A few months ago, in celebration of their 40th anniversary, Starbucks announced a refresh of their corporate identity. When people imagine a refresh to a corporate identity, many conjure up memories of the Gap logo fiasco of 2010. But not all refreshes meet with such opposition and sometimes, they can actually elevate the brand to a new level. We think Starbucks has achieved this with their new identity and here’s why it’s one of the brands we love.

When Starbucks opened its first store in 1971, the image of the company was quite different. Fitting with the theme of their principle product, coffee, the logomark was brown and featured a very different version of the famous Starbucks siren. Over time, the mark evolved, giving rise to the “Starbucks green” found in the current identity. The siren also evolved, gaining modesty at the expense of detail.

The new identity, created by Starbucks’ in-house designers and studio Lippincott, pushes simplicity to the extreme. In the words of the company’s senior creative manager, Starbucks “broke down the four main parks of the mark – color, shape, typeface and the siren.” While all of these elements are readily associated with Starbucks, the use in the refreshed identity elevates each elements to an even higher status. The siren, which has always been part of the identity, is now the focal point of the mark, no longer bound by the ring. The reduction of color in the siren further augments the idea of simplicity, and helps the mark maintain impact regardless of the size of the mark. The typography now functions as it always has, but in a simplified form, removing the redundancy of existing in both the wordmark and logomark versions of the identity.

In some ways, these changes afford more flexibility with the identity. There may be instances where the logotype or mark work great by themselves and other opportunities where they are needed together. For example, the siren mark can now “bleed” off the edges of products, without compromising its integrity as part of the iconic Starbucks brand. Simply adding the Starbucks logotype elsewhere on the product nicely complements the presentation. The previous mark would have looked awkward if truncated in this fashion.

When looking at how Starbucks chose to introduce this mark, it’s interesting to note that, in contrast with how Gap rolled out their refresh, Starbucks made a much larger splash and showed the new identity in context (something Gap didn’t do). One simple design lesson is that it’s much easier to gain buy in from clients (or the masses) by showing designs in context. In this case, when Starbucks introduced the new mark, they showed it how we would all see it – on a coffee cup.

Overall, we feel the new Starbucks identity is a win for the company. As a company that began their trade selling coffee and have now moved to a variety of other products, like tea, pastries and even breakfast foods, this brand refresh is definitely a bold move in a forward direction.