There are so many logos around and in most cases each year they are simplified and ‘diluted’
Regardless of what you think of the company (don’t blame me), the logo still has an endearing quality. (although evolution 3 to 4 didn’t take much imagination!)
Copied from Starbucks.com
The siren is like a super mermaid. A mermaid with one tail is just a plain ol’ mermaid. (Sorry, Ariel.) But a siren is often depicted with two tails. She might seem like an unusual choice for the face of a coffee company. But there’s a pretty interesting backstory as to how and why the siren came to be.
It was 1971 and the founders had landed on the name Starbucks, inspired by Moby Dick. Next up: creating a logo. While scouring some old marine books, something stood out. A siren in an ancient Norse woodcut.* The mysterious, nautical figure called to them, as sirens do.
“They really loved the look of it and it kind of tied into what they felt Starbucks stood for,” Steve said. “So we took inspiration from that and created the logo from there. And she became the siren.”
In case you’re wondering, there are two big connections between Starbucks and the seafaring world. 1) Our hometown of Seattle is a port city. We’re right on Puget Sound and we feel this very strong connection to the water. 2) Coffee often travels long distances across the water to get to us. Even today, it arrives at the port in big container ships.