Last.fm gets brand refresh to make it “more recognisable”

O Street has given music platform and recommendation service Last.fm a new look, with the aim of making its content more distinctive and recognisable.

The brand refresh comprises an image treatment inspired by soundwaves, which is applied in several different colours to photos used across Last.fm’s website and social media platforms.

“We wanted to give it ownership over the content it shares and uses by making itself more recognisable,” says designer at O Street, Tessa Simpson.

Adjusting image treatment

Based on a series of templates developed by O Street, the image treatment can easily be adjusted by Last.fm’s in-house team depending on how it wants images to appear, either by intensifying the soundwave effect or keeping it “quiet and muted”, adds Simpson.

RGB red has been chosen as the main palette to reflect the bright red brand colour, with a bright blue and a slightly muted yellow also being used to provide a vibrant contrast.

As the Last.fm team experiments with layering the images in different ways and adjusting the intensity of the image treatment, the “interaction” between the red, blue and yellow will also allow different “sub-colours” to develop, says Simpson.

Bespoke typeface and ad campaign

The Glasgow-based studio has previously worked with the music platform to develop its own bespoke typeface and a campaign celebrating it reaching 100 billion plays

The refreshed look complements the existing work by retaining key elements such as the monospaced typeface and geometric shapes seen in the campaign, which are layered on top of the new visuals.

The brand refresh has now rolled out across Last.fm’s website and social media platforms including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.