# Starbucks new logo (2011)

> Starbucks launched a new logo in 2011. For its 40th anniversary Starbucks took the words Starbucks Coffee and the black ring off its badge, leaving the green siren on her own.

## Key facts

- Brand: Starbucks
- Launched: 2011
- What changed: For its 40th anniversary Starbucks took the words Starbucks Coffee and the black ring off its badge, leaving the green siren on her own.
- Industry: Food & drink
- Logos: https://rebrandlog.com/logos/starbucks-2011/before.png (before), https://rebrandlog.com/logos/starbucks-2011/after.png (after)

## The rebrand, explained

The siren goes back to 1971, when Terry Heckler drew the first Starbucks logo. According to the company's own history, Heckler merged it with the Il Giornale logo in 1987, when green replaced brown, and in 1992 the siren's face became the star. That badge, a green siren inside a black ring reading Starbucks Coffee, is the before logo here.

In 2011 the ring and the words were removed and the siren was enlarged to fill the circle, in a single green. Starbucks says the name is absent because its reach extends beyond coffee, and its siren "can surely stand on her own."

The 2010 annual report letter set out the reasoning: "This year, we will roll out our elegant new brand identity with an evolved logo that embraces our history while granting us more freedom and flexibility to think beyond coffee and even beyond our stores." Reuters reported that the change stirred anger among some customers. Starbucks itself dates the change only to 2011, so that is the date given here.

In short: The siren no longer needs to say her name.

## Sources

- https://about.starbucks.com/history/the-evolution-of-our-logo/
- https://materials.proxyvote.com/Approved/855244/20110113/AR_76980/PDF/starbucks-ar2010_0004.pdf
- https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7045Y920110105/
- https://www.seattletimes.com/business/updated-starbucks-logo-no-longer-says-coffee/

## Cite this

Rebrand Log, "Starbucks new logo (2011)", https://rebrandlog.com/rebrand/starbucks-2011/, last updated 2026-10-22.