Design concept is quite different from the issue of identity components mentioned previously. Among all the different logos and corporate identities that you have ever seen, there are only four basic categories of concepts.
They are:
1) Corporate Activity
2) Corporate Ideals
3) Corporate Name
4) Abstract
Corporate Activity
These identities show something about the product or the activity of the company. The monogram for Westinghouse, which makes electrical and electronic appliances, is a W that resembles an electronic circuit. The monogram for Allied Van Lines is the letter A, made to resemble a two-lane highway, because Allied Van Lines moves your household belongings “down the road.” The logo for the tire manufacturer Uniroyal is a stylized tire on pavement. This kind of identity shows what a company does or makes and is, perhaps, the first thing that many designers think of when developing identity concepts. It is a tried and true approach, but it is not the only kind of identity concept and not necessarily the best for every client.
When developing new identity concepts, think of ways to visualize what a company does, and try to make a logo from each concept.
Then, see if each of your corporate activity concepts can be incorporated in the logical initial of the company name, making a monogram.
Next, determine which combinations of activity concepts can be made with the whole word(s) of the functional corporate name. Here, different fonts will allow different possibilities, but avoid fonts that sacrifice clarity for decorative, stylistic or trendy elements. They will become dated most quickly.
If you don’t consider how each concept could be incorporated into each of the three possible components, many good possibilities will be left unexplored.
This is only one of the four possible conceptual approaches to a corporate identity. There are three more to follow.
Adapted from Logo Design Theory: How Branding Design Really Works