E-Paper
The green disco ball uproar: Spotify logo gets a temporary makeover; Internet in splits
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, global digital audio streaming service changed it’s logo. However, the Internet wasn’t pleased but brands jumped on the trend
On May 13, global digital audio streaming service Spotify decided to give its iconic, flat-green app icon a temporary makeover. They swapped the minimalist design for a 3D, shimmering, dark-green disco ball.
The backlash and social media reactions
The internet absolutely panicked. Because Spotify rolled out the change without a massive warning banner, millions of users woke up, looked at their screens, and were deeply confused. Many users thought their app was broken, updating, or that their phone screen was physically dirty.
Once people realised it was intentional, a wave of hate took over. Users blasted the design as “sterile,” “grim,” and “too much.”
Some tech reviewers even jokingly called the style “discomorphism” and criticised it for looking like a late-2000s energy drink can. It got so bad that people were moving the Spotify app off their home screens just so they wouldn’t have to look at it.
What are other brands doing?
Even though the internet complained, the marketing world saw a goldmine. Because the disco ball logo became a massive viral meme, other brands and social media teams started jumping onto the trend by “disco-balling” their own logos.
Designers across LinkedIn and X began releasing glittery, 3D, maximalist versions of famous logos (treating it like a viral filter) to mock-celebrate Spotify’s birthday.
Clarification
Spotify heard the screams of a millions users and officially stepped in to calm everyone down on X. The brand confirmed that the disco ball was never meant to be a permanent rebrand. It was always just a limited-time birthday costume, and the classic flat-green logo will be restored by the final week of May.
