Spotify has given its app icons their first refresh in six years – and its a subtle one. Here’s what’s changing.
The announcement signals the first update to the streaming site’s icon suite since the app’s last major redesign 2016.
Spotify’s design systems team Encore Foundation collaborated with iconographer Rob Bartlett to create the new icons. Bartlett was also the iconographer behind the 2016 redesign.
While the difference is obvious when you see the before and after versions of the icons side-by-side, the changes are much more subtle on their own. Spotify has chosen to keep the same objects in each icon, but drawn in a bolder style with a few minor adjustments.
This means the app icons should remain comfortably familiar for existing Spotify users.
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The biggest differences between the old icons and the new ones lie in their size and the thickness of the strokes.
Spotify has decided to use just 16px and 24px icon sizes going forward, in order to simplify its system and improve readability. The line size has also increased from 1px to 1.5px for 16px icons and from 1px to 2px for 24px icons, making the icons appear bolder and more closely matching Spotify’s current typography.
That’s a 50% increase in stroke size for 16px icons and a 100% increase for 24px ones.
Spotify will also make it a bit clearer when a feature is active by filling in a portion of that icon going forward. In the past, the app has increased the lines of an icon to indicate when a feature is in use.
Spotify will be implementing these changes across its mobile and desktop apps, meaning you should see a refresh regardless of which device you choose to listen on. The new icons will roll out throughout 2022.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
