Instead of showing what a company does, these identities visualize something about the qualities or ideals to which the company aspires. These can be ideals such as “superiority,” “strength,” “speed,” or “accuracy.”
The important thing to remember is that these ideals may not be obvious to the public when viewing the logo but can act subliminally. People don’t have to say, “Gee that makes me think of protection and someone taking care of me.” But a logo that has a band around something may communicate that on an unconscious level.
Occasionally a double entendre will occur with an identity communicating more than one thing. Those times are serendipitous, but trying to force together multiple concepts can ruin an identity. Doing one thing well is always better than doing two things poorly.
Adapted from Logo Design Theory: How Branding Design Really Works