Starbucks Gets A Face Lift

The Starbucks logo is probably one of the most popular logos in the world. But do you guys ever wondered what that figure in the center is? Even if you know what it is, do you know why they chose that to be the face in the logo? Let me give you a trip down memory lane and give you a history lesson about Starbucks all under five minutes.


It is a Siren
For all of you who don't know, the figure in the middle is a siren. In Greek mythology, Sirens are half-woman and half-bird creatures that lived on an island full of rocks. They would lure their prey (mostly fishermen) and seduce them with their music and hypnotize them to go to the coast of their home. In other European folklore, "Sirens were portayed as mermaid-like: half-fish and half-woman with the same penchant for killing sailors."

So how did this become part of the Starbucks logo?
Howard Schultz, in his book, "Pour Your Heart Into It", discussed how the logo came to be

“Terry [Heckler]…pored over old marine books until he came up with a logo based on an old sixteenth-century Norse woodcut: a two-tailed mermaid, or siren, encircled by the store’s original name, Starbucks Coffee, Tea, and Spice. That early siren, bared-breasted and Rubenesque, was supposed to be as seductive as coffee itself.”

First Starbucks logo

Failing to impress the owners of Starbucks to work for them, Schultz decided to create his own cafe named Il Giornale where he emphasized more on speed of the service. He created his logo with the Il Gionale inside a green circle with the head of Mercury in the center. And we all know that Mercury is the swift messenger of God. He is the one that has wings on his feet.

Il Gionale logo with Mercury in the center

A year later, the original owners of Starbucks sold all of its property to Schultz and merged the ideas of Starbucks and Il Giornale. Terry Heckler, the creative director, decided to put together both logos to signify the merging of the two stores. He decided to retain the siren and name of Starbucks while he kept the green circle of Il Gionale to keep it more contemporary instead of the original brown logo. And he came up with this:

Starbucks logo from 1987-1992

In 1992, there was a need to redesign the logo because of the reactions of some of the people regarding the tail of the siren. Terry then recreated the logo by cropping the siren so that only the end of its tail can only be seen. And this has been their logo ever since.

Starbucks coffee logo from 1993-2010

2011 Logo

Just recently, Starbucks announced another change in the logo of its multi-national company. Since the name Starbucks is already established in most parts of the globe, they feel that they don't need to show the green circle for people to notice that it's from Starbucks. It is also a way for the Starbucks brand to venture on to different industries and not be restricted in the coffee industry.

New Starbucks 2011 logo

The brand is now evolving to a point where the coffee association is too confining and restrictive," said John Quelch, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School. "Starbucks is fundamentally selling an experience, but by no means is coffee the only part of the experience. It is important that they not have a logo that is too confining."

Just what is in store for Starbucks in the coming years? Well, some of their plans involve being able to order coffee via mobile phone, more Starbucks products sold in groceries and supermarkets, and they are thinking about selling beer and wine at night. They are also looking at entering the food business but some company officials would not want to disclose any details about it.

I am personally looking forward to Starbucks in the coming years as it slowly progresses and expands (especially the selling of beer and wine at night idea). So we expect a lot of changes in the near future for everyone's favorite coffee shop. I hope that this change in the logo will be the start of a new milestone for Starbucks.

Sources:
http://www.examiner.com/
http://www.cbsnews.com/