# Plan8 Designing music, sound and code for brands, products, films and experiences. Based in Stockholm and LA, but works globally ## About Plan8 designs music, sound, and code for brands, products, films, and experiences. The studio is based in Stockholm and Los Angeles and works globally. Read more: https://plan8.co/about/ ## Services ### Music & Sound design https://plan8.co/services/music-and-sound-design/ Bespoke music, soundtracks and production for brands and campaigns. Bespoke music, soundtracks, voice recording and production for brands and campaigns. From brand anthems to podcast idents. Plan8 produces original music and soundtracks for advertising, products, podcasts, and experiential projects. ### Sonic Branding https://plan8.co/services/sonic-branding/ Sonic identities and audio branding systems for brands worldwide. Plan8 creates sonic identities and audio branding systems for brands worldwide — from sound logos and brand anthems to full audio identity guidelines. Plan8 helps brands sound as distinctive as they look — crafting sonic logos, brand anthems, audio guidelines, and scalable sound systems. ### Interactive Audio https://plan8.co/services/interactive-audio/ Interactive and spatial audio for web, VR/AR, games and emerging platforms. Interactive and spatial audio for web, VR/AR, games and emerging platforms. Plan8 combines sound craft with code to create immersive, responsive experiences. Plan8 builds responsive audio for games, web experiences, VR/AR, and installations where sound reacts to user input and context. ## Work ### Hennessy — Mastered From Chaos https://plan8.co/work/hennessy-mastered/ Plan8 created sonic branding and interactive audio for Hennessy — Mastered From Chaos brought the cognac brand to life through sound. — Music Production, Interactive Audio, Sound Design ### Jaguar — x Dua Lipa https://plan8.co/work/x-dua-lipa/ Interactive Audio ### Spotify — Wrapped 2025 https://plan8.co/work/wrapped-2025/ Sonic Branding, Development ### Nordea — Sonic identity https://plan8.co/work/nordea/ Plan8 developed a sonic identity for Nordea — audio branding that builds trust and recognition for one of the Nordics' largest banks. — Sonic Branding, Music Production ### Kvartal — Kvartal — Sonic Identity https://plan8.co/work/kvartal/ Plan8 created a full sonic identity for Kvartal — original piano compositions, audio logo, and podcast idents for Sweden's leading long-form journalism platform. — Sonic Branding, Sound Design, Music Production ### Sierra — Conversational AI https://plan8.co/work/sierra/ Sonic Branding ### Svenskt Tenn — 100-year anniversary https://plan8.co/work/100-year-anniversary/ Sonic Branding ### Peak Performance — See where she takes you https://plan8.co/work/peak-performance/ Music Production ### Svea Bank — Sonic identity https://plan8.co/work/svea-bank/ Sonic Branding, Music Production ### Spotify — The Drop https://plan8.co/work/the-drop/ Sound Design, Sonic Branding ### Spotify — Interactive experiences https://plan8.co/work/spotify-interactive/ Plan8 designed interactive audio experiences for Spotify — combining sound craft with technology for engaging user experiences. — Interactive Audio, Sound Design, Music Production, Development ### Norwegian — Sonic identity https://plan8.co/work/norwegian/ Sonic Branding ### H&M — Move https://plan8.co/work/move-with-robots/ Development, Interactive Audio, Music Production ### Lusion — Spaace.io https://plan8.co/work/spaace-io/ Music Production, Interactive Audio, Sound Design ### EY Doberman — Immersive installation https://plan8.co/work/immersive-installation/ Sound Design, Music Production, Sonic Branding ### Vattenfall — Sound Logo https://plan8.co/work/sound-logo/ Sonic Branding, Sound Design, Music Production ### Cancerfonden — Donate a Thought https://plan8.co/work/donate-a-thought/ Interactive Audio ### Mars — Twix Harmoniser https://plan8.co/work/twix-harmoniser/ Interactive Audio, Development ### Robinhood — Legend https://plan8.co/work/robinhood/ Sonic Branding ### TV4 — TV4 Channel identity https://plan8.co/work/tv4/ Sonic Branding ### Länsförsäkringar — Sonic identity https://plan8.co/work/Sonic-identity/ Sonic Branding ### Volvo — Recharge Room https://plan8.co/work/recharge-room/ Music Production, Sound Design Recharge room We helped Volvo build a room where you can experience a form of Shinrin-Yoku (森林 浴), the traditional Japanese forest bath. With surround sound and music, visuals and ambient lighting to guide you into relaxation and recharging. Installed in Volvo headquarters in Stockholm and Gothenburg with global rollout around the corner. ### Paypal — Zettle Payment Terminal https://plan8.co/work/zettle/ Sonic Branding, Sound Design ### LinkedIn — UX Sound https://plan8.co/work/ux-sound/ Sonic Branding, Sound Design ### Cancerfonden — Sonic identity https://plan8.co/work/cancerfonden/ A little description for this is in place. — Sonic Branding, Music Production ### Yuga Labs — All new sound logo https://plan8.co/work/all-new-sound-logo/ Sound Design, Sonic Branding ### BMW — THE NEW X5 https://plan8.co/work/the-new-x5/ Plan8 shaped the sonic branding for the BMW X5 launch — audio that reflects performance, innovation and the BMW brand. — Music Production ### Yuga Labs — Otherside https://plan8.co/work/otherside/ Music Production, Sound Design ### Hjärtebarnsfonden — Heartbeat drum machine https://plan8.co/work/heartbeat-drum-machine/ Worlds first synth with a heart condition. — Interactive Audio When a child is born with congenital heart disease the rhythm of life is