Postage Stamps^281No longer are postage stamps staid icons of
officialdom, they are outlets for exceptional
design, striking imagery, hilarious wit, even
biting satire. Yet no other form of graphic
design is as sacrosanct or more indicative of
a nation’s character. With the exception of a
national flag no other official design is more
politicized. Postage stamps are more than
mere currency, they are a nation’s signboard.
They commemorate the most important
issues and events, and they are potent
instruments for propaganda when they
carry messages designed to influence, inspire,
and move.
What appears on stamps is usually
determined by committees. In the United
States a citizens advisory panel comprising
experts in various areas of popular culture,
sports, and art advise the Postmaster General on what stamps to issue.
Special interest groups are known to lobby as vociferously for stamp
recognition as for congressional legislation. Stamps are the most widely
recognized collectible, and in certain nations the field of stamp collecting
is a major industry. The postal agencies of larger nations have become
veritable stamp dealers either to supplement their national budgets or to
subsidize their postal services. In countries where the postal service is
privatized, such as the Netherlands, brisk sales can mean the difference
between profit and loss.
Designing postage stamps is not easy. With the eyes of a nation
focused on the result, these images are intensely scrutinized. When the
Croatian artist Boris Bucan designed his nation’s first air mail stamp he came
under fire. Since this breakaway Yugoslav republic had very few commercial
airplanes, he designed a stamp that showed a paper airplane against a blue
sky. Although the stamp was published, his sarcasm went unappreciated by
countrymen who petitioned for its recall. Conversely, there were few if any
notes of displeasure when the Dutch designer Rick Vermullen, of Hard
Werken Design in Rotterdam, designed a preprinted paid postcard for the