This was a commission to design the logo for a State Department program called NeXXt Scholars, which "offers female students from countries with Muslim-majority populations and college-selected American young women interested in studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines the opportunity to receive professional development and career advancing support while pursuing undergraduate degree programs at U.S. women’s colleges." (source).
There were two requirements for this design: one, that it contain the "XX" chromosome pair, and two, that it be patriotic, being a federal program.
My key concept was to have the "XX" also look like they were stripes on the American flag, tying the two aspects of the program together visually and neatly.
