Imagine this. You’ve been working on something for some time, and have reached a level of frustration, as you hit one dead end after another. You’re uninspired; anxious. You’re alone, but you put your headphones in and start listening to music in attempt to escape the ambient noises of real life. You’re not scrolling through Instagram or emails. You’re not online shopping or finding your next DIY project on Pinterest. You’re really listening. Nothing but music, in that instance. A song comes on that is familiar, and as the chorus strikes, it hits you. The hairs on your arms stand, and you suddenly feel like you’ve got the hormones of an adolescent, as you try to swallow the knot in your throat. You’re overtaken with emotion as you listen, and you try to take in the moment. You’re elated. You can’t help but smile. You’re inspired.
The fact is, music moves us. All of us. It’s ingrained in our everyday life, and even when we’re not giving it all of our attention, it adheres to the very fibers that make us who we are. It is an escape, a purpose, a meaning. It has the ability to bring you back to your childhood, to evoke a specific memory or feeling. It is one of the few things that speaks when words just won’t do the trick. It’s easy to assume we are unique in our special bond with music – we feed our narcissism with the belief that this feeling is too special to be native. But that’s exactly what it is. History proves it. There isn’t a culture, time, or place where music has not been instrumental. Sorry, had to.
So how lucky were we, as a design team, to get the opportunity to re-define our brand based around the single most inspirational phenomenon of life? A chance at branding a music app, the two passions of our lives as designers working for a music app. What could be easier?
Imagine this. We’ve been working on the re-brand for some time, and have reached a level of frustration, as we hit one dead end after another. We’re uninspired; anxious. I’m alone, but I put my headphones in and start listening to music in attempt to escape the ambient noises of real life. I’m not scrolling through Instagram or emails. I’m not online shopping or finding my next DIY project on Pinterest. I’m really listening. Nothing but music, in that instance. A song comes on that is familiar, and as the chorus strikes, it hits me. The hairs on my arms stand, and I suddenly feel like I’ve got the hormones of an adolescent, as I try to swallow the knot in my throat. I’m overtaken with emotion as I listen, and I try to take in the moment. I’m elated. I can’t help but smile. I’m inspired.
Chills. Such an odd phenomenon that we even resort to blaming them on the presence of the dead. Yet, we all have a few songs (more if we’re lucky), that give us goosebumps. In that moment, with this understanding, our brand was reborn.
The JioSaavn 2.0 brand is built around a direct visualization of goosebumps. It is a modular system that is flexible and identifiable. At the core of the system is a wave element, and many others that stem from the same concept, as the most basic building block to our brand. It symbolizes anything from sound waves, to movement, to goosebumps.
“How is it that music can, without words, evoke our laughter, our fears, our highest aspirations?” ― Jane Swan (JS)
Team JioSaavn (JS)
Songs that give us chills:
Lee Sheely – VP, Design
The Dirt – Tor Miler
Evangeline – Blue Water Highway
Lenny – Steview Ray Vaughn
Which Way Home – David Ryan Harris
First Time – The Magnolia
Mark Graybill – Lead Designer, Brand & Content
The Mission: Gabriel’s Oboe – Yo Yo Ma
Fix You – Coldplay
The End Of The Innocence (Live) – Bruce Hornsby
Doug Davala – Lead Graphic Designer
Turtles All the Way Down – Sturgill Simpson
The Good That Won’t Come Out – Rilo Kiley
History Lesson Part 2 – Minutemen
At the Bottom of Everything – Bright Eyes
The World is Yours – Nas