Project: Qobuz Brand Identity
Context: Rebrand Assignment for MDes Brand Studio 2, ArtCenter College of Design, Brand Design and Strategy
Role: Brand strategy, identity design, creative direction
Deliverables: Research and positioning, brand values, tone of voice, visual identity, digital, out of home, brand video
Qobuz has the best product in streaming: hi-res audio, real editorial, liner notes and fair pay for artists. Now they need a brand identity to reflect their humanistic ethos. I built a self-initiated identity system to bring Qobuz to a new generation of listeners who want music with context and care. This is an unsolicited concept and isn’t affiliated with Qobuz.
The first step is Research — identifying the trends in the streaming space. If we can find out how our audience is behaving, we can better target a white space to meet their needs.
Insight
As streaming matures, listeners are splitting into two camps: those who treat music as utility and those who treat it as culture. The major labels are competing for the first group with scale, bundling and algorithmic convenience. The second group, smaller but highly engaged, is underserved: they want quality and context, and they’re willing to pay for it.
Opportunity
Own the "music as culture" listener.
Position Qobuz not as a Spotify alternative but as a different asset entirely, closer to a vinyl collection or a film library. Serve listeners who want to hear more, know more, and care more.
Positioning
Next, we ask: What values must Qobuz embody to own this position? The persona Qobuz needs to avoid is the “rich, pretentious music snob” and embrace that of a globally curious culture seeker. Music is our passport to the world and our key to each other’s hearts and minds. While the big streamers hurl repackaged playlists of your own music in a never ending feedback loop, Qobuz is an open air music market that says, “Come in! Look around.”
So we create Three Value Sets to act as your framework for every means of brand communication.
Our values inform our Tone of Voice — How do these values show up in how we communicate?
By creating a TOV system, we hit the tone we seek every time and avoid any old-brand style of speaking.
How
Do
Don’t
Next, Qobuz needs a Visual Identity System to embody our values and Tone Of Voice. The current streaming landscape is loud: neon gradients, glossy screens, color built for a feed. Qobuz will be bold, but the color comes from an analog place: flat inks, hand-drawn forms, and the warmth of a record sleeve or a market stall.
Current Streaming Visual Landscape
Qobuz Landscape Opportunity
Logo/ Wordmark
A new mark built around the human figure at the center of music. Bold, geometric, and joyful. Calling you to join the fun.
The Result is a comprehensive research and strategy playbook, complete with all pertinent visual applications. Qobuz has always stood on the right side of music and how we discover and share it with each other. It now has an identity to welcome a new generation that is as bright and fun as it is thoughtful and conscientious.
Digital
Suddenly the once strictly functional digital experience comes to life with bold type and vibrant colors.
We lead the experience with a bold simplicity. A human-first campaign that we can confidently rest our brand values on. Qobuz exists to remind people that music has always been how humans understand each other. Our mission is to preserve and to protect this truth at a time when the streaming industry is doing everything to obfuscate the human touch in our music experience.
Out Of Home
Brand Video