disrupted. Despite being the most common birth defect in the world, general awareness of CHD is low. This drum machine was created in a collaboration between audiovisual designer Love Hultén and teenage engineering to highlight the issue. The device, functioning as a modular synthesizer, produces rhythms made using the electrocardiograms of four children with different heart defects. ### Mailchimp — The sound of the expert absurdist https://plan8.co/work/the-sound-of-the-expert-absurdist/ Sonic Branding ### Reeses Puff's — Music Machines https://plan8.co/work/music-machines/ Interactive Audio ### Cocio — Sonic brand elements https://plan8.co/work/sonic-brand-elements/ Music Production, Sonic Branding ### LinkedIn — The gentle presenter https://plan8.co/work/podcast-network-id/ Sound Design, Sonic Branding ### Squarespace — Fluid engine film https://plan8.co/work/fluid-engine/ Music Production ### Skanska — Sonic identity https://plan8.co/work/skanska-sonic-identity/ Sonic Branding, Sound Design ### Dos Equis — Robotic brass band https://plan8.co/work/college-football/ Music Production, Interactive Audio ### Spotify — With care for all things sound https://plan8.co/work/sonic-explorations/ Sonic Branding ### Intel — Jazzkeys Paris installation https://plan8.co/work/jazzkeys-paris/ Interactive Audio ### Google — Pixel 6 launch site https://plan8.co/work/pixel-6-launch-site/ Music Production, Sound Design, Interactive Audio ### IBM — The Harmonic State https://plan8.co/work/the-harmonic-state/ Music Production, Interactive Audio, Sound Design ### IKEA Studio — Film music and sound design https://plan8.co/work/film-music/ Music Production, Sound Design ### Bird Two — Fly as a bird https://plan8.co/work/bird-product-sound-design/ Sonic Branding ### Adobe — Build your own personalized website https://plan8.co/work/portfolio/ Music Production ### YouTube — Billie Eilish: infinite bad guy website https://plan8.co/work/infinite-bad-guy/ Interactive Audio, Development ### Spotify — Day 1 Club https://plan8.co/work/day-1-club/ Interactive Audio, Sound Design ### New York Times — Apollo VR https://plan8.co/work/apollo-vr/ Sound Design, Interactive Audio ### IKEA — Fnurra https://plan8.co/work/fnurra/ Sonic Branding, Sound Design ### Brookfield — The Wishing Forest https://plan8.co/work/wishing-forest/ Interactive Audio, Sound Design ### IKEA — Place AR https://plan8.co/work/place-ar/ Sound Design, Interactive Audio ### ICA — Self Scanning https://plan8.co/work/ica-scanner/ Sonic Branding, Sound Design ### Netflix — Our planet https://plan8.co/work/our-planet/ Sound Design, Interactive Audio ### Thorne — The Frontier Within https://plan8.co/work/thorne/ Interactive Audio, Sound Design ### Google — I/O https://plan8.co/work/google-io/ Plan8 created sonic branding and interactive audio for Google I/O — immersive sound for one of tech's flagship developer events. — Music Production, Interactive Audio, Sound Design ### Lyft — Serenade https://plan8.co/work/lyft-auto-tunes/ Interactive Audio, Music Production ### Lynk & Co — Audio Branding https://plan8.co/work/lynk-and-co-audio-branding/ Plan8 delivered audio branding for Lynk & Co — defining how the automotive brand sounds across campaigns and customer experiences. — Sound Design, Sonic Branding ### Rivian — Electric Adventure Vehicle https://plan8.co/work/rivian/ Plan8 developed sonic branding and sound design for Rivian's electric adventure vehicles — audio that matches innovation and outdoor spirit. — Sound Design, Music Production ### Vattenfall — Audio Identity System https://plan8.co/work/vattenfall-audio-identity/ Plan8 created a full audio identity system for Vattenfall — sonic branding that unifies the energy brand across touchpoints. — Sonic Branding, Sound Design, Music Production ### Google — Santatracker https://plan8.co/work/santatracker/ Music Production, Interactive Audio, Sound Design ### EDC — Cloud control https://plan8.co/work/cloud-control/ Music Production, Interactive Audio ### IKEA — Design Film https://plan8.co/work/ikea-design/ Plan8 provided sonic branding and sound design for IKEA — sound that supports the brand's democratic design philosophy. — Sound Design, Music Production ### Bang & Olufsen — Beoplay A1 https://plan8.co/work/b-and-o-beoplay-a1/ Music Production ### JFK Presidential Library — Clouds Over Cuba https://plan8.co/work/clouds-over-cuba/ Interactive Audio, Music Production, Sound Design ## Labs ### Boom beat https://plan8.co/labs/boom-beat/ ### Cable Light 01 https://plan8.co/labs/cable-light-01/ ### Picture my voice https://plan8.co/labs/picture-my-voice/ ### Constellations WebVR https://plan8.co/labs/constellations-webvr/ ### Sonic Umbrella https://plan8.co/labs/sonic-umbrella/ ### Snowflakes Jam https://plan8.co/labs/snowflakes-jam/ ### Voice controlled gifs https://plan8.co/labs/poem/ ### AR Lyrics https://plan8.co/labs/ar-lyrics/ ### Sound Tennis https://plan8.co/labs/sound-tennis/ ### All Genres https://plan8.co/labs/all-genres/ ### Finding Love https://plan8.co/labs/finding-love/ ### Two chaps in the park https://plan8.co/labs/two-chaps-in-the-park/ ### Spatial audio mix in VR https://plan8.co/labs/spatial-audio-mix-in-vr/ ### Bouncy Beats WebVR https://plan8.co/labs/bouncy-beats/ ### Scratch the campaign https://plan8.co/labs/scratch-the-campaign/ ### Polydome VR https://plan8.co/labs/polydome-vr/ ### Accidental Arranger https://plan8.co/labs/accidental-arranger-test/ ### Chordle https://plan8.co/labs/chordle/ ### Swoosher https://plan8.co/labs/swoosher/ ### JazzKeys https://plan8.co/labs/jazzkeys/ ### Sounds We Miss https://plan8.co/labs/sounds-we-miss/ ### Play the charts https://plan8.co/labs/finance-tone/ ### Finance Choir https://plan8.co/labs/finance-choir/ ### Ambisonics web player https://plan8.co/labs/ambisonics-web-player/ ### Multitouch https://plan8.co/labs/multitouch/ ## Journal ### From a small-town music school to the executive table https://plan8.co/journal/from-a-small-town-music-school-to-the-executive-table/ How a teenage partnership at a local music school evolved into an international sound studio. A look back at two decades of fusing code, craft, and strategy to shape how brands sound. Plan8 was founded by Tor and I almost 20 years ago. We first met as teenagers at the music school in our small hometown in Sweden. It was the early 90s, and our town had a surprisingly vibrant music scene. There were bands everywhere, playing in basements, rehearsal rooms and small local venues. Tor was a drummer, and I was a singer and guitarist. Then life happened, and it would be years before we met again. By then, we had both moved to Stockholm after our studies and found ourselves working in the booming early days of the internet. We split our time between writing code and making music, recording our own projects and other aspiring bands in our small studio. Looking back, that combination turned out to be important.The worlds of web design, coding and digital music production were surprisingly close. Both required a fascination with technology and a willingness to figure things out yourself. One moment you were trying to understand a piece of code The next you were moving a microphone five centimetres or trying to work out why a compressor wasn't doing what you wanted. That combination of music and technology has followed us ever since. Learning the advertising world When we decided to turn the studio into a business, our biggest challenge wasn't really making music, it was figuring out who might pay us to make it. We knew almost nobody in advertising, film, or design, so the first years were largely about building a network and mapping out the landscape of those industries. Who actually chose the music? Was it the advertising agency? The film director? The production company? The client? We started knocking on doors in Stockholm and soon began traveling internationally, to Amsterdam, London, New York, Munich, Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki, Cape Town, and Dubai. This was before you could simply send someone a link to your work. We would turn up at agencies carrying our portfolio on a DVD. Most of it consisted of TV commercials. To get those jobs, we pitched music to film directors and advertising agencies. Sometimes we also worked behind the scenes, pitching ourselves as composers to bigger and more established music houses in London and Amsterdam. Little by little, the work got better. Better directors. Better agencies. Bigger brands. Cooler films. At this point, our job was fairly straightforward: write a bespoke piece of music to elevate a commercial. Music and sound design were traditionally treated as two separate disciplines… A composer wrote the score; a sound designer handled the rest. But we became increasingly interested in the space between them. Our composers started using sound design elements as part of the music itself. Noises became percussion, textures became rhythms, sounds became musical building blocks. We started calling it musical sound design. As our network grew, so did our repertoire. We brought in external composers with different specialities and became highly adaptable to almost any brief. Give us a day or two and we'd come back with two or three different musical directions. But while we were getting better at making music for advertising, something much larger was shifting around us. The internet was maturing.  The birth of the sound engine People were spending increasingly more time online. The advertising industry declared that television and other “old media” were dying, which, as it turned out, wasn't really true. Nevertheless, brands became obsessed with building ambitious digital experiences. And then came the era of the interactive microsite. Calling these things websites doesn't really do them justice. The best ones were somewhere between a website, a video game, an interactive film, and an art installation. They combined video, animation, 3D graphics, music, and sound design into experiences that held attention for ten or twenty minutes. For us, this was incredibly exciting. We already understood the web. We understood code. And we understood music and sound. Suddenly those disciplines belonged together. But there was a problem. On a TV commercial, you could simply deliver a finished piece of music. On an interactive website, you can’t. The music had to respond dynamically to user behavior. It might need to change when clicked on an object or reached a certain point in a story. Different layers of music might need to start and stop without losing sync. Sound effects had to interact with music. Transitions had to happen seamlessly. A pre-rendered MP3 wasn't going to cut it. So we built our own dynamic sound engine. It served as the brain controlling every audio asset on a site, keeping track of music, sound effects, transitions and interactions. For the next few years, it became something of our secret sauce. Very few studios were working this way. For a while, we were one of the few places agencies could turn to for genuinely interactive and dynamic music for the web. Eventually, that led to one