{"id":2865,"date":"2020-08-06T10:29:12","date_gmt":"2020-08-06T09:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garethdavidstudio.com\/blog\/?p=2865"},"modified":"2020-10-22T18:18:40","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T17:18:40","slug":"starbucks-logo-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garethdavidstudio.com\/blog\/starbucks-logo-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Starbucks Logo Review – A Beautiful Mermaid On Every Corner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pumpkin Spiced Latte? Iced White Chocolate Mocha? Caramel Frappuccino? Cappuccino with an extra shot? When did coffee culture become so diverse? Gone are the days when the only coffee available was black or white at home, work or in a restaurant. Never has coffee been more personal, customisable and accessible than it is today, and we have three university friends to thank for it; Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1971, the trio were inspired to get into the coffee business by Alfred Peet of Peet\u2019s Coffee.  Peet brought custom coffee roasting to the US and is widely credited for starting the specialty coffee revolution in the US. After teaching the young men everything they needed to know to run a successful coffee business, Starbucks was born. Starbucks was named after a Moby Dick character, so to keep with the maritime theme of the business that paid homage to its Seattle port origins, the Starbucks logo was to be the twin-tailed mermaid. A seductress to lure thirsty, coffee loving customers into the store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Original<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the early days, Starbucks only sold coffee beans for customers to take home. It wasn\u2019t yet a place for customers to order drinks in store. The man responsible for this phenomenon is Howard Schultz. In 1982, the new director of marketing went on a buying trip to Milan and was so taken with Italian coffee culture that he wanted to bring it to America. He loved how people would congregate at coffee bars to socialise and saw an America where this was the norm. He presented the idea to the owners, but after the initial success of their business they were reluctant to mix things up too much. So Schultz left for a few years and started his own coffee shop, Il Giornale, before buying Starbucks in 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Il<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One on every corner!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is when it all changed. In 1987, Schultz was on a mission to rapidly expand Starbucks across America and bring the Italian coffee culture to the US. He changed the brands logo to a more simplified version; the mermaid was no longer lifelike, but more of a stencil-cut. \u2018Tea\u2019 and \u2018Spices\u2019 were removed from the sign to focus the business on coffee, and a green background was added to the outer ring. Two stars replaced the dots between \u2018Starbucks\u2019 and \u2018Coffee\u2019 to link the name with the mermaid by the star in her crown. With the mermaid’s black background representing the coffee beans and bringing the mermaid in white to full attention, the green was inspiration from Il Giornale\u2019s logo and signified a fresh start for Starbucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Original<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As business boomed, the logo became more and more well-known. In 1992, the logo was simplified further to bring the mermaid into greater focus. This is the logo that plastered white coffee cups around the world. This is the logo consumers were drawn to in foreign countries. A stamp of familiarity and the sign of a warm brew waiting. Starbucks had become the social hub, second office and home away from home that Schultz had hoped it would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Starbucks<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to 2011, where Starbucks is the number 1 coffee house in the world, with over 17,000 stores worldwide. Everyone knew Starbucks and could easily describe the logo accurately. It had become a household name with a shop on every corner. So, approaching its 40th anniversary, it was time for another rebrand and this time it was the biggest rebrand yet. Enter, Lippincott, a design agency known for working with worldwide brands such as Marriott, Nissan and Samsung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Logo<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Originally an emblem logo with a bold sans serif typeface in capital letters, the Starbucks logo is now simply a logomark. Whilst the text has been removed, the circular badge style shape has remained, with a greater focus on the mermaid and the negative space used to create her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Starbucks\u2019 increased popularity and worldwide fame, the Lippincott team realised it was no longer necessary to drill the name \u2018Starbucks\u2019 into consumers’ heads. They already knew who Starbucks was and they knew that wherever they saw that seducing mermaid, there was perfectly brewed coffee waiting for them. The main problem with the name in the logo was that it limited how Starbucks was considered. The brand had aspirations to sell food and perhaps even wine at night. Starbucks wanted to start selling products in supermarkets and expand its offering. But with the name \u2018COFFEE\u2019 plastered on the logo, Starbucks would always simply be the place you go for coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Current<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, with the need for the Starbucks name no longer needed on the logo and their aspirations for products beyond coffee, the outer ring and all text within was scrapped. This rebrand completely removed text from the logo, thus opening the brand to greater product potential. The next step was to perfect the mermaid. She was the centre of attention and the one who consumers looked for when gasping for a cuppa. She had to be perfect!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Close<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Perfecting the look<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lippincott began work on perfecting the mermaid and drew inspiration from the idea that human beauty is based on symmetry. They wanted her to be more human and more alluring, therefore she became symmetrical. But something wasn\u2019t right\u2026 she didn\u2019t look beautiful or human. Instead, she looked alien-like and a little creepy. After some thought, the Lippincott team realised that the secret wasn\u2019t to make her beautifully perfect, but to make her imperfectly beautiful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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