Fred again.. has a hand in Apple Music’s biggest visual overhaul in years. The streaming service revealed its new brand identity on Wednesday, a stark black-and-white system that replaces its familiar red, developed with the British producer and audio design firm NEST Acoustics.
The process is the hook. Rather than designing the visuals digitally, the team ran music through a tank of water and shot Apple Music’s branding through the surface as it rippled with each note. Apple’s companion video frames it as a project about music, collaboration, and craft, with the logo animated by sound and captured entirely in camera.
The new identity also comes with a rethought wordmark. “Music” is now set all in lowercase, and Apple has dropped its in-house San Francisco typeface for something heavier, rounder, and more tightly spaced, a sign the service wants a personality of its own rather than blending into the rest of Apple’s product lineup.