particular project: Clouds Over Cuba. It was an interactive documentary about the Cuban Missile Crisis, created for the JFK Presidential Library, this interactive documentary on the Cuban Missile Crisis combined film, archive material, interactive timelines, music, and sound design. It was precisely the kind of challenge our unique blend of skills had prepared us for In 2012, it won a News & Documentary Emmy award. Tor and I travelled to New York for the ceremony, returning home to Stockholm carrying a statuette and fairly enormous expectations about what would happen next. As it turned out, winning an Emmy didn't guarantee any immediate success. But something else had happened. Without really planning it, we had become an international company. America The interactive projects had gradually changed our client base. What had started with directors and agencies in Stockholm was now increasingly dominated by US advertising agencies and digital production companies. At some point, having most of your clients on the other side of the Atlantic becomes slightly impractical, so we established a US company and Tor and his family packed their lives into boxes and moved to Los Angeles. The following four years involved a lot of flights across the Atlantic and some extraordinary projects with Google, Meta and other large technology companies. But once again, the technology around us was changing. The web was becoming social. For a while, brands were so convinced that Facebook was the future that some actually shut down their own websites and redirected visitors to their Facebook pages. The elaborate microsites that had filled our calendars began disappearing. The thing we had become very good at doing was slowly becoming less relevant. Fortunately for us, something else was taking its place. When the internet escaped the browser Brands still wanted experiences. They just didn't want them confined to a traditional web browser. Increasingly, we found ourselves working on physical installations, exhibitions, launches, retail environments and other interactive experiences. For a group of people obsessed with sound, this was arguably even more interesting. On the web, sound comes from your computer or headphones. In a physical space, it could surround you. We could put speakers everywhere. Sound could move across a room. Music could react to where you were standing or how you moved. It could react to your heart rate. Or your driving. Thanks, Jaguar. We would build prototypes, write software, connect sensors, move speakers around and invent solutions as we went. Once again, music and technology had taken us somewhere new. From campaigns to brands After almost two decades of working in advertising, another realization slowly began to take shape. We knew a lot about brands, yet most of the time we were being asked to solve a very small part of their problem. An advertising agency might call and say, We need music for this film. So we'd make music for the film. Another agency might call six months later about the same brand and ask us to create sound for an installation. Then someone else would make the sonic logo, choose the music for social media or design the sounds in the product. Each project could be good on its own, but nobody was necessarily thinking about how they belonged together. We started wondering whether we could be more useful further upstream. Instead of just asking how this should sound?, we started asking why it should have sound at all? Where and when should sound appear? What job should music and sound actually do for this brand? That changed our relationship with clients. We began working directly with brands over longer periods rather than appearing briefly at the end of an advertising production. We could sit alongside a design agency during a rebrand and make sure sound was considered at the same time as colour, typography, motion and language. If a brand was trying to become warmer, simpler, more human or more innovative, we could ask what those same ideas meant in sound. Our job was no longer simply to make something sound good. It was to understand the problem first. And sometimes the right answer wasn't music. Sometimes it wasn't even sound. That may be the biggest thing we've learned. Twenty years later It took us almost twenty years to go from carrying DVDs around advertising agencies to having a place at the executive table. There wasn't really a plan. We followed the work, but more importantly, we followed our curiosity and that helped us earn their trust. TV commercials led us to sound design, the internet led us to code, code led us to interactive music, and interactive music led us into physical spaces. All those years working inside brands eventually led us to strategy. The basic idea hasn't changed very much. The difference is that these days, before we start making anything, we've learned to ask why. It took us twenty years to get here. The next twenty are about making that trust count. Peace. / Calle ### A design agency like any other https://plan8.co/journal/a-design-agency-like-any-other/ Making something sound good is rarely the whole job. A look inside how we balance craft, context, and technology to build meaningful experiences through sound and silence. Every now and then, I find myself trying to explain what it is we actually do at Plan8. “We make sound” is true, but it also leaves quite a lot out. Because making something sound good is rarely the whole job. Sometimes it’s about creating a feeling or building a brand. Sometimes it’s about solving a problem. And sometimes the best thing we can do is suggest not making a sound at all. This article is my attempt to get a little closer to the way we think about our work, the questions we ask, the things we care about, and why sound, design, and technology have become so closely connected for us. I’m not sure there’s one perfect definition of what Plan8 is. But I do think this is a good place to start. Sound Sound is the foundation of our practice, and the thing we care about perhaps unreasonably deeply. We care about the art, the quality, the detail, and the integrity of the craft. We love sound in all its forms. But more than that, we believe sound is one of the fastest ways to make people feel something. Before you have time to explain yourself, sound has already said something. It can carry personality. It can communicate meaning. It can create recognition. It can make something feel calm, exciting, trustworthy, strange, expensive, familiar, urgent or completely wrong - all in a fraction of a second. And, by the way, caring about sound means caring about silence too. Design For us design means using sound deliberately. Not simply making something that sounds good, but making sound that does something, that solves problems and creates meaningful experiences for our clients. Sound is a powerful design tool and powerful tools, naturally, come with plenty of opportunities to make a mess. I believe we’ve found most of them over the years. A sound can be beautiful and still be wrong. It can be technically impressive and still be pointless. It can win an award and still annoy the person who has to hear it ten times a day. The best sound design tends to sit somewhere between the artful and the thoughtful, between instinct and intention. That’s why good sound design benefits from more than good ears and needs a strategic approach that considers both the rational and the emotional. Therefore, we’ve come to root our design in four fundamental questions. Why? Why is sound necessary? What is the reason behind the necessity and what job should it do? Answering these questions helps us define its role - for the brand and its audience, and for the product, film, or experience it belongs to. The answers usually involve a mix of brand, functional, and storytelling objectives. Those objectives need to be prioritised, tested, and sometimes challenged. The world is already full of noise. It doesn’t need more sound for the sake of sound. Sometimes our job is to help clients hear something they hadn’t initially asked for. Other times to help them hear the value of not adding anything at all. By putting purpose first, we try to open our clients’ ears a little wider - not always to what they initially want, but to what they actually need. Where? Where is this sound going to live? Context changes sound. The exact same audio can feel completely different depending on where and alongside what it is experienced. Is the environment quiet or busy? Indoors or outdoors? Is this a fleeting moment or something people will encounter every day? What kind of speakers are involved? Are there other sounds competing for attention? What expectations, habits, or cultural conventions come with the touchpoint? A great sound that’s not fit for context will be the wrong sound. Understanding the where helps us understand what the sound needs to be. When? When should it happen? This is partly about identifying moments where sound has an opportunity to add value. But it’s equally about understanding how sound fits together with everything else. Timing matters - a lot! Sound can be perfect and still arrive at the wrong moment. So we look at how it works alongside visuals, interaction, movement, information, and behaviour. We make sure it supports the experience rather than interrupting it. Sound shouldn’t feel like an afterthought. Ideally, it shouldn’t feel like a separate thing at all. It should simply belong. And, again, sometimes the most useful answer to when? is …not now. How? How should the sound be shaped to carry the intended meaning and personality? This is where we direct the expression: positioning, stylistic concepts, timbres, semantic systems, and all the other decisions that give sound its particular character.  We imagine what people might feel, think, or say when they hear it. And throughout the process, we keep circling back to the first question: Why? Does this sound actually do what it’s here to do? Again, there’s a reason we put effort into why-where-when-how. Sound without well-considered answers to these questions tend to become disturbing noise or generic clutter, feel misplaced or mistaken to come from something else. Tech Tech is our third leg because technology creates possibilities. And, at heart, we’re innovators. Our team brings together a diverse range of skills, including in-house developers. As our work increasingly spans UX, products, and interactive audio, designing with code is an integral part of what we do. Because success doesn’t depend solely on the sound asset itself. It also depends on how that sound is implemented - How does it perform? How does it behave? How does it respond to interaction? What happens when the context changes? What happens when a person uses the product differently than we expected them to? These questions are part of the design too. By working with code, interactive technology, we unlock new possibilities for what sound can do, where it can exist, and how people can experience it. Ultimately, pushing the boundaries of audio serves two purposes: our clients’ ambitions and our own desire to keep learning. Because technology gives us new tools, obviously, but more interestingly, it gives us new questions. Being a design agency for sound, what we strive for is to move from noise to signal. From chaos to clarity. Whether it’s a complete identity system or a delightful little ding, we believe great sound design carries informed emotion. It comes from a place where insight meets craft, and where the thoughtful converges with the artful. We imagine a world where a little more attention moves from the eyes to the ears. From how things look to how they sound. A less cluttered world where sound has a clear purpose and silence has one too. A world where brands and products sound every bit as good as they look. I guess, ultimately, we imagine a world where sound design is just… design. And that would indeed make Plan8 a design agency. Like any other. ### Designing for 6.2 Billion Ears https://plan8.co/journal/sound-of-fifa-world-cup-2026/ How the FIFA World Cup® uses spatial audio, pitch-side mixing, and sonic identity to turn 6.2 billion home viewers into stadium fans. During the warm summer evenings, I followed the 2026 FIFA World Cup® alongside 6.2 billion other people. There was a healthy amount of drama on the pitch and on social media, and even the halftime show left no one without an opinion. But all the buzz in the world about the winners, losers, singers, and dancers couldn't pull my mind away from the sound. As I was watching the games, I couldn't stop asking myself: Why do I hear every kick of the ball so clearly? Why can’t I hear the players talking? And who made the sonic signature opening and closing each commercial break? This sent me down one of my usual nerdy spirals, trying to discover everything I could about the sound of the 2026 FIFA World Cup®. Audience 641x Larger Than the Stadium If we measure by global television audience, fan engagement, and international reach, this is considered the largest single sporting event in the world—and the 2026 tournament was the biggest one yet. There is no question about FIFA having a well-developed sound identity for every World Cup, from Shakira's Waka Waka to custom audio logos, theme tracks, and artist collaborations. But one specific aspect of how FIFA works with sound is especially intriguing to explore. To my mind, it is a masterclass in taking sound seriously and reaping the return on that investment every time. Let's consider the scale of things for starters. For the final game, there were 80,663 people present in the stadium, while at the peak of the match, 51.7 million tuned into the broadcast. That means the broadcast audience was approximately 641 times larger than the live crowd. So in actuality, the biggest crowd following the game is behind the screen… It is undeniable that when watching on TV, you hear the ambient crowd roaring like a mighty sea; you hear the ultras behind the goals drumming, chanting, and supporting their favorite team. You hear every kick of the ball, crisp and clear, as if you were right there. And this is exactly what FIFA wants you to hear! A very detailed plan of microphone placement and spatial mixing takes place, all designed to make you feel included. And boy… It works, because it helps attract a crowd 641 times larger than the one present in the stadium. From Mono to Pitch-Side "Tonmeisters" Their broadcast philosophy developed over time, hand in hand with the evolution of audio technology. Back in 1954, during the first broadcast hosted in Switzerland, sound was strictly in mono. FIFA's only priority was making sure the commentator could be heard over the crowd and the signal buzz. But as audio tech evolved, their priorities shifted. In the 1970s, FIFA rolled out their first stereo mixes using microphones placed around the field. A dedicated mixing engineer had to follow the game live, constantly pulling up specific mic channels depending on where the ball moved to keep the sound clear. It immediately made me think of a classical Tonmeister, someone who masters complex audio tech while following a musical score as the orchestra plays. I had no idea sports broadcasting had its own version of this, reading the game live on the pitch instead of notes on a page. Outsmarting 127 Decibels of Noise Then came South Africa in 2010 and the infamous vuvuzelas. The relentless 127 dB drone of the horns completely overwhelmed the broadcast microphones. Engineers had to innovate on the spot, rapidly developing real-time digital "notch filters" tuned specifically to 233 Hz. This allowed them to slice the buzzing horns right out of the mix without muffling the true stadium atmosphere or the commentators. 2026: Sound as Equal to Vision Fast forward to 2026, and FIFA delivered its first full 3D audio broadcast. The system was intricate and complex because, to achieve true immersion, sound had to be treated as equal to the visual input. The audio team used between 30 to 40 pitch-side microphones, almost matching the number of cameras tracking the match visually. The Ultimate ROI on Audio There is so much more I could go on about when it comes to the way FIFA uses sound, many nerdy details that I find incredibly fascinating. But what's in it for us? Their long-term commitment to using sound, music, sonic identity, and sensory marketing has established them as one of the strongest brands in modern sports. FIFA sound is a masterclass to study and discuss when it comes to using sound to its fullest potential. The success of the FIFA World Cup might have something to do