Starbucks siren: twin-tail mermaid story explained
Uncover the Starbucks siren story, from a 1971 brown mermaid to the green icon of today.
Brown mermaid to green siren
Three founders picked a Norse siren in 1971 for Seattle ports, printing brown rings on 2000 cups weekly. Designer Terry Heckler traced a 16th century woodcut with twin tails visible for 15 years.
Howard Schultz turned rings green in 1987 for 200 stores, betting color lifts morning sales 15 percent. When you generate your logo online, try circle badges that hold at 64 pixels on cups.
Dropped words and global fame
The 1992 update zoomed the face, hiding tails to pass mall rules in 1500 United States sites. In 2011 text left entirely for 17000 stores, cutting print colors from 3 inks to 1 ink.
Wordless green circles now mark 38000 shops in 86 countries serving 100 million weekly cups. Four tweaks across 53 years show restraint beats yearly redesigns costing 8000 dollars each.
- Brown siren 1971 start
- Green rings 1987 shift
- Face zoom 1992 update
- Wordless icon 2011
- 38000 stores today