Happy Tuesday Reader!

Have you ever walked into a space and just... felt it?

I've been designing experiences for most of my adult life, long before "experiential design" became a thing. Promoting in my 20s. Then curating. For four years my business partner and I produced a World AIDS Day event called Safe & Sexy with live testing, real stories, a full reframe of the stigma around HIV/AIDS. We had liquor sponsors, decor, a photographer, a videographer, and one of the best DJs in the city. We thought through almost everything.

But what that music was doing to the room? We never thought about it once.

Days after the event, sitting with our videographer going through footage, nothing the DJ played felt right for the recap. I went down a YouTube rabbit hole and landed on two songs, Icona Pop's "All Night" and Justin Timberlake's "Take Back the Night." Both upbeat, but "Take Back the Night" had an elevated quality that matched our demographic. It fit. And I realized that even that level of consideration, choosing the right song for a two-minute video, was intentional sonic design.

That realization hit me again two weeks ago during a two-day design sprint for a client. Fifty assets per brand, three brands, two days. The copywriter on the team put on music as we kicked off; no lyrics, steady BPM, the kind of thing you'd hear walking through Zara. It wasn't my space so I didn't say anything. I just kept working. And kept working.

When we came up for air she mentioned she'd researched music specifically engineered to increase productivity before the sprint. She was designing the environment for the day she wanted us to have.

I hadn't even noticed it was working. That's exactly the point.

When I say design, I don't just mean what things look like. I mean every deliberate decision made to shape how a person feels, moves, behaves, or buys.

Music is one of those decisions. Retailers have known this for decades. Slow BPM means people move slower, stay longer, buy more. Fast tempo turns restaurant tables faster. Luxury brands play ambient, minimal sound because it signals nobody's in a rush and you shouldn't be either. Every choice is tied to a specific consumer and a specific behavior.

After that sprint I thought about every activation, space and event I've ever had a hand in designing. Every brand experience. I've been leaving a tool in the box. If you're designing any consumer-facing space, you probably have been too. Here's how I'm fixing that:

The Sonic Design Check

1) Know your consumer

Who are they? What energy do they bring in and what do you need them to feel before they leave?

2) Know the behavior you want to produce

Linger? Move fast? Feel premium? Get clear on the output before you pick the input.

3) Choose the sonic environment that bridges the two

Tempo, genre, volume, lyrics or no lyrics. Every choice is a design decision. Make it on purpose.

Next time you walk into any space, a store, an event, a trade show floor, stop and listen. Not to what's playing. To what it's doing. What pace is it setting? What is it quietly asking you to do?

Did it feel intentional? Or does it sound like someone's playlist?

Every detail has a reason for being.

TaRon 'Ronnie' Joyner
Founder, 1991 Design