SoundCloud is music online platform, which was created for uploading and sharing audio files. The service was launched in 2007 in Germany. Today it is one of the most popular music platforms with more than 170 million users.
Meaning and history
The history of one of the most popular music streaming platforms today, SoundCloud, began back in 2006, when sound engineer Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, who studied together at the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology, decided to create a platform that could be used by musicians to share and discuss their compositions.
The friends started to realize their idea in 2007, having immediately thought up a name for the future project and purchased the domain name soundcloud.com for 400 USD. Everything went according to plan and in 2008 the SoundCloud platform was officially launched, instantly gathering an audience of more than 20 thousand users.
In 2009, the number of users of the music streaming service had already crossed the 100 thousand mark, which gave the company the impetus to make its first round of funding. The investment definitely worked correctly, because already in 2010 the number of SoundCloud users reached one million people. At the same time, Android and iOS apps were launched. In 2012, there were already 10 million users registered on SoundCloud. Since then, the popularity of the application has only grown.
Today, SoundCloud is the world’s largest community of musicians and music lovers, with new music content every minute and, more recently, podcasts.
What is Soundcloud?
SoundCloud is the name of an audio platform, created in Sweden in 2007. Today SoundCloud is a popular streaming service, and a distribution platform for young musicians, and an online community for fans.
2007 – 2008
The original SoundCloud logo, designed in 2007, had nothing in common with the stylish badge we all know today. It was a bold black “SC” abbreviation, written above a geometric bar, split into yellow, pink, and silver segments, which was growing from left to right, depicting a volume of a sound. This badge only stayed active for the first several months after the launch of the project.
2008 – 2014
The redesign of 2008 has introduced somewhat close to the current SoundCloud badge, with the large orange cloud emblem placed above a bold uppercase lettering, executed in a modern sans-serif typeface, and written in the same color against a plain white background. The left part of the cloud was drawn in separate vertical lines, resembling a music equalizer.
2010 – Today
The SoundCloud logo, composed of a wordmark and an emblem on its left, is instantly recognizable across the globe.
The platform’s bright yet simple visual identity evokes friendly and warm feelings. The orange color of the brand’s palette is a reflection of positive energy and a good mood, which music gives you.
2014 – Today
Another SoundCloud logo was created in 2014. Designed with the same concept in mind, the new badge is executed in a minimalistic black-and-white color palette, with the distance between the vertical lines in the left part of the cloud enlarged, and the shape of the characters in the uppercase wordmark refined. The reworked monochromatic badge looks super sleek and stylish and represents the progress of the platform and its excellence.
Font and Colors
The SoundCloud wordmark in all capital letters is written in a traditional sans-serif typeface with mid-bold clean lines. The letters have a lot of space between each other and it creates a lightweight sense.
The SoundCloud emblem, which is also used as the platform and application icon, is a smooth cloud, visually divided into two parts. The left half of the cloud is composed of several vertical lines, which symbolize music beats on the equalizer, while the right part of the emblem is solid.
When used as an icon, the cloud in white is placed inside an orange square with rounded angles. It looks modern and remarkable.
The orange and white color palette of the SoundCloud logo is a representation of the optimistic character and creativity of the company. It evokes a smile and happy feelings.
Icon
The SoundCloud icon is bright and modern. The gradient orange and white color palette represent creativity, artistic character, and of course, the energy of music, which the application was designed to share with its listeners.
The icon of SoundCloud is composed of an intense gradient orange square with rounded angles and a stylized white image of the cloud, drawn over it. The left part of the clod has a vertical stripes pattern, representing the music beats, while the right half of the cloud is plain and solid white.
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