Apple Music reveals a new physical brand identity created using real-world materials and practical production techniques.

Apple recently revealed a new brand identity for Apple Music, featuring an aesthetic shift toward its design language known as Liquid Glass. Alongside the rebrand, the company released a behind-the-scenes promotional video on YouTube documenting the physical production of the visual assets. The brief clip details a high-end production effort involving the design agency TBWA/Media Arts Lab and music producer Fred again..

The crew utilized a physical set with specialized cameras, lighting, and a mineral oil tank equipped with a transducer. This setup transmitted audio signals to create physical ripples in the high-viscosity oil as it interacted with transparent branding panels. Writing for Ars Technica, Creative Director Aurich Lawson noted that this tangible, behind-the-scenes process holds distinct value in an era dominated by generative artificial intelligence.

Lawson argues that seeing real people perform physical work helps combat a growing natural suspicion of digital media and proves that human time and creativity went into the final product.