Font design is a challenge for many brands, and especially for one like Spotify. How to you create bespoke font designs for a brand whose product encompasses every genre and era in music history? After poring over old music posters and album art, designers were unable to settle on one single style to capture the brand's identity, so they took inspiration from music – more specifically from mashup culture.
The result is Spotify Mix, a medley of typographic styles that's rolling out in text and in the Spotify logo (see our guide to typography design concepts for inspiration for your own work).
Spotify Mix has already begun rolling out, replacing Circular, a non-bespoke typeface as the main Spotify font both in-app and on desktop for content written in all languages with Latin-based scripts, as well as Vietnamese.
Developed with Berlin-based type foundry Dinamo Typefaces, the sans-serif typeface blends features from both classic and contemporary styles, from the smooth curves of humanist forms to the sharp angles of grotesques. It also subtly incorporated the shapes of sound waves to evoke a rhythmic feel, such as in the negative space in the a, d, and e and in the connection between the top and the back of the cross on the 't'.
The various font designs in the Spotify Mix typeface (Image credit: Spotify)
Spotify says that Circular was limiting its expression while Spotify Mix will be more versatile. The fonts look quite wild, particularly the italics, and they're being mashed up themselves in the way they're applied.
In a blog post, Rasmus Wängelin, Global Head of Brand Design at Spotify, said the brand "broke free from traditional typographic constraints and merged elements from a variety of font styles" in an approach that "mirrors the dynamic and evolving nature of audio culture over the years".
Spotify Mix in use (Image credit: Spotify)
He added: "At Spotify, we’re all about giving artists and creators more opportunities to showcase their creativity. The new Spotify Mix lets us use this typeface in unique ways—from playlists to marketing campaigns and beyond. We’re always trying new things that mirror the vibrancy of our community and the content on our platform, and Spotify Mix will allow us to do so much more."
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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
