Follow me, and I will make you baristas of men

In the midst of the darkness of the world, God sent us a light.

In the dark midwinter sky, the wise men followed the light of the Star of Bethlehem.

John 8:12: When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

So there’s your design brief. Nothing should distract from that core message: light from darkness. But we want to reach beyond the reductionism of a point of light. The message is bigger than that, because Christianity is bigger than that. The Good Word has saved us all, and we need to show that sense of collective uplift. Show a rising upwards of humanity’s soul, for that is the true meaning of the holiday.

Red is a classical Christmas color, so start there. An ombre color shift from darkness up towards light, that’s the solution. We don’t dare claim that we’ve yet achieved true salvation, so let’s stick with a gradual lightening of color.

No more winter iconography. Snowmen and snowflakes are cute, but they distract from the purity of our cup’s message of a journey towards salvation.

In the dim pre-dawn hours, before other shops are open, we light up our stores to show people the way. We are each block’s Star of Bethlehem writ local. As our coffee wakes up our minds, let our cups remind us all of the need to wake up our souls. We can serve Jesus as we serve our customers. We are Starbucks, and we are being sorely misunderstood.