Studio A

Studio A recently had the honor of designing the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s first annual report. Working with the museum, a decision was made to focus less on the building and celebrity events and more on the visitors and their experiences. Large quotes are rendered in a custom font by Tré Seals of Vocal Type Co. based on the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike”I AM A MAN” signs. Next time you’re in DC, be sure to visit the museum. It’s well worth the trip!

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.”

Did you know baseball pitchers were originally known as the “feeder” and their job was to lob the ball at the batter so he could hit it? Neither did we until we designed this book of early baseball cards from the Library of Congress. Available this fall, it makes a nice companion to their exhibit on baseball, Baseball Americana, open until August 2019.

John Lennon. From his time with the Beatles and onward, he was a major influence on many of us here at Studio A. It was an honor for Antonio Alcalá to art direct a US “forever” stamp commemorating his life. We hope Yoko, Julian, Sean, and the rest of his fans like it as much as we do. They are available starting today.

Communication Arts just published their 2018 Design Annual! We’re honored the jurors selected the Total Solar Eclipse stamp for inclusion. Juror Rafael Esquer wrote in his summary: “I enjoyed the stamps art directed by Antonio Alcalá. I applaud the United States Postal Service for embracing new technologies.” Woohoo!

Graphis recently awarded their silver prize to the “¡Delicioso!”postage stamps we designed. The art is by the talented John Parra with lettering by Antonio Alcalá. Muy bien! See the Graphis Competitions Design Annual 2019

We recently completed a refresh of the National Museum of Women in the Arts members magazine to better reflect their new institutional brand. We’re proud of our eleven-year partnership with NMWA, and excited about the new direction. Kudos to Helen McNiell who led the effort with an assist from Ricky Altizer, Antonio Alcalá, and Maribel Gray. Here are samples from the first two issues after the refresh.

Our design for the 2017 Smithsonian Annual Report plays off the successful Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Hirshhorn, and includes both a random pattern of clear spot varnish (pun intended) in the editorial section, and sheet of special dot stickers for the reader. It’s a pleasure working with such a great institution.

It’s not everyday our design work is mentioned on the NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, but it happened Wednesday. Just in time for the start of summer, he announced the release of our popsicle stamp designs. Bonus: they’re scratch-and-sniff (watermelon anyone?). Shout out to the illustrator Magrike Berg and designer Leslie Badani (formerly of Studio A—We miss her)!

Two weeks ago, STEM stamps featuring artwork by the enormously talented Dave Plunkert went on sale. His collages help communicate the variety of avenues each discipline can represent while creating an appealing image that looks to the future. An added bonus: he’s a dream to work with. Here’s to hoping we can add an ARTS stamp to the set! Congratulations Dave!

Early last week, the new Illinois Statehood stamp was issued. It was a pleasure working with talented Chicago designer Mike Konetzka on the design. It’s a radical departure from recent statehood stamps, relying more on metaphoric and symbolic imagery than on straight representation. We love it and hope all our friends (especially in Illinois) buy a sheet!

One of the most vibrant arts organizations in our area is The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Studio A was thrilled to be invited to design their latest annual report. It not only documents a year’s worth of programming, but presents a compelling argument for how support of the arts benefits our entire nation. Thank you Kennedy Center!

Yesterday we received a copy of the American Illustrators 36th Annual and we’re so pleased with the way our Star Trek stamps are displayed. Congratulations to Heads of State who worked tirelessly with us to make these happen.