Meet Jeffrey Fields
Jeffrey Fields is the Starbucks vice president of Design & Content. It’s almost that time of the year again, and Starbucks people know it.
Recent reports are talking about Starbucks’s latest red cup, revealed last month. According to Cool Hunting, Starbucks has unveiled a holiday cup that’s become synonymous with seasonal change since 1997.
During an interview with Jeffrey Fields, he spoke about this year’s design saying, the Christmas blend became the impetus for design.
According to the Starbucks Newsroom, this year’s iconic red Starbucks cup features a two-toned ombré design, with a bright poppy color on top that shades into a darker cranberry below.
“We have anchored the design with the classic Starbucks holiday red that is bright and exciting,” said Jeffrey Fields. “The ombré creates a distinctive dimension, fluidity and weightedness.”
The cups are more minimalist — the red ombre design is meant to embrace “the simplicity and the quietness” of the holiday season.
Jeffrey Fields also added, “In the past, we have told stories with our holiday cups designs,” “This year we wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.”
So, that’s all great and dandy, but Jeffrey Fields and his 2015 red cups are not getting the love he expected. According to recent reports, there are a good bunch of people not very pleased with the design.
The Huffington Post, says the minimalistic design is a huge problem for some people, who feel that the plain red cups are oppressing Christians by insulting Christmas.
You see, in previous years, Starbucks’ iconic holiday cups, featured wintry or Christmas-themed designs like snowflakes, ornaments and nature scenes.
In other words, people are pretty mad by the fact that they think the new holiday cups, lack a Christmas –theme design.
Jeffrey Fields has been working with Starbucks for a number of years now. In a 2013 interview for The Dieline, he was asked: What’s The Favorite Project You’ve Ever Worked On? To what he said:
That’s an easy answer—the refresh of the Starbucks brand three years ago was probably the most profound one. It was one that shook the foundation and reset some of our sensibilities and I’m so proud to have worked on that. But it’s actually the projects that never see the light of day that are my favorites. The ones that pushed boundaries and started us thinking in new ways. Work that’s provocative, that really gets you going.
In that same interview he also talked about learning from customers saying:
“We try to go into our customers’ minds, mine their brains and understand them.”
Well it didn’t happen this time buddy!
What do you think? Comment below!
