For its latest redesign, Apple Music worked with Fred again.., NEST Acoustics and TBWA\Media Arts Lab on a concept that began with music. A transducer sent the original composition through mineral oil, creating ripples around the Apple Music logo as light passed through the liquid. Cameras recorded those movements directly, without CGI, and the results became part of the platform’s new audiovisual look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How Fred again..’s Sound Became the Visuals

Getting that effect right took months of testing as Apple Music and TBWA\Media Arts Lab explored how different frequencies changed the liquid. The team built a custom setup around a transducer and watched how each note affected the surface. Higher notes and denser combinations created stronger movement, sometimes distorting the logo enough to make it difficult to read.

Those early tests began influencing the composition Fred again.. and NEST Acoustics were creating at the same time. After experimenting with different materials, the team chose mineral oil for the glass-like ripples it produced. They placed acrylic versions of the Apple Music note logo and wordmark inside a shallow bath, then sent the finished composition through the liquid.

Each note changed the surface differently, bending the light and altering how the shapes underneath appeared on camera. The team recorded the effect as it happened, so the final movement came from the physical response to the music itself. Keeping the logo clear also affected the composition, since every note needed to create visible movement without overwhelming the image.

What Changed in Apple Music’s New Look

The experiments with sound also carried into the wider redesign, which introduces a black-and-white treatment alongside an updated note icon and lowercase wordmark. Apple Music uses a custom treatment of SF Pro for the lettering, while the short composition doubles as its new sonic mnemonic. Together, the audio and visual elements give the platform a consistent identity across more than just the logo animation.

That approach will extend into Apple Music’s original content, event programming, marketing and product experiences. Instead of limiting the idea to one campaign, the platform plans to use the same visual and sonic elements across different parts of the service.

The redesign also comes as Apple continues introducing cleaner and more fluid interfaces across its products. What makes this project different is how early the music entered the creative process. The team did not finish the visuals first and add sound afterward, since the composition affected what the logo could physically do from the beginning.

For Fred again.., the collaboration also connects naturally with an approach to music that often focuses on small details, recordings and everyday sound. Here, a short composition became more than something accompanying the finished design. Its notes physically changed what appeared on camera, giving Apple Music’s new look a direct connection to the music at the centre of the platform.