S2E27 – Audio Mini 1: Voice over

“This is Dave’s printers. I’m not here at the minute. Please phone me back, see you later.”

If you want to hear Martin fail at making an example of a bad voiceover, this is the episode. Even trying to do a bad job, he does great!

In this episode, we are learning what voiceover is, and how it is VERY much design, the preperation, the understanding and the performance. In this episode, which is the first of a 3 part miniseries about Audio, we dive into voice over, what it is, and how it ties to Design.

A voice actor is designing the appropriate piece of voiceover for the context it will be used in, the audience that its for and the effect we want it to have.

Also, if you listen closely, you will hear, that I am not following Martins advice of drinking enough water, so my voice becomes more and more dry in the episode.

You will learn:

  • What voiceover is and genres of voiceover
  • Why use voiceover / benefits
  • VO in the context of design – how we get there
  • Emotion

Resources:

Emotional Design

How emotions makes you do

Identifying Bad Designs

S2E19 – How emotions makes you do

This episode is about the relationship between emotions and decisions. We discuss how emotions are the brains way of making decisions, where as an example “hot state” decisions are made at high emotional influence.

Think about your emotions like a cup with a tiny hole in the bottom, everytime something fules that emotion, you put a bit of “emotional water” in the cup, if the water fills into the cup faster than it empties, then at some point, the cup overflows. These hot state feelings anger, love, or happiness, which leads to unreflective actions. So, if its happiness, you will start laughing uncontrolably, and what you will see is all the funny things happening, that will keep filling the happy/funny cup.

Understanding emotions is crucial for designers that wants to create designs that resonate at a deeper level with users.

You will learn

  • The brain is a predictability machine
  • Hot State – Cold state
  • What is a body budget
  • How we make decisions

References

How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain – Lisa Feldman Barrett