A logo simply means, it is just a mark or a symbol that represents your brand. While there are many distinct types of brand marks. The only commonality remains is of the purpose. The purpose is to give a unified look and feel across different brand assets. Since a unified look projects trust.
It is very similar to thumb print or signature of a person. And along those lines, would you trust a person who says different things at different times or someone who remains just and integrated even across varying situations.
Wordmark Logos
When brands use their name itself as their mark. This mark is usually paired with a distinct font. Which is further modified to make it unified.
Companies that use their name as mark are projecting a brand trait - of not caring.
In case of Zara, with sharp fonts, it has a brand voice of - “I do not care about what you think of me.”
On the other hand google, since they have a very rounded / friendly shapes, it becomes - We do not care about the design, we are more concerned with what we do.
Lettermark Logos
When brands use a few letters of their name as their mark.
Lettermark logos do not have an innate brand personality. Since they are used extensively across every industry and every kind of brand use it.
But letter mark has a magnifying effect on your brand value. When big brands do it, they look very well known.
When medium brands do it, they look well known brands as well.
But when smaller companies do it, they look very small. Since nobody knows what the full form is. It has a negative affect on smaller brands.
Brands who started with a wordmark that are now big, successful and very well known, can use this in their rebranding process.
Logomark Logos
When brands invest heavy on the mark and come up with a pictorial icon as their mark. People usually divide this further into three. Mascot, Pictorial, Abstract. In my opinion, all three are pictorial and all three are abstract.
When abstraction is to the point where picture is not clearly comprehensive, they call it abstract logo.
If picture is clearly identifiable, we call it pictorial, and abstraction is less.
Similarly Mascot is another kind of pictorial mark where the mark is a virtual or real character. This works well because in the end all branding efforts are geared towards making a brand come alive - like a character.
A mascot for a logo shows that your brand is very humane or close to you as a customer.
Some articles will say that Nike is an abstract logo. But if we look carefully and understand. Nike’s logo is a big swoosh. Swoosh is not an abstract concept. When we hit a ball or swing a bat. We form a very temporary visual swoosh in the air. It is very much visual and very much real.
Hence I do not want to categories abstract as a separate kind. They are also pictorial. While pictorial and abstract do not have a brand personality of their own. It totally depends upon the shape in the logo mark.
Emblem Logos
Emblems are special kind of logo mark, they exist because they are easiest to make. When brands combine text and shapes into one, and form a larger shape - such that it all looks like a single unit.
Brands that use this kind of logo - showcase that they are some kind of unified group of people having shown allegiance towards the brand. I do not want to use the word “Cult” but that’s the best explanation.
Football clubs across the world use emblem logos. And not to mention most nations have an emblem.
Combo or Combination Logo
When brands use a combination of one or two of the mentioned types of logos - into one single unified mark.
Note: When brands care about their mark, they tend to have 2 or 3 variations. Each variation can be any one of the mentioned types of logos.