Branding
/
Vraj Patel
On October 21, 2026, Apple unveiled the Apple Music new logo and a full identity built around one idea: "made by sound." The red is gone, the wordmark is heavier, and the mark itself was shaped by filming music as it rippled through a shallow bath of mineral oil. It is the service's first logo change in 11 years, and it has already split opinion.
Most coverage stops at what changed. This post looks at why Apple did it this way, and what founders and marketing leads can borrow without an Apple-sized budget.
Key takeaways
The new Apple Music logo pairs the Apple symbol with a bold, lowercase wordmark set in a customized SF Pro, in black and white.
The visuals were captured in camera. Notes from a composition by Fred again.. and NEST Acoustics vibrated a bath of mineral oil, and the ripples were filmed.
Dropping a signature color is a real risk. It works when something else carries recognition.
The making-of story does as much work as the logo, and smaller brands can use the same approach.
What changed in the Apple Music rebrand
Apple announced the identity on X as "physically shaped by an original composition," and its launch film says the logo was "captured entirely in camera." The work was made with agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab, musician Fred again.. and studio NEST Acoustics, according to Adweek.
Color: the red scheme is gone. The logo and icon are black and white, with color kept for motion pieces.
Wordmark: the lighter "Music" becomes a bold, lowercase "music" in a customized SF Pro.
App icon: the red gradient note becomes a simpler black-and-white design.
Sound: new. A short composition now doubles as a sonic signature.
MacRumors reported that Apple's website switched to the new look the same day, and that the icon rolls out with iOS 27.2 and macOS 27.2. None of this was a complete surprise. The wordmark appeared at Apple Music Hall in London in September and in iOS 27.2 betas in early October, so the launch confirmed what people had spotted weeks earlier.
How the new Apple Music logo was made
Creative Boom describes the process in detail. Fred again.. and NEST Acoustics wrote a short piece and broke it into individual notes. Each note ran through a transducer, a device that turns audio into vibration, which moved a shallow bath of mineral oil. Cameras filmed the ripples and the way light bent through them, and that footage became the raw material for the identity.
The team spent months experimenting, and not every note produced something usable. Wallpaper frames the result as sound turned into liquid. Apple has used this approach before: its 2025 Apple TV rebrand also relied on practical, in-camera effects.
The method fits the product, which is why it works. A music service whose logo was physically shaped by music has a story that explains itself in one sentence.
Why dropping the red is a bold call
Color is often the first thing people associate with a brand, and one of the hardest things to give up. When the black-and-white icon first leaked in beta, many users pushed back. Creative Bloq ran one piece calling the logo "miserable" and another arguing that it signals the end of minimalism. Even commenters who disliked the icon praised the film.
Apple can take this risk because recognition doesn't depend on the red. The Apple symbol carries most of it, and the new sonic signature adds another cue. Color hasn't disappeared, either. It has moved into motion, and the launch visuals are full of it.
For a smaller company, the lesson is not to drop your color. It is to understand what your brand actually depends on before you change it. Ask a handful of customers to describe your brand without looking at it. If color comes up first, keep it. If you do retire a signature element, introduce a replacement (a sound, a shape, a type style) at the same time, so people have something new to recognize. A neutral core mark with color living in campaigns, product UI or motion is a sensible pattern for many brands, and it is the one Apple has chosen here.
Process as story: why the making-of matters
The Apple Music rebrand was covered across tech, design and music press on launch day, and much of that coverage, from Creative Boom to Wallpaper, led with the mineral oil rather than the letterforms. The making-of film is effectively the launch campaign.
This is where startups can learn the most. A reveal that says "here's our new logo" gives people nothing to pass on. One that shows how and why it was made gives journalists, customers and your own team a story to retell.
You don't need cameras and a tank of oil to do this:
Show the sketches. Early concepts, rejected directions and the reasoning behind the final choice make strong launch content.
Tie the method to the product. Apple used sound for a music app. A fintech brand could build a pattern from real transaction data, and a fashion label could scan its own fabric.
Credit the people involved. Apple named the musician, the studio and the agency, and naming your designers and collaborators adds the same credibility.
Publish the story on your own site first, so the coverage and backlinks point to you.
What a startup can borrow without Apple's budget
Start with one idea. "Made by sound" is three words. Write yours before anyone opens a design tool.
Design a system, not just a mark. Apple shipped a wordmark, icon, motion language and sound together. Even a small brand should launch with type, color and usage rules rather than a lone logo file.
Plan the rollout. Apple's identity appeared at a venue, then in betas, then everywhere. Stage yours across website, product, social and sales materials so nothing still shows the old brand.
Give it time. Early reaction to a rebrand is often negative, as Apple's was. Judge yours after people have lived with it for a few months, not in the first 48 hours.
We work the same way on our own branding projects. For Qualce, a luxury knitwear label, we designed the identity and the ecommerce site together so the brand held up across every touchpoint. If you're weighing a refresh, our branding and design services cover the full system, and our post on designing eco-friendly brand identities goes further into building an identity around a clear idea.
Is the Apple Music new logo a success?
It is too early to judge. The logo divides opinion, while the process behind it is widely admired. What Apple has built is a system with a story attached, and identities built that way tend to have a longer life than a straight logo swap.
If you're planning a rebrand, start with the idea and the story, then design the mark. Talk to us if you'd like help with yours.
FAQ
What is the new Apple Music logo?
It is the Apple symbol paired with a bold, lowercase "music" wordmark set in a customized version of SF Pro, shown in black and white. Apple unveiled it on October 21, 2026.
Why did Apple Music change its logo?
Apple built the new identity around the idea "made by sound," using a composition by Fred again.. and NEST Acoustics to physically shape the visuals. The result ties the brand directly to music.
Why is the new Apple Music logo black and white?
Apple dropped the red scheme for a black-and-white logo and icon, and kept color for its launch animations. Apple hasn't said whether color will return to the icon.
When does the new Apple Music icon roll out?
It arrives with iOS 27.2 and macOS 27.2. Apple's website switched to the new branding on launch day.
Written by Vraj Patel, founder of SideFixers, a design studio building brands, websites and digital products since 2022.
