Starbucks marks 40 years and begins the next chapter in their history

Starbucks (founded in 1971 in Seattle) announced that beginning in March, to coincide with their 40th anniversary, their brand would be making a bold visual evolution. Namely (pun intended) dropping its name from the logo. The new identity has been developed in-house — Starbucks has one of the strongest internal teams in a big corporation — in partnership with Lippincott. If you look at the image of the coffee cups above you realize how clunky the old logo was and just how extraneous its many elements were. Perfect simplification without losing the essence of the brand.

The innovative decision as at Nike and Apple will demand one-two year on accustoming. It’s not that hard to create a link between an icon and a name. With the amount of bandwidth that Starbucks occupies in the visual landscape, no one will confuse the siren as it being the icon for a hair salon, tiara manufacturer, or mermaid depot. Now to the actual result: This is a fantastic, confident evolution.