with great football and legendary players on the pitch, but as a sound designer, I can’t help but wonder: Is FIFA the largest sporting event in the world and therefore takes sound seriously… or because FIFA takes sound seriously, is it the largest sporting event in the world? ### Micro Sound for Macro Effect https://plan8.co/journal/ux-sound/ Finding a Shared Language for UX Audio How can we talk about sound with the same clarity that we use to describe colors, shapes, and feelings? This is a question that continuously drives our work at Plan8, and it became the core focus of my master thesis in music production at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. As music producers and sound designers navigating the space between art and commercial design, we frequently act as translators. Our job is to take abstract brand values or verbal briefs, and turn them into a few milliseconds of functional audio. But trying to explain why a specific notification sound feels "right" can be incredibly difficult when words fall short. To bridge this gap, we at Plan8 continuously employ a structured tool: an archetype based model for sound design. Translating Emotion into Audio Drawing on Carl Jung's theories of universal psychological patterns, we created a streamlined model featuring six emotional archetypes specifically adapted for sound: Dynamic, Confident, Competent, Caring, Friendly, and Carefree. By assigning these emotional categories to micro sounds, we aimed to create a shared vocabulary between producers, strategists, and clients. But a model is only as good as its real world application. For my master thesis, I wanted to test the limits of this framework: if we strip away all visual context and interactive cues, can an everyday listener intuitively recognize the emotional identity of a split second sound? To find out, we conducted a blind audio survey with 100 participants who had no professional background in sound design. They were asked to listen to custom UX sounds and categorize them into four of our archetypes: Dynamic, Competent, Caring, or Carefree. The Power of Timbre and Context The results were both validating and surprising. Some sonic identities proved to be universally understood. For instance, sounds we designed to be Carefree were consistently identified correctly, with listeners describing them as playful, light, happy, and unexpected. However, the lines blurred when it came to the Dynamic and Caring archetypes, which listeners frequently confused with one another. This revealed an incredible nuance in human perception: a sound designed to be Caring might feature warm, organic tones like wood or glass. But if that same warm sound has a sharp, bright attack or a high pitch as it rings out, listeners suddenly perceive it as energetic and Dynamic. This proved a crucial point in my research: we cannot rely on broad categories alone. Subtle sonic qualities like timbre, attack curve, and frequency distribution completely alter how a micro sound makes us feel. Furthermore, we know that a UX sound's identity is deeply relational, as its true meaning often only emerges when it is placed in a sequence or alongside a broader family of sounds within a digital ecosystem. The Future of Commercial Sound What does this mean for the future of digital products? It shows us that UX audio is not just a functional afterthought, it is a powerful tool for emotional communication. A well crafted sound does not just confirm an action, it builds trust, clarity, and brand identity on a subconscious level. Today's commercial world is hungry for more than just good aesthetics, as brands are actively seeking data driven insights into how sound influences user behavior and experience. Moving forward, the most successful sonic identities will be born at the intersection of artistic intuition and cognitive research. Ultimately, designing audio for digital interfaces is about creating sounds that do not just work technically, but intuitively communicate feeling, function, and identity in the blink of an eye. ### The world on silent https://plan8.co/journal/the-world-on-silent/ Plan8 designs sonic identities, sound logos, brand music, and interactive audio so companies are as recognizable by ear as they are by eye. What sonic branding is, and how Plan8 designs sonic identities, sound logos, brand music, and interactive audio for global brands. We can estimate that there are 8.3 billion mobile phones on this planet used by approximately 5.3 billion people. There is no universal consensus or data that tells us exactly how many people keep their phones on silent, but from our own personal experience we each know that we ourselves, our friends, family, people next to us on the subway keep phones on silent. Why the sound goes off People keep their phones on silent for multiple reasons, a mother of a newborn tums her phone on silent so that it wouldn't wake the baby up. The haptics can create a loud noise if the phone is placed on a surface that amplifies the vibrations, so she might tum them off and set her phone to some visual feedback and that in turn becomes a habit that she never thinks twice about. Besides this example that could be arriving from personal experience, there are multiple others, that include notification overload, spam reduction, societal pressure or the wish to regain control over one's own focus, choosing when to pay attention to the notifications. A mismatch, not a preference These scenarios illustrate a clear mismatch between the designers intent and theusers desire