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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Topic: Starbucks new logo Pass or fail?
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 01-08-2011 10:21 AM
Well, I'm going to beg to differ and say what Starbucks is doing is actually a good idea. There's a very long discussion about the new Starbucks logo at the "Brand New" web site. It takes a lot of guts to eliminate unneeded details from a logo/brand.
First of all, very few companies can completely eliminate lettering from their logos and have the brand remain recognizable. Apple, Nike, McDonalds, Dolby, Target and a few others have been able to do this. I think the Starbucks brand has become so well known that the company can get rid of the lettering and make the siren/mermaid character the whole brand. The vast majority of people, especially anyone who visits Starbucks on any sort of basis, will recognize the brand.
Second, the siren by itself is going to work a lot better on store front signs and pylon signs. The current logo (with lettering circling around the siren) has limited readability. The siren can be enlarged considerably. Since it's still circular in shape the new design can be dropped into old sign cabinets easily without having to do an entire sign replacement. Most Starbucks store fronts have channel letters on one or more elevations of the building. So really the lettering circling around the logo is needlessly redundant.
Here's another reason why I think this change is excellent: The Arm & Hammer baking soda logo.
People are used to seeing the previous Starbucks logo, but many do not realize how much it looks like the Arm & Hammer baking soda logo. Lots of logos from the late 1800's used circular motifs. Arm & Hammer has used its Futura-like lettering within a thin and thick cicle for a lot longer than Starbucks has been around. I think it would be tougher for Arm & Hammer to ditch the circles and just go with the hand and hammer illustration since the brand has changed so little since the Great Depression. Lettering circling around an icon is really a dated motif more identified with municipal seals and departments of government rather than product brands. In ditching the circles, Starbucks is getting rid of the dated parts of its logo and finally getting rid of the similarities to that baking soda logo.
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 01-08-2011 12:15 PM
I understand what Bobby is saying but I think that Starbucks siren/mermaid design is too complex.
Arm and Hammer's logo is simple enough to be recognized from a distance regardless of whether there is lettering encircling it. It is a black and white etching of an arm and a hammer inside a red circle. You can tell what it is in a short time, from a fair distance even if you don't make the association between the design and the product.
Starbuck's siren appears as a bunch of white squiggles on a green background from a distance and, even from up close, you need a second to figure out what it is. Don't forget that movement makes it more difficult for the viewer to visually parse the design.
If the customer is driving or walking along and looks at a sign, his movement and any movement in the sign, itself, will add to the time it takes for the mind to parse it.
I agree that logos without words can be better. (e.g. The aforementioned McDonald's "Golden Arches and the Nike "Swoosh.") If a company wants to go international, they'll need a symbol that doesn't depend on text in a specific language to get its meaning across.
To that end, the new logo is all right but I still don't care for it.
BTW: If you want to have some fun at Starbuck's, go in, step up to the counter and loudly order, "Coffee... I just want plain coffee!" ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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