Apple Music has changed its brand identity for the first time in 11 years, and the logo of the new look was built from sound waves. The creative agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab worked on the identity under the concept “Made by Sound”: first they made the sound, then they built the visual image from it.
The project brought in British musician and producer Fred again.. and the studio NEST Acoustics. They wrote a melody and broke it down into notes. Each note was played through a transducer, which turns an audio signal into mechanical vibrations, and the transducer itself was submerged in mineral oil. Waves on the surface of the liquid became the basis for the new mark. The work took several months. The sound and frequencies were tuned so that the movement of the liquid produced a readable shape.
Alongside the animated mark, the service showed a new wordmark and a sonic signature, a short audio element for brand recognition. In the wordmark, the Apple symbol is combined with an adapted SF Pro typeface, and the lowercase letters are set in bold. The visual system continues the Liquid Glass direction that Apple uses in its software products: transparency, light refraction and liquid motion.
The team explains the approach by saying that music and artists should be at the center of everything Apple Music does. The timing of rolling out the new identity across the app and advertising, as well as the project budget, were not disclosed.
For those who make ads and creative work around music and streaming verticals, the case is interesting as an example of handmade visuals where generation is usually used. There is also a video about the shoot that shows the process itself.
