Seattle's Best Coffee Filters In Generic Logo.

[BrySmalls]

Article.

Seattle's Best Coffee revealed a redesigned logo this week. Unfortunately, it's ambiguous look brings to mind a lot more than just a cup of joe.

The simplified design seems rather generic, say some of the kinder observers. Other pundits are calling it a bowl of cereal filled with tears. But the harshest critics say the new look seems more appropriate for a blood donation center.

"Seattle's Best Blood Bank," wrote one snarky blog commentator. "High school art students could do a better job at designing a logo," proclaimed another. Ouch.

A poll from The Seattle Times revealed a whopping 68 percent of over 2,000 respondents thought Seattle's Best Coffee should "try again."

In response, Seattle's Best, which Starbucks acquired in 2003, says it didn't intend for its new look to be fancy or visually arresting. According to a spokesperson for the company, the logo "has to live in all kinds of environments." The understated look may be intentionally generic, as she says they "want it to be a universal sign for good coffee someday."

Even if the new logo doesn't have universal appeal, Seattle's Best itself is sure to become more ubiquitous over the course of the next fiscal year. Starbucks intends to expand the brand to more than 30,000 locations by the end of the fiscal year. That's a tall?or in Starbucks language, "venti"?order, considering the brand is currently available at a comparatively limited 3,000 locations.

Much of the increased availability will be through existing chains?Seattle's Best Coffee will appear at AMC Theatres and Borders bookstores in the near future, and all Burger King restaurants by September. This extensive expansion follows on the heels of news that Starbucks brand ground coffee will soon be available at grocery stores across the country.

Will this maligned redesign go down as badly for Starbucks as Tropicana's rebranding disaster? Last year the orange-juice giant switched its familiar straw-sticking-out-of-an-orange logo with a picture of a simple, unadorned glass of OJ?and its customers went berserk. In the space of two months, Tropicana ditched the redesign and returned to the familiar packaging.

Then again, when Pepsi simplified its logo back in 2008 there was a similarly vocal and immediate outcry from the public, but these days there doesn't seem to be much reaction to Pepsi's redesigned bottles. Whether Seattle's Best Coffee will cave in like Tropicana or weather the storm until consumers move on to the next controversy remains to be seen.

[Mings]

I'm all for modern updates but man....they :censored:ed up. Big time.

[fiasco!]

I'm all for modern updates but man....they :censored:ed up. Big time.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[Pharos04]

They're trying to compare it with Pepsi's rebrand? Pepsi at least kept some sort of iconicness with the colors of the globe staying with the colors of the smile symbol. This is just horrible. I always liked Seattle's Best logo, thought it was much more better than Starbucks' current logo. and now this looks like something you'd find in an airport concourse. Terrible redesign.

[winters in buffalo]

A Cub Scout patch?

[LightningRide75]

Looks like something generic I would see at Target.

[pcgd]

I always kinda wondered what the design trend of the 2000's would be that we'd look back and shutter. 80's all the neon colors, faux modern digital fonts, etc. 90s with their ovals and teal. 2000's is over simplification and sans serif fonts.

To be honest, if this was the new design a Target coffee shop, I'd think it was fairily solid. But for Seattle's best, its not that great. The problem with many of these redesigns is they go from a leading company with an identity (maybe not good, but at least well known) and instantly overnight they look like a generic Walmart Brand...literally...

[Jigga]

I always kinda wondered what the design trend of the 2000's would be that we'd look back and shutter. 80's all the neon colors, faux modern digital fonts, etc. 90s with their ovals and teal. 2000's is over simplification and sans serif fonts.

To be honest, if this was the new design a Target coffee shop, I'd think it was fairily solid. But for Seattle's best, its not that great. The problem with many of these redesigns is they go from a leading company with an identity (maybe not good, but at least well known) and instantly overnight they look like a generic Walmart Brand...literally...

Dammit, Pat! Now I really want some honey wheat braided pretzel twists and 100% apple juice!

[deliver2david]

Somebody on Brand New nailed it when they said it looked like a logo for a blood bank.

[BadSeed84]

Yea the Mid 2000s to now seems to be Sans serif and logos going from all capital letters to lowercased.

[DelayedPenalty]

I'm in the mood for a nice, hot cup of FAIL!!

[andrewharrington]

I'm in the mood for a nice, hot cup of FAIL!!

Ya know what else the 2000s will be infamous for? The proliferation of 'fail' as a noun.

[Quillz]

Am I the only one who thinks it could pass for an oil company's logo?

Seattle's Best Oil Workers

[sc49erfan15]

It looks like a symbol for "coffee shop" like you'd see on a GPS (or those paper thingamabobs people used before GPSeses).

Which makes sense, because it kinda sounds like that's what they were going for.

However, that doesn't stop it from sucking hard.

[Mings]

It kind of bothers me that they didn't see that with the addition of a handle and changing the red to a brownish color would, while not be as good as the previous logo, be a lot more passable and into the ok range.

[andrewharrington]

It kind of bothers me that they didn't see that with the addition of a handle and changing the red to a brownish color would, while not be as good as the previous logo, be a lot more passable and into the ok range.

I don't think the red part is supposed to be a cup. I guess it could, but I was under this impression: