Starbucks

I am not a fan of coffee, but this week I decided to make my blog post about it. More specifically Starbucks. I noticed a few years ago that the were using a different logo on the cups that what they normally use. I decided to look into it and discovered that it was the original logo. What is currently being used is actually the third version.

In this one we the Starbucks name as well the names of a few products that the sell. I believe that the typeface used is Helvetica. The works are encircled around the image of a mermaid. The image is actually based on a Norse woodcut. And they only colors used are brown and white.

And here is the third, and current, version of the Starbucks logo. The layout has stayed the same. But they left out the words Tea and Spices and just left coffee. The image of the mermaid has also changed. And you see a lot less of it than in the original. And instead of brown and white it uses black, green, and white.

I'm not too interested in the logos themselves, but I am interested in how it it went from the original to the current one. What made them decided to the the design into the direction it went? Was it too inappropriate?