Shazam Logo PNG
The Shazam application has a simple logo, although it refers to complex programs. It is even more magical because it started with magic, as its name suggests. After all, this exclamation is used when something miraculous happens, but his emblem does not convey magic; it is most likely practical. The icon inspires confidence in the tasks assigned to the program.
Shazam is a British-American company that launched a project of the same name to remotely search for the titles of music tracks from albums, movies, TV shows, and advertisements. It appeared in 1999 for mobile phones, with compositions defined by the number 2580, to which the song’s interesting fragment was sent. In 2002, the development of applications for various operating systems began. The startup founders are Dhiraj Mukherjee, Chris Barton, Avery Wang, and Philip Inghelbrecht. Apple has owned the brand and its product since 2018.
In the first years of operation, Shazam was located in the capital of Great Britain because it was there that four acquaintances founded an unusual service. So, any resident of any country could dial the number 2580 on their mobile phone and record a 30-second snippet of the song. Half a minute later, the sender received an SMS with information about the track: artist name, title, and download hyperlink. The original idea was conceived by Dhiraj Mukherjee, Chris Barton, Avery Wang, and Philip Inghelbrecht.
Then, to complicate the tasks (the presence of extraneous noise, recording from various media, using smartphones, and adapting to different operating systems), the developers asked Julius Smith from Stanford University for help. He helped his friends. As a result, a full-fledged application for instant music recognition appeared.
Meaning and History
The name Shazam remained the same after the application revision and is associated with magic because the friends decided it was ideal for this project. Chris Barton spoke in detail about this word at Pioneer’s Festival 2013 in Vienna. He noted that it means “to conjure beautiful things.”
What is Shazam?
Shazam is the company behind the song recognition program of the same name. The application can identify song titles from entire albums, individual tracks, movies, commercials, plays, TV shows, and other music sources. A 30-second fragment is enough for him to provide all the information of interest. The startup was launched in 1999 by four friends: Dhiraj Mukherjee, Chris Barton, Avery Wang, and Philip Inghelbrecht. Apple Corporation now owns this product.
1999 – 2013
Startup Shazam launched with a monochrome logo that contrasts with the magic, since there is nothing miraculous about it. But this is only at first glance. The basis of the emblem is an icon in the form of an open chain link divided into two parts. They symbolize a single whole, connected by the “spell” Shazam. Allegorically, it happens like this: the user has a fragment of an unknown piece of music, and the application looks for a “pair” for him, that is, an analog with complete information. Thus, the chain link is symbolically connected and becomes whole. To do this, the designers used geometric shapes, specifically a boomerang. Between them is a miniature dot. The title is a combination of lowercase and uppercase letters.
2013 – 2016
This time, the developers have softened the colors and lines. They replaced the black circle with a dark blue one, added a gradient to it, removed the center dot, and rounded the ends of the glyphs. The inscription remained in its place, to the right of the round sign with two curved stripes inside.
2016 – today
After the upgrade, a light blue circle appeared on the logo without a distinct gradient: it is there, but not as obvious as before. The font is the same, but the copyright sign has disappeared to the right of the name. The inscription has acquired a softer color, reminiscent of dark graphite.
During the evolution of the Shazam logo, two elements have been prioritized. Firstly, the font in which the designers combined lowercase and uppercase letters. Secondly, the color varied from black to a light sky palette. The name of the service was thought out from the very beginning: the creators of the startup immediately decided that the magic word fits perfectly into the concept of “magic” recognition of any music. After all, a short fragment is enough for this, and the program instantly finds the missing piece of information.
Font and Colors
Depending on the logo variant, several types of typefaces are used in Shazam’s visual identity. In the first emblem, they resemble Rational Text Extra Bold by Rene Bieder; in the second and third, they resemble Montio Bold by TYPE714. The main colors of the emblem are black, white, and blue in several shades from dark blue to sky blue.
