Urim - AI leadership program for the IDF

Inspired by the legacy of programs such as Talpiot, Urim imagines a new academic-military model built around AI research, strategy, and long-term technological leadership. Participants begin with an intensive training track that combines military preparation with B.Sc. and M.Sc. studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, focusing on mathematics, computer science, machine learning, and systems engineering.

Participants continue into a long-term service path within elite technological units, where they contribute to advanced research and operational development. Their academic journey continues in parallel, eventually extending to doctoral work in Israel and a postdoctoral stage at Yale University.

The purpose of the concept is not only to imagine a training program for engineers, but to explore how a new generation of AI leaders could be developed - people capable of shaping national security, technological strategy, and the responsible use of artificial intelligence.

From a design perspective, the project asked how such a program should be positioned, visualized, and symbolized. The goal was to create an identity that feels prestigious, intellectual, and future-facing, while remaining deeply connected to the values of Israeli defense excellence.

There is no IDF program built specifically around long-term AI leadership. That absence created the core design challenge: to imagine a program that does not yet exist, but feels credible enough that it could.

The identity had to introduce a new category inside a world already shaped by strong institutional symbols, elite military programs, and established ideas of excellence. It needed to feel prestigious and official, while also expressing something more research-driven, future-facing, and intellectually rigorous.

The challenge was not only to design a logo or visual language, but to build a complete narrative system - one that could represent AI leadership through symbolism, tone, and structure. The result had to balance four tensions at once.

The project was approached as a strategic identity exercise rather than a purely visual one. Before designing symbols, colors, or materials, I focused on defining the conceptual foundations of the program: what it stands for, what makes it different, and what emotional and cultural space it should occupy.

Three principles guided the work:

Brand Design

Elite IDF Programs Landscape

For decades, the IDF has developed exceptional talent through elite academic-military programs (Atuda) such as Talpiot, Psagot, Havatzalot, Arazim, Brakim, Reamim, Alonim, Gvishim, and more.

The visual world surrounding elite military and defense programs is typically built on a familiar language of insignias, metallic symbols, dark tones, wings, stars, and institutional emblems. These systems are designed to communicate excellence, hierarchy, discipline, and national responsibility.

At the same time, the visual language around artificial intelligence often moves in a very different direction - abstract gradients, network patterns, digital effects, and futuristic technology clichés. While these references communicate innovation, they often lack the gravity and symbolic discipline required for a defense-related program.

Urim needed to exist between these two worlds. The challenge was to create a visual identity that could sit naturally alongside established elite IDF programs while also signaling a new era shaped by AI, research, and strategic intelligence. It needed to feel official enough to be credible, but distinct enough to introduce a new category.

The Name

The name Urim was designed to carry multiple layers of meaning at once - historical, academic, technological, and emotional. Rather than functioning as a purely symbolic or institutional name, it creates a broader conceptual foundation for the program and gives the identity depth from the very beginning.

The Logo

The logo and wider visual system build on sharp structure, symmetry, and conceptual clarity, translating the meaning of the name into a mark that feels both prestigious and forward- looking.

At the center of the logo stands a sharp four-pointed spark. The spark was chosen deliberately because it is one of the most recognizable visual symbols associated with artificial intelligence today. It creates an immediate connection to the world of AI, so even at first glance the mark signals that the program belongs to a new generation of technological and research-driven excellence.

The spark is supported by structured, symmetrical wings, placing Urim within the visual lineage of Israel’s elite programs. The wings were designed to feel precise and elevated rather than decorative, giving the emblem a sense of discipline, ascent, and institutional weight. Their sharp, layered construction helps balance the futuristic quality of the spark with the seriousness and prestige expected from a top military-academic program.

This progression reflects the core promise of AI: transforming complexity into actionable clarity. It also reinforces the deeper meaning behind the name Urim, which is associated with illumination and guidance.

Overall, the palette was meant to feel restrained, prestigious, and precise - closer to institutional excellence than to flashy tech aesthetics.

Brand Activation

Because Urim is a military program, the brand does not need advertising campaigns or heavy public-facing branding. Its use is naturally more limited and institutional, and it cannot drift too far from the visual conventions of other elite IDF programs. The challenge was therefore not to create a loud or highly flexible brand system, but to design something distinguished enough to feel new while still credible within that formal context.

The brand was applied in two main ways. The first was through official program materials, such as informational flyers and recruitment assets. In these applications, the identity comes through not only in the logo, but also in the broader visual language: structured layouts, sharp typography, the blue gradient field, and a supporting icon system that helps explain the program in a clear and prestigious way. This allowed the concept to feel institutional and informative, while still carrying a more refined and future-oriented character.