It is onerous to consider Apple Music launched in 2015 and hasn’t rebranded within the 11 years since. So when it lastly received spherical to 1, I anticipated it’d do one thing just a little bizarre and weird. Properly, say howdy to a transducer, a shallow bathtub of mineral oil and a brief composition by British producer Fred Once more.
The brand new identification is constructed across the thought: “made by sound”, which is why Apple did not go the standard route of visuals first, sound later. No, Apple and its long-time company TBWAMedia Arts Lab did it the opposite method spherical.
Fred Once more and his collaborator NEST Acoustics wrote a bit of music and broke it down into particular person notes. They performed every notice via a transducer (a tool that turns an audio sign into bodily vibration) sitting in oil. They then captured the waves completely on digicam. And the footage turned the muse for the brand new look.
It’d sound easy, but it surely wasn’t. The method took months of experimentation to get proper. Quick Firm stories that they needed to tune the sound and picture collectively as a result of too many notes or notes pitched too excessive made the oil transfer a lot that the picture turned unreadable.
All their persistence and onerous work paid off: the result’s a brand new, expressive musical notice icon formed by that captured motion. The identification hasn’t wandered too far, both. It is nonetheless very a lot a part of Apple’s Liquid Glass design language, however the staff describes the completed mark as a bodily document of music reasonably than an image of what sound would possibly appear to be.
The wordmark has additionally acquired some love. It pairs the Apple image with a customized model of SF Professional, Apple’s personal typeface, however now in daring, lowercase letterforms. This offers Apple Music extra character whereas conserving it within the household. Plau dealt with the kind design session and vector brand reconstruction.
Londoners might have already noticed the brand new identification. The wordmark was first teased in September as a part of the advertising for Apple Music Corridor, the model’s new dwell music venue in London.
The identical composition additionally turns into Apple Music’s new sonic signature, so the model appears and sounds as one. Apple Music launched the identification on X and Instagram as “bodily formed by an unique composition” from Fred Once more and NEST Acoustics. It included a behind-the-scenes movie, directed by Joe Jackson, that offers us a peek on the entire course of. You possibly can watch this under. Optical Arts produced it, Time Primarily based Arts did the VFX, Trafik taken care of the color and ending, and Mannequin Citizen combined the music.
Apple Music will roll out the brand new identification throughout its personal content material this week. It will present up within the app with iOS 27.2, coming quickly. Then advertising and product will observe.
What do you suppose? Personally, I really like that they selected one in all my favorite musicians, a shower of mineral oil and numerous time and persistence. Palms-on craft and unique considering you’ll be able to truly see. As they are saying right here in Manchester, it is correct sound.
