Apple Music gets a new look

Apple revealed a new brand identity for Apple Music featuring Liquid Glass design language. The rebrand itself would normally be unremarkable, but the behind-the-scenes video changed that.

A production of scale and craft

The video features design agency TBWA/Media Arts Lab, pop producer Fred again, a full film crew, and a mineral oil tank with a transducer to transmit audio into physical ripples.

Showing the human work behind it

The video shot footage of oil interacting with branded transparent panels. The final effect is cleaned up and post-processed, but viewers see the humans, their time, energy and creativity at work.

Why this matters now

Generative AI imagery is increasingly unavoidable in daily life. People are becoming suspicious of everything they see, wondering if images were hand-drawn or generated from stolen artist styles.

The value of visible craft

As AI-generated content persists, people increasingly value not just human-created work but seeing the process behind it. Showing your work and proving the time invested matters more than ever.

“I see us increasingly place genuine value on not just human-created craft, but seeing the process behind it that shows the hands at work.”

Celebrating human involvement

Generative AI is likely here to stay, but we should do more to celebrate human involvement in things and not be shy about showing the process and behind-the-scenes work.