Success is about working in advance rather than being in-the-moment or focussed on what’s trending. Creative and marketing leads should consider that Spotify Wrapped is a project that begins in June. It also showcases the value of planning ahead. With my team at PragerU, we often assume our competitors have huge teams that enable such robust projects, but Spotify cuts through that narrative. I was blown away while reading an interview on Spotifiy’s blog with their Global Head of Brand Design, Rasmus Wangelin, to learn that their team is between 15 and 20 people. Wrapped also demonstrates what a small design team can accomplish if they keep their eyes on the prize and their skills fresh. You never know which passion project might boost your professional career. It’s where you grow and learn new skills. Wrapped 2021 is a testament to the value of designing for yourself. The generator was originally a personal project that Kiel made to practice generative design, but Spotify picked up on it and approached him to make an iteration for their campaign. My favorites are actually the default cylinder effect and then the outlandish Space option (I went down the rabbit hole on that one). Although many of the generator’s presets are set to the worst kind of woke defaults (a Black Lives Matter flag, and a Save The Country Vote preset), some are very stylish.

I also used it to make the cover for this blog. It was really cool to learn how Spotify adapted this text-generation tool by Kiel Mutschelknaus to a custom algorithm for their use. For example, there is nothing wrong about experimenting with algorithmic design.

Although much of Wrapped 2021 design didn’t quite land, we can still gather a bit of design inspiration from what Spotify’s team created in the campaign.

When spotify wrapped 2021