USTA & US Open: Designing Educational Strategy for Sonic Brand Identity

Project Overview Developed and delivered a comprehensive educational strategy to help USTA stakeholders understand how sonic branding could differentiate the US Open from other major tennis tournaments.

The Learning Challenge How do you teach non-audio professionals to understand the cultural and emotional impact of sound in brand experiences?

My Approach as Learning Designer

• Needs Analysis: Identified knowledge gaps between stakeholders' current understanding and desired outcomes for sonic branding

• Educational Materials Development: Created progressive learning materials that moved from basic sound concepts to complex cultural meanings:

  • Visual-audio analogies to make abstract concepts concrete

  • Case studies from other sports brands

  • Interactive demonstrations showing how different sounds trigger different cultural associations

• Stakeholder Education Sessions: Designed and facilitated workshops that helped decision-makers understand:

  • How sound creates emotional memory

  • The relationship between audio identity and brand values

  • Cultural significance of different sonic choices for diverse audiences

Key Learning Design Elements

• Used storytelling to make technical audio concepts accessible

• Created scaffolded presentations that built understanding step-by-step

• Developed visual frameworks to explain auditory concepts

• Designed interactive elements where stakeholders could experience sonic branding principles firsthand

Outcome Successfully educated client team on sonic branding principles, enabling informed decision-making about their audio identity strategy