Apple Music unveils logo that was physically “made by sound”

Technology brand Apple has revealed the first rebrand for its Apple Music service, which was made in collaboration with musician Fred Again by passing sound waves through a pool of oil.

Created as part of the service’s first rebrand since Apple Music launched in 2015, the logo has a wave-like aesthetic that was created through a physical process at a time when digital design and artificial intelligence are at the forefront of creative processes.

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According to Apple, the core concept was to give Apple Music a distinctive sound and create a logo that was “made by sound”.

“For the rebrand of Apple Music, we wanted sound to create the visuals,” said Apple. “How do we take this idea of music and distill it into something visually beautiful?”

The creation process was revealed in a video released by Apple, which showed an application icon-shaped piece of plastic placed in a shallow pool of mineral oil.

Musical frequencies, created by Fred Again in collaboration with NEST Acoustics, were translated into physical vibrations using a transducer. These vibrations moved the oil to produce the wave-like effect on the logo.

“Essentially, the idea was to create the perfect sound wave,” said Apple. “We take a frequency and we play it through a rig. This rig then moves a large amount of liquid at the frequency of the notes.”

“We partnered with one of the world’s best music artists to create the notes for the final mnemonic,” it continued. “And then we used that sound to create the visuals.”

Along with the wave-like overlay, the typology of the Apple Music logo has been amended to align with wider Apple visual identities. Sat alongside the apple icon, the M in music has been made lowercase.

The typology was changed to a custom version of Apple’s SF Pro typeface in an entirely lowercase, bold letterform.

Apple unveiled the new logo last week along with an additional musical note icon.

The Apple Music identity was teased earlier in the month, when the company unveiled its Apple Music Hall venue in Battersea, London. The logo is placed on the wall within the venue, which has an industrial aesthetic to match the renovated power station it sits within.

Photography by Apple

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