Phoenix-Factor is an organization with the goal of addressing America's engineer shortage by providing support and education for veterans returning to the world outside the military. The logo needs to appeal to the veterans themselves, military personnel in charge of preparing veterans for civilian life, and private sector companies who partner with Phoenix-Factor — and who ultimately hire the veterans. Avoiding literal phoenix images (I'm not much of an illustrator, to be honest), I focused on the ideas of growth and transformation, which is really what Phoenix-Factor is all about. The logo is made up of three elements: the wings/flames to represent the phoenix, a shield formed in the negative space to symbolize the military as defenders of the nation and an X/star to suggest aspiration and the X-factor that Phoenix-Factor provides in the lives of vets. I don't normally try to cram so much into a symbol, but military insignia is about detail and meaning of various elements so it seemed particularly appropriate in this case.
