Apple Music lets sound shape its new brand identity

A piece of music plays. Liquid begins to ripple, light bends across its surface, and the Apple Music mark shifts with it.

That physical reaction sits at the centre of “Made by Sound,” Apple Music’s new brand identity, unveiled on October 21, 2026. Developed with TBWA\Media Arts Lab, the project connects how the service looks with the music it exists to share.

British producer Fred again.. and his collaborator NEST Acoustics created the original composition behind the work. Their sound became both the brand’s new audio signature and the starting point for its moving visuals.

Music moves the material

The team used a transducer, a device that converts an audio signal into physical vibration, to send musical frequencies into a shallow bath of mineral oil.

As the liquid moved, it refracted light over Apple Music’s branding. Cameras captured those changing shapes, giving the identity its ripples and glass-like distortions.

The relationship between sound and image required experimentation. Too many notes, or notes pitched too high, could produce so much movement that the image became difficult to read. The music and the physical setup had to work together.

That process gives “Made by Sound” a concrete meaning. The movement viewers see comes from a material responding to music, with each change in the sound affecting what the camera captures.

A familiar note gets a different presence

The refreshed identity retains the musical-note symbol while giving it a more fluid appearance. Highlights and refractions move around the mark, introducing flashes of colour and a sense of depth.

The wordmark changes too. It pairs the Apple symbol with a customised version of SF Pro, using bold, lowercase lettering for “music.”

Together, those elements give the identity two useful qualities. The letterforms provide a clear name, while the moving note offers a more expressive signature for films and artist content.

Its optical treatment also connects with Apple’s wider Liquid Glass design language. The sound-driven process gives those familiar glass-like qualities a specific relationship to Apple Music.

The composition becomes part of the brand

Fred again.. and NEST Acoustics helped create the sound from which the visual behaviour developed. Their contribution sits inside the identity itself, giving the music a lasting role beyond the launch film.

The accompanying behind-the-scenes film makes that relationship visible. It follows the physical experiment and shows how sound, liquid, lighting and a camera contribute to the finished result.

The rollout begins with Apple Music’s original content and event programming, with the broader identity extending across marketing, product and experiences.

For a service built around listening, the production method gives the redesign a clear story: the music helps determine what appears on screen.

Credits

Brand: Apple Music. Creative agency: TBWA\Media Arts Lab. Original composition and sonic identity: Fred again.. and NEST Acoustics. Director: Joe Jackson. Production: Optical Arts. VFX: Time Based Arts. Colour and finishing: Trafik. Music mix: Model Citizen. Type design consultation and vector logo reconstruction: Plau.