New Starbucks Logo: What Do You Think?

Whether you're in Tenleytown or Chinatown, you can't trip over your stylish federal government-appropriate footwear without landing on a Starbucks.

Not only is the coffee chain everywhere (as we found out this summer in China), but the Starbucks siren ranks up there among the most-recognized logos worldwide, alongside the McDonald's arches, Google's homepage and, well, the Wisconsin Tourism Federation before its tragic name change.

As the WTF could attest, however, change comes to every business, and Starbucks is no exception. The company announced Wednesday that it is changing its siren logo for the first time since 1992 as part of its 40th anniversary celebration.

As Starbucks' president and CEO Howard Schultz said, "we've given her a small but meaningful update to ensure that the Starbucks brand continues to embrace our heritage in ways that are true to our core values and that also ensure we remain relevant and poised for future growth."

"What I think we've done is allowed her to come out of the circle in a way that I think gives us the flexibility to think beyond coffee," Schultz said in an introductory video. "But make no mistake, we have been, we will continue to be and we always will be the world's leading purveyor of quality coffee."

The logo has gone through several iterations through the years, and each time it seems Starbucks is zooming in closer and closer to the siren as she tempts us with her bitter, bitter brew. Or attempts to beat us over the head with two fish. Take your pick.

So... what do you think? Does the logo scream Starbucks, even if the words "Starbucks Coffee" no longer appears on the logo? Will it make you enjoy your double-half-caf-skim-mocha-grande-venti coffee more? Or will the logo go the way of the new Gap logo, which lasted all of about a week in 2010?

PR reps and graphic artists, we're looking at you for help on this one...

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