Studio A

Wednesday is the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, when millions of people collectively called for better treatment of our planet. Today, USPS issued an Earth Day stamp we designed to commemorate this milestone. The need to work together to help preserve and improve our environment is greater than ever. Celebrate on April 22nd by doing something to help. Plant a tree. Reuse/Recycle. Write a letter to an elected official or business leader to let them know what they can do to help. And have a Happy Earth Day!

Celebrate! If you know someone who is having a birthday, or a wedding, or got that new record deal, or published their first book, or even just made it through a tough week, it’s time to celebrate! Consider sending them a note using the new “celebrate” stamp we designed. I know it will make them happy!

The world can always use a little more love. Tomorrow, the latest in the USPS Love Stamp series will be issued. We hope our design, made with dozens of hearts, encourages people to build many loving relationships in their lives. Family, friends, partners, pets, and even strangers. Thanks to Ricky Altizer for helping creating the final artwork! Love ya!

What a great way to start the new year! Our lettering for the postage stamp commemorating Woodstock was recognized for excellence and included in the new Communication Arts Typography Annual (January/February issue). Thanks to USPS for supporting our design and to Ricky Altizer for help with the final artwork.

We love working in charming, colonial-era, Old Town, Alexandria. During the holidays, many doors are decorated with wreaths in a variety of styles. Inspired by their beauty, we worked with local floral artist Laura Dowling to create a set of stamps featuring wreaths (and local doors). Issued last week, they’re available now.

Today, USPS announced several stamps to be issued in 2020. We’re extremely excited about this group commemorating Hip Hop’s contributions to our culture. It is arguably the most important US cultural export of the last 50 years. MC-ing (Rap), DJ-ing, B-Boying (sometimes called breakdancing), and Graffiti Art. We were fortunate to work with the talented Cade Martin on the photography and proud to have designed these stamps. We hope you like them and will look for their release next year.

Art directing postage stamps can be an exercise in patience. Six years ago, with help and encouragement from Helen McNiell and Carol Beehler in our office, we started working on a set of stamps featuring plants that produce berries during the winter. Steve Buchanan created the art, and Leslie Badani worked on the booklet cover. A real group effort! Yesterday, the stamps were issued and available for purchase. A long and overdue thank you everyone who helped make the Winterberry stamps!

Next week marks the 50th anniversary of “Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music.” A half-million people attended the festival. Do you know someone who was there? For the rest of us, it’s a legendary event where music, cooperation, and peaceful celebration unfolded capturing the popular imagination. In designing a stamp to commemorate the event, we combined the iconic dove of the original festival with custom lettering evoking concert posters of the era. Wishing you Peace and Music!

We’ve jumped the pond! ArtUK podcast “Art Matters” broadcast an episode on the art of stamp design. Host Ferren Gipson interviews Paul Skinner of the British Library and our own Antonio Alcala (he starts at the 6-minute mark). Take a listen for the philatelic fundamentals. Photo Credit: Stamps, Lisa Milroy (b.1959),British Council Collection

Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of astronauts first landing on the moon. We’re proud of our contribution helping commemorate this historic event with the design of two postage stamps: One shows Neil Armstrong’s famous photograph of Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon, and the other stamp marks the location on the moon where the Apollo Lunar Module touched down. May these stamps land in your mailbox soon!

Sometimes the story behind a stamp’s creation never gets told. Not this time. Three years ago, Antonio traveled to Chicago for a milestone birthday celebration for his first design instructor, mentor, and friend Philip Burton. During the visit, on a walk down the famous Chicago Pier, Antonio took flag photos, thinking perhaps one might be suitable for a stamp. Today, the 2019 US Flag Stamp has been issued and features one of those photos. Every time mail goes out from Studio A now, it’s a happy reminder of that special visit.

We’re no Jeopardy Champion like Chuck Forrest, but we would have done well during last night’s game when the question to three of the answers (including the Daily Double) involved our stamps! Thanks to Deborah Eckbreth and Carlos Alcala for the alert!

Any bird lovers out there? These “Birds in Winter” stamps were just issued. We worked together with illustrator Nadia Taylor to create simplified but accurate renderings of these familiar friends. We hope you like them!

We’ve partnered with NOVA Community College, Journey Group, and AIGA DC to create American Stories, American Stamps, an exhibition showing how designers reflect our nation’s history and culture through US postage stamps.

First Yoko, now Oprah. How did we get so lucky? This past Saturday Oprah gave a great speech at the unveiling of the “Honoring First Responders” stamp. Ricky Altizer of Studio A came up with the initial sketch and illustrator Brian Stauffer created the final artwork. Speaking to First Responders, Oprah noted: “The stamp is merely a symbol of what the spirit of each of you represents. Each of you represents the best of us. You represent the rising of courage, the rising of honor, the rising of compassion, endurance, survival, and thriving.”