Spotify, the wildly popular Swedish music streaming service, is loved by everybody. The font they use is especially interesting to many designers and typographers.

Spotify used to have a different font, but the current representation is inspired by the Gotham Medium font created by Tobias Frere-Jones in 2000.

Andreas Holmström, the Lead Designer, and Christian Wilsson, the Creative Director of Spotify, designed a unique take on the Gotham font called the Spotify Circular.

And Spotify Circular is the font that Spotify has been using ever since. This came as an attempt to redesign and refresh the Spotify branding.

Read below for a comparison between Gotham and Spotify Circular, among others!

Gotham Medium Vs. Spotify Circular

The Spotify Circular in the picture above is boldened, as well. But you can also see some differences between the characters if you look carefully.

For instance, the dot on the “i” is rounded in the Spotify Circular, while Gotham Medium has a squared dot on the “i“.

The tail of the “y” is straightened out in the Spotify Circular, while Gotham Medium has a curved “y” tail.

You’ll also notice differences between the “&” and “*” characters. The round parentheses ( ) have also been changed a bit.

The “@” has received a new look as well.

If you look at the official Spotify logo, you’ll notice that the “F” and “Y” are tied together, which wasn’t in the original Gotham Medium font.

The team made these small changes to add personality to their font and to create a friendly and welcoming visual.

Users have also said that this font invokes playfulness, fun, and enjoyment, and it’s just very inviting and happy all around.

Spotify Circular Particularities

The Spotify Circular font has notable differences from the original Gotham Medium font. In particular:

• Most of the straight corners are now rounded
• The dot on the “i” is not circular, instead of square
• There’s a ligature connecting the “f” and the “y.”
• All the parentheses are vertically longer
• The “$” sign is designed differently

At first glance, you may not even notice any difference between the Spotify Circular and the Gotham.

But if you’re a professional typographer, you’ll surely notice them. As a regular user, you may not realize why the Spotify Circular is more inviting than the Gotham.

It’s all about those rounded corners!

Conclusion

To summarize, Spotify uses the Spotify Circular font for its website and logo, which is inspired by the Gotham Medium font.

They’ve designed the Spotify Circular font in five weights: black, bold, medium, book, and light. Each of them has an italic variant, as well.

The design gives off a playful and friendly vibe, unknowingly putting you in a good mood and inviting you on the platform.

If you have questions about Spotify’s font, comment below!