It might remind you of the Walkman

Sony Music Germany’s KIHARA division – an international, interdisciplinary hub – unites unique talents from both the music and film industries. Aiming to shape a new culture around music, they reached out to designer Carla Palette to help create its new look, one that would speak to an audience of music, fashion, and entertainment tastemakers.

The refresh, designed by Palette and creatively directed by Robert Jahn, positions the brand at the cutting-edge intersection of music and intimate cinematographic production. Much like the fast-paced nature of the fashion world, trends in the music world are constantly in flux. KIHARA’s identity therefore adopts a timeless approach, avoiding any reference to a specific era or style of music, while reflecting this confluence of art and culture. This is realised through a bold aesthetic, centred around a loud and unapologetic wordmark, where a combination of the typefaces TT Trailers and Vanguard CF Extra Bold are customised, creating an ownable asset for the brand.

Notably, the identity pays tribute to Nobutoshi Kihara, the engineer behind Sony Corporation’s groundbreaking products such as the Walkman, Japan’s first tape recorder, and transistor radio. Alongside the brand’s name, Kihara’s pioneering work at the intersection of music and film is encapsulated in the brand symbol, which is reminiscent of the Walkman logo from the 2000s. “The brand symbol injects an extra sense of organic character and a feeling of bravery and fluidity through its form and thickness, representing the idea of ‘music to grow to,’” says Palette. “It has a dense and concentrated structure that doesn’t become too fragile, open, or snake-like, yet still feels unconstricted, free-flowing, and legible across touch-points.”

The extra bold cut of Futura and Sony Sans are implemented throughout the broader brand language, maintaining continuity with the pre-existing brand system. However, a bolder approach to typesetting guarantees a fresh and contemporary feeling. According to Palette, this not only results in a “louder” voice that empowers the voices of the artists represented by the brand, but also guarantees that the identity remains recognisable.

To set all the text, the team chose Apparat, “as it draws inspiration from typefaces of the early ’70s that were optimised for TV broadcasting,” shares Art Director Rohil Borole. “Apparat’s tabular figures feature was exactly what we needed for layouts containing lists and tables, especially for such a data-heavy campaign.” Meanwhile, the wordmark was coloured in a bright orange to evoke the feeling of danger. 

These elements, combined with a neutral palette of black and white, allow the artists to be the heroes of the brand, creating an identity that acts as a canvas for music. “We knew that Sony Music’s brand tool kit was already quite timeless,” Palette recalls, “we just needed to apply this tool kit in a new way that amplified the overall identity’s size and scale, following in the footsteps of the new wordmark and symbol for harmony and continuity.”