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Reinvention and evolution: Inside the design of Spotify Wrapped 2024
Speaking to Spotify’s global head of design and brand, we find out how 2024’s pop summer inspired the sonic look of Wrapped’s 10th anniversary.
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For the past decade, Spotify Wrapped has made the simple idea of reviewing your yearly listening habits into a cultural, ultra-sharable moment. Equal parts personal recap and celebration of the year’s global music taste, it’s a chance for listeners to dive back into their yearly soundtracks and for people you’ve never met in real life to judge your music taste (and vice versa).
2024 marks a milestone for Spotify: Wrapped’s 10th anniversary. To celebrate, Spotify has dialled everything up. This year’s theme is: reinvention and evolution, spotlighting the collision of genres, influences and unexpected cultural moments – from the worldwide rise of regional Mexican music to the chart dominance of groundbreaking female artists.
It’s Nice That:
Could you tell us more about the theme of reinvention and evolution, merging genres and eras of music, and how you landed on this?
Rasmus Wängelin, global head of brand design, Spotify:
This year we’re specifically inspired by how pop culture thrives in a beautiful cycle of reinvention, constantly evolving and surprising us. Unexpected genres are merging, timeless influences meet fresh ideas, and what once was niche is now shaping pop culture.
For example, we saw the impact of chart-topping artists who seamlessly blended genres like country and pop sparking the emergence of new fans. We saw female artists dominate the global charts across a variety of genres and we saw the remarkable global rise of regional Mexican music, just to name a few. It was a really exciting year for fans.
INT:
How does this year’s campaign differ from previous?
RW:
Every year we try to elevate Wrapped from the year before, and there’s an incredible drive throughout the company to continuously push boundaries and make it as good as it can possibly be. 2024 Wrapped exemplifies Spotify’s role in culture, and this year’s campaign is all about celebrating the fans who’ve brought that to life. Some of the most exciting cultural moments have emerged from unexpected places, and we’re celebrating how fans have been at the heart of it all.
In terms of art direction, I’m excited about how we’ve managed to dial up the design like never before. This year we’re playing at full volume.
Spotify Wrapped 2024 (Copyright © Spotify, 2024)
Spotify Wrapped 2024 (Copyright © Spotify, 2024)
INT:
Initially, how did you hope to convey the theme in the overall art direction for this year’s campaign?
RW:
The themes of reinvention, evolution and merging genres come to life in many different ways, beginning with an art direction that loops, transforms, and celebrates the energy of this unique moment in time. This includes vibrant colour combinations, playful layouts, and lively animations that bring the design to life.
INT:
What were the major inspirations and references?
Rebecca Lim, global design director, Spotify:
The major inspiration for Wrapped is always the fans, artists, creators and authors that make this moment the phenomenon that it is. At the same time, we set out to create something that is uniquely Spotify, feels fun and brings joy.
The logos that we teased ahead of launch are a great example of this inspiration – we uniquely positioned our Spotify logo to capture the essence of 2024’s biggest musical moments. These new logos celebrate the rise of new and surprising genres, breakthrough female pop stars, and chart-topping hits. This set the stage for Wrapped and hyped fans for what was to come, showcasing how much influence Spotify fans have on culture. Because when they listen, culture shifts.
Some of the references in our global media campaign include: ‘To all the brats who were brat before brat summer’– highlighting the 30 million people streaming Charli xcx in the spring; when in Manchester, 897k+ fans streamed Oasis before they announced Oasis Live ‘25; and when Beyoncé got 36 million people to stream country music for the first time in 2024.
INT:
How have you brought this concept to life?
RW:
We’re always striving to elevate our brand identity, exploring fresh and exciting ways to bring it to life. For the first time, we incorporated our brand new bespoke typeface, Spotify Mix, into Wrapped – which gave us the opportunity to create a bolder, dynamic and more unique typographic presence that stands out.
We’re also specifically using our typeface as our main graphic element this year, looping and transforming it in unexpected ways across the canvas.
A dynamic blend of vibrant gradients and solid colours, playful layouts, and spirited animations breathe life into the design, reflecting the energy of this unique moment in time.
INT:
Any final highlights or details to look out for?
RL:
As our annual ‘thank-you’ to our community, Wrapped has truly become a moment that we look forward to every year. We want to create something that fans genuinely love, and seeing the anticipation and excitement leading up to the launch is a great feeling. 2024 Spotify Wrapped is bigger and bolder than ever before.
GallerySpotify Wrapped 2024 (Copyright © Spotify, 2024)
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Spotify Wrapped 2024 (Copyright © Spotify, 2024)
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