It ’s not rare for a fellowship to redesign its logotype over the years ( or decade ) but for a inauguration like Spotify who has n’t been around that long ( compared to Microsoft , for instance ) , it was rather strange to see the pullulate music service dump its quirky logotype for something simpler last month . And with the new logotype and ikon roll out to desktop users this week , we just had to find out the who / what / where / when / why .
Move the skidder in the image above back and off to see a before and after comparison . The white interface is the new one .
Christian Wilsson was the creative lead for this particular projection and the original logo maker back in 2006 . Andreas Holmström was the atomic number 82 designer on the logotype redesign and I had a quick chat with both late .
Gizmodo : So , how long has this redesign been in the works ?
CW : It start back in September when we started work on a crowing brand scheme for the company and one event from that was that we needed a sword refresh . lead up to our December 6th event last yr , we knew we want more photographic imaging than far-out illustrations and that ’s when we got disembarrass of the green square and went with simple , substantial back and white textbook for the logo . Then in January we started thinking about changing the logo during what we called “ puritanical sky body of work ” .
Gizmodo : And how does the new logo play into the overall firebrand scheme now ?
CW : We wanted to be perceive as light , personal and playfulness and the newfangled logo mate all those criteria . It ’s cleaned up and is now one piece , which was a problem with the older logo . People were using the app icon as the logo because they did n’t know what the master logotype was . We wanted to deal that in the redesign .
Gizmodo : What typeface are you now using for the new logo ?
AH : It ’s a tweaked version ofTobias Frere - Jones ’ Gotham . It ’s a medium Gotham that ’s been tweaked with rounded corners and we deepen the dot on top of the “ i ” with a circle alternatively of a square . We ’re using Proxima Nova on the website .
Gizmodo : What ’s the deal with those waves or squiggles or whatever they are ? In the redesign they ’ve been moved off to the left field .
CW : We noticed that people have been complaining on the Interwebs about them not being perfect . We had try out the golden proportion on them but that made it attend even more weird . This version is a footling more constitutive and it ’s not passing perfect , which I think cave in it more personality .
Gizmodo : How did you pick the fresh typeface ?
AH : For the logo , we knew from the starting line that we want to simplify and go to something that was sans - serif . From there we just found 10 different fonts that we thought had something interesting in them and expire from there . We were take care for baptistry that had a very geometrical appearance because to us that ’s very much the Spotify appearance — rounded and favorable looking .
Gizmodo : You guys have mentioned “ round ” quite a bit . Why ?
AH : Because it ’s the opposite of square ? * audible laugh * It ’s crucial to not feel too picky and by picking round it feels more human , like the former handwriting drawn poppycock .
Gizmodo : There ’s been a clear geological fault to childlike and cleaner typefaces as of previous . Do you think this is going to last ?
CW : The trend at the mo is being categoric and dim-witted . It ’s hard to tell where the man is pop off to be blueprint impudent in five years . Who have intercourse ?
AH : At the moment it feels right .
Gizmodo : go back to the wave for a second . What are they ?
CW : * express joy * I was the first guy to do the logo back in 2006 and we came up with the waves then . It ’s essentially instance cyclosis . Or at least that ’s what the thought was back then and now . It ’s supposed to be streaming .
AH : I ’ve read some word on Twitter that it ’s audio waves . But we think of it as cyclosis . It ’s undecomposed that it could be both .
Ironically enough ( or maybe not ) there have been a fate of angry tweets from the last few days about the redesign . Does everything have to have a parody account now ? Is nothing sacred ?
It seem like@Spotifymade me redundant …
— Old Spotify Icon ( @OldSpotifyIcon)April 19 , 2013
https://twitter.com/embed/status/325126849594265601
https://twitter.com/embed/status/324619170442510336
While the Swedes nailed the fount and more or less executed on the company ’s vision for a brand refresh , it ’s those damn little squiggles that really burn my biscuits . They ’re so uneasy !
DesignSPOTIFY
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present tense .
You May Also Like
