Introducing the brand-new Anchor: a better-looking way to say it all
To celebrate the evolution of our brand and the expansion of the Anchor creator community, we’ve made some visual updates and upgrades we think you’ll love. Here’s a closer look at what’s new!
Today, we’re excited to share a whole new brand identity for Anchor. We first introduced ourselves as “the easiest way to make a podcast” in 2015, when we were a tiny startup. Over the last few years, our creator community has expanded so much — 80 percent of all new Spotify podcasts are powered by Anchor — that we felt it was the right time to evolve the brand along with our ever-growing platform. Nothing about what you can do with Anchor is changing, but the podcasting experience looks better than ever.
Empowering people from around the world to say it all, share their voices and altogether express themselves is what Anchor is all about; it’s why we do what we do. With the rebranded Anchor, we’re practicing what we preach: We’re expressing ourselves.
We also want to ensure that even though Anchor is easy and free to use, the podcasting experience feels like a premium one. That was just some of the thinking behind our brand makeover, with help from our creative partners at Red Antler.
It starts at the top
The new Anchor sports some major flair right from the logo get-go.
Say hello to our new wave: the visual representation of the human voice, the power that lies in the ebb and flow of self-expression. The beginning of our logo’s shape and form mimics that of an Anchor ‘A,’ while the thin-to-thick stroke embodies the Anchor creator’s progression. The logo goes places — namely skyward, before ending with what we view as an Anchor ‘r.’ But we like to leave it open to your imagination.
Of course, our logo also speaks to the universal podcaster journey in the form of an audio wave: It always starts at 0 decibels and reverberates, remaining in motion throughout and ascending the wave.
A new color palette that talks out loud
Podcasting subject matter encompasses all of the moods and tones: funny, playful, sad, serious, weighty, uplifting, musical, absurd, educational — and everything in between and beyond. But we want the process of podcasting to feel fun, exciting, resounding, and vibrant. Always. There’s magic in the steps of beginning a podcast, and we hope it never feels mundane or boring. Plus, color is in Anchor’s DNA, just as it is for Spotify, and since we’re now part of the same band, we’re ready to fine-tune our hues. Our new purple amps it up, loud and proud without shouting — with a spectrum of bright colors that inspire and reflect the diversity of everyone who creates a podcast. Because podcasting isn’t about blending in.
Typography: More than a refresh, more than just words.
A word on typography — rather, a few words: It is sneakily crucial (just like the words it adorns). When we were honing in on the original Anchor wordmark, we were attracted to the Karla typeface, which gives off a sense of strength and boldness. We took things one step further when we chose Maax, which is also powerful but doesn’t take itself too seriously; it’s versatile, hitting all the notes and boasting a wide range of uses. Its distinctive personality is on full display in the curves and stems of certain letters, and the slanted ends of the letterforms.
Ultimately, Maax provided an authority that Karla could not, and that was crucial to our design.
Photos to set the scene and go behind the mic
During Anchor’s first five-plus years, we were laser-focused on building the best podcasting platform available. Our rebrand enables us to think outside the user-interface box and shine more light on creators. Which means a new direction with photography: less about podcasting, more about podcasters. So many people around the world are making must-hear podcasts with Anchor; we want to show them, in their environment, as a reminder and reinforcement of the human voices behind the mic. And just like other elements of our visual changes, we’re dialing up the photos to celebrate creators’ idiosyncrasy, style, and space. This approach unifies all the subjects we captured, while simultaneously helping them stand out.
But wait–there is, of course, a podcast
Last but certainly not least, if we at Anchor didn’t podcast about our new podcasting-platform design, did it really happen? (Proof that it very much did happen!) Fellow (re)brand enthusiasts from Red Antler — with whom we co-navigated the sometimes treacherous terrain of changing things up — teamed up with us to create our very own podcast and talk all things brand identity and decisions, decisions, decisions. We reconvened to discuss the finished product, good-natured battles over our logo, how we landed on that neon yellow in our app icon, and so much more.
Check out our very own co-founder Michael Mignano and Head of Marketing Anna Sian, in conversation with Red Antler’s Strategy Director (and podcast host!) Liz Juusola, Executive Creative Director Jenna Navitsky, and co-founder Emily Heyward.
We look forward to drawing from this inspiration, and expanding on it, going forward — and it’ll guide us through upcoming design and functional improvements in the near future. The year is young and there’s much more in store for Anchor in 2021, so stay tuned!
