Secrets of the Starbucks Siren
Chances are that when you hear the word “coffee,” a particular green and white logo comes to mind, the image of a mysterious star-crowned woman with wavy locks flowing over her breasts and two fishtails encircling her body.
For many of us today, it’s nearly impossible to think about coffee without also thinking of her. That’s the power of the Starbucks Siren.
Inspired by a 16th-century Norse woodcut, Terry Heckler created the first Starbucks logo in 1971. The engraved image of a voluptuous two-tailed mermaid had captured the imagination of the Starbucks founders. Initially rendered in brown and white, the design went through several iterations before arriving at its current minimalist version.
The name Starbucks refers to the Pequod’s first mate in Moby Dick. According to the Starbucks company website, the founders chose this name because it evokes “the romance of the high seas and the seafaring tradition of the early coffee traders.” The Siren contributed to this concept by adding a mysterious otherworldly element from the nautical world.
If you’re under 40, you might not remember pre-Starbucks America. Before the 1990s, coffee was an inexpensive…
