integrated into people’s everyday lives. When you have this doorbell system in your home you will be hearing these sounds day in and day out. This made it an intriguing creative challenge to get those sounds right.”

Thank you to Hager Group for their trust in us.