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Do you mean the logo? Because the Starbucks logo was based on the charicter "Starbucks" from the book Mobie Dick. They recently changed the logo though.
logo
Starbucks has nearly 100 registered trademarks, but the most familiar is their mermaid logo.
Starbucks
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Starbucks use the mermaid as their logo - although Starbucks actually officially call it by it's proper name - a Siren, not a mermaid.
It is a siren.
There is a long, involved history of how the logo was developed. Be sure to read the story of how the Starbucks siren became less naughty, here: http://www.deadprogrammer.com/starbucks-logo-mermaid The wikipedia article will tell you briefly about how the mermaid lost her tail and her navel and chest were "cleaned up" because of an embarrassed elementary school principal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks
Starbucks hires a local architectural firm that performs a Site Survey Report of the proposed Starbucks location. That information is then returned to the Starbucks Interior Store Design Team to determine the type of store to incorporate into that site.
starbucks coffee franchise
A product with a design that resembles the Jack Daniel's logo; not the actual logo
It's a logo design software