and... this is why having a strategy and deliberate sound design in your app is no longer an option; it has never been an option or nice-to-have. It is not that people want to have silent phones, they want to avoid hearing sounds that are untimed, intrusive, poorly made and causing fatigue or stress. This ties hand in hand with fundamentally designing how the app functions and how it pushes notifications for the user. Yes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but the gap between great and average is in taking all of the parts seriously - they make up the whole. Our why This is our why, the user, their experience and delight. We work towards a better sounding world where every sound is deliberate, made with a purpose, supporting a function, and created with beauty and excellence. Made by artists devoted to the craft, devoted to forever pursue excellence in their craftsmanship in creating these sounds. Sound alone does not make the experience, it is heard in its context and is a part of an ecosystem. The ecosystem of an app consist of many moving parts and they each deserve great attention by designers that understand each of these parts We have made sounds for products, apps, scanners, washingmachines, you name it and regardless of the product in front of us, we always do our utmost to create the best sound for the problem in front of us. A hundred tries for a dozen When we work with UX sound projects, sometimes the timeline of the project allows us to explore, deep dive and test multiple directions and hundreds of sounds before landing in the final 12 or so, yes it takes a hundred tries to get a dozen excellent sounds. But sometimes we are onboarded late in the process and don't have much time to explore. This is still the best choice to take in experts on sound, because we have laid the foundation of working hours and hours on multiple projects and apps, tested limits and possibilities of countless devices, so we have a team that has developed a taste and a hunch for things that will work. In contrast from a developer who is dedicated hours of writing code, recognises the need of sound for a function, drops an .mp3 file with something and calls it a day. Yes, there might be that one time when this case hits a lottery and it becomes a legendary sound. But in reality in the U.S. Powerball one jackpot winner is expected for every 292.2 million tickets played. And in reality most legendary UX sounds have been made by incredible artists, dedicated to their craft and down the stream this leads back to the beginning of this article, the user turns the sound off… and the data shows that sound off is a huge lost opportunity for brand recall. “If what we use everyday is made with art and not thrown together by chance or caprice, then we shall have nothing to hide.” Bruno Munari  ### Studio Visit https://plan8.co/journal/studio-visit/ Inside Plan8’s Stockholm Sanctuary Located in an old fire station in Södermalm, Stockholm, where winter brings less than six hours of daylight, there is endless opportunity to get lost in creative studio sessions. We moved into this space fifteen years ago after outgrowing our former studios just a few hundred meters away. The street level was originally a parking garage for nearby neighbours, but we saw immense potential buried beneath the concrete. We convinced the landlord to let us transform the ground floor into a vibrant restaurant and vintage clothing store, reserving the top floors for our music studios and offices. Building the Quiet Space Finding a space that can handle continuous, rumbling audio on repeat every day is one of the hardest challenges in sound design. The best solution is to find a quiet structural shell and build soundproofing walls and floors from within. While this is a complex and costly process usually reserved for basements, the old fire station provided the perfect fit for our needs, giving us a dedicated home to push acoustic boundaries without disturbing the world outside. A Century of Instrumentation Experimenting with physical instruments to find new sounds has always been in our DNA, and our current space gives us room to surround ourselves with an abundance of tools. Early on, we spotted an ad for a closing public music school up north that was selling off its collection. We rented a van, drove up, and bought nearly their entire inventory. Today, our space is filled with everything from piccolo flutes, tubas, trombones, cellos, and violins to synths and drum machines. The Hardware Tech Workshop As our work shifted deeper into physical product sound design, it became clear that high end studio speakers can be deceitful. Simple tone buzzers or interface sounds are heavily shaped by housing materials, plastic enclosures, and internal resonant frequencies. Our dedicated tech workshop, smelling of solder smoke and 3D printed plastic, acts as a real world proving ground. Here, we test early hardware prototypes directly, ensuring every alert and sound cue performs perfectly on the actual device. Collaborative Prototyping Sound identity work is a deeply collaborative process. We regularly bring brand directors, product specialists, and agency teams into our space to guide them through our design process. By keeping our studios, tech workshop, and meeting spaces under one roof, the distance between a whiteboard sketch and a functional sound file is reduced to minutes. We invite clients to get hands on, participating in active listening sessions while investigating how sound interacts with physical materials and motion.