Sound is the most intrusive thing an interface can do, so the first sonic principle is restraint. WCN sound is optional, meaningful, and never the only way to know what happened.

DEFAULTSilent OPT-INUser chooses MEANINGEvery cue earns it NEVEROnly signal

E01.1 · OPTIONAL

Silent by default.

WCN products start muted. Sound is something the user turns on, never a surprise that plays in a quiet room or an open office. The default respects every context the product lands in.

E01.2 · MEANING

Earn every cue.

Like motion, a sound must answer a question — success, error, arrival. A cue with no meaning is noise, and audio noise is far more irritating than visual clutter. The bar is high.

E01.3 · REDUNDANT

Never sound alone.

Anything a sound conveys is also shown visually — many users are deaf, muted, or simply not looking. Sound enriches feedback; it never carries it by itself.

E01.4 · RESTRAINT

Less than you think.

A handful of well-crafted sounds beats a noise for every tap. Frequent sounds become fatiguing fast; WCN reserves audio for moments that genuinely benefit and stays quiet the rest of the time.

The audio logo is the W³ mark for the ear — a one-to-two second signature that resolves with a sense of proof confirmed. It plays where the brand signs off: an intro, an outro, a key moment.

LENGTH1–2 seconds SHAPERising → resolve FEELSProof confirmed USESign-off only

E02.1 · THE MNEMONIC

One to two seconds.

The signature is short enough to play before a video or after an interaction without wearing out. A tight, memorable phrase — the kind you could hum — is the goal, not a melody.

E02.2 · THE RESOLVE

Ends on certainty.

The phrase rises and settles onto a clear resolving tone — the sound of something verified, confirmed, settled. That resolution is the sonic equivalent of the proof seal in the visual system.

E02.3 · TONE

Warm, not synthetic.

The palette is warm and slightly organic rather than cold and digital — matching the paper-and-ink, human side of the brand. It should feel trustworthy, not like a sci-fi interface.

E02.4 · USAGE

Where the brand signs.

The audio logo plays at sign-off moments — a video intro or outro, app launch, a completed key flow — never repeatedly within a session. Like the visual mark, it signs once.

Beyond the signature, a tiny set of UI sounds marks the moments that benefit from audio — a tap, a success, an error, a notification. Each is short, soft, and built from the same sonic palette.

TAPSoft tick SUCCESSWarm rise ERRORGentle low NOTIFYBrief chime

E03.1 · THE SET

Five, at most.

Tap, success, error, notify, send/receive — a small family covers the genuinely useful cases. Each shares timbre with the audio logo so the whole system sounds like one instrument.

E03.2 · SHORT & SOFT

Barely there.

UI sounds are very short — well under half a second — and soft, sitting beneath conversation level. They register without demanding; you feel them more than you notice them.

E03.3 · SUCCESS VS ERROR

Up good, down bad.

Success cues rise warmly; error cues settle to a gentle low tone — never a harsh buzz. Even the error should feel like a calm "not yet", in keeping with the brand's composure.

E03.4 · CONSISTENCY

Same event, same sound.

A success always sounds like success across the product, so users learn the cues. The set is fixed and shared; teams pick from it rather than commissioning new sounds per feature.

When the brand has a literal voice — a readout, a video narrator, a synthesised assistant — it needs rules too. It starts with one fact everyone gets wrong: how to say the name.

NAMELocked pronunciation PACEUnhurried TONEWarm · clear TTSDefined voice

E04.1 · PRONUNCIATION

Say it "W-C-N".

The name is spoken as three letters — never as a word, never "win". This pronunciation is locked across narration, support, video and any text-to-speech, with a phonetic guide for every voice actor.

E04.2 · PACE

Unhurried, certain.

The brand voice speaks at a measured pace with room to breathe — confident enough not to rush. Speed reads as nerves; the calm pace matches the editorial calm of the visual system.

E04.3 · WARMTH

Human, not corporate.

The tone is warm and plain-spoken — a knowledgeable person explaining, not a corporation announcing. It avoids hype words and jargon, the same way the written voice does.

E04.4 · TTS & READOUT

Pick the voice.

Where speech is synthesised, a specific TTS voice and settings are chosen and documented, so the assistant sounds the same everywhere. Pronunciation overrides handle the name and key terms.

Beyond the interface, the brand makes sound in shared spaces — a livestream waiting screen, an event sting, a podcast intro. This is the brand’s ambient voice, set so it never overstays its welcome.

BEDSLoading · waiting STINGSEvent moments PODCASTIntro · outro RULELoop-safe · low

E05.1 · AMBIENT BEDS

For the waiting screen.

A quiet ambient bed can fill a livestream pre-roll or a loading lobby — atmospheric, loopable, and low enough to talk over. It sets a mood without becoming music anyone has to listen to.

E05.2 · STINGS

Mark the moment.

Short stings punctuate event moments — a segment change, a milestone, a reveal. They're built from the audio-logo palette so even a live broadcast sounds unmistakably WCN.

E05.3 · PODCAST

Intro and outro.

A consistent intro and outro frame any WCN podcast or audio series, with the audio logo as the bookend. Episode to episode, the framing stays identical so the show is instantly recognised.

E05.4 · RESPECT THE ROOM

Never overstay.

Environmental sound fades out rather than cutting, stays under spoken content, and ends the moment its purpose is served. It is a host's background music, not the main event.

Because sound touches accessibility and attention so directly, it needs governance — captions for every cue, loudness norms, and a mute-first respect that puts the user in control.

CAPTIONSEvery cue LOUDNESSLUFS norms MUTERespected CONTROLAlways user’s

E06.1 · CAPTIONS

Every sound, written.

Every meaningful sound has a text equivalent — captions on video, visible cues for UI sounds. Audio is always an enhancement layered on top of a fully captioned, fully visual base.

E06.2 · LOUDNESS

Normed, not jarring.

All brand audio is mastered to consistent loudness targets (LUFS) so nothing is suddenly loud. A sting never jumps out over a quiet bed; the experience is level and predictable.

E06.3 · MUTE-FIRST

The user is in control.

Mute is always one obvious tap away and is remembered. Honouring the system's silent mode, never overriding a user's choice to be quiet — control over sound belongs entirely to the user.

E06.4 · OWNERSHIP

One owner, one library.

A single owner curates the sound library, approves new cues against the principles, and keeps the licensed-audio paperwork in order — the same governance rigour as the rest of the system.