Founded in 2004, Beatport is an online music store oriented primarily towards DJ’s. Nearly 36 million customers annually use the services of the platform which offers more than nine million tracks. Launching its mobile app with sophisticated features, Beatport has updated its visual identity developed by the Swedish design studio Kurppa Hosk.
Owned by the Denver-based company LifeStyle (formerly SFX Entertainment), the online store changed its logo only once, in 2013, just after its current owner acquired it. Then, it slightly redrew its headphone emblem and wordmark. This time, Kurppa Hosk created a totally new symbol that reflects better Beatport’s activity.
As the studio’s CEO Thomas Kurppa says, the goal of the redesigning was to give the service a simpler and, at the same time, a more music-expressive signature than it had before. Thus, the designing team invented an abstract figure representing a DJ turntable. Although the turntable has become rather a vintage instrument, being replaced with digital devices, it is still a good symbol of the club scene and electronic music.
The turntable symbol and new Beatport wordmark, designed in the Aeonik typeface, make up together a unique and modern brand identity which will help the online company promote itself through printed and digital materials as well as merchandise.