Studio A

Antonio worked with Tlingit/Athabascan designer and artist Rico Worl to create this newest “forever” stamp.The design depicts a raven just as he escapes from his human family and begins to transform back into his bird form. To create the stamp art, Worl used formline, the traditional design style of the Indigenous people of the northern Northwest Coast.

The stamp is inspired by the traditional story of the raven setting the sun, moon and stars free. It depicts one of many stories about the raven, a figure of great significance to the Indigenous people of the northern Northwest Coast, part of the area that ranges from Southeast Alaska through coastal British Columbia and south into Washington state.

Among the cultures of the region—which include the Tlingit, the Tsimshian, the Haida, the Kwakwaka’wakw and others—the raven plays an essential role in many traditional tales, including stories about the creation of the world. The different peoples of the northern Northwest Coast each have their own culturally specific versions of the raven story, which often convey customs, ethics and cultural inheritances that help communities preserve or affirm their identities. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá, Illustration: Rico Worl

USPS just issued what we think is one of our most fun designs: Message Monsters. We collaborated with illustrator Elise Gravel on the these playful creatures, then added our own hand-lettered title. Around the edges are little stickers you can pull-up and use to personalize your creature/stamp and envelope. What do you think? Fun, right? Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá, Illustration: Elise Gravel

Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead is a festive celebration of one’s ancestors. Adopted from Mexico and Central America it is now observed throughout the United States. We were thrilled to work with Mexican American artist and designer Luis Fitch to create these colorful and beautiful stamps. They feature stylized, decorated calaveras or “sugar skulls” personalized as four family members: a child with a hair bow, a father sporting a hat and mustache, a mother with curled hair and another child. The lit candles flanking each sugar skull are beacons to guide deceased loved ones on their annual return journey to the land of the living. Dotting each stamp are marigolds (cempazuchitles), the most popular Day of the Dead flower. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá, Illustration: Luis Fitch

The four pillars of Hip Hop: MCing, DJing, B-Boying, and Graffiti are some of the most important art forms developed in the United States in the past fifty years. USPS commemorated Hip Hop’s cultural contributions by issuing these stamps in 2020. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá, Photography by Cade Martin

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock music festival, the stamp combines the iconic dove from the original event with lettering evoking music posters of the late 1960s. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá

The 2022 Lunar New Year / Year of the Tiger stamp is the third stamp in the new twelve-year series of stamps commemorating this holiday. Each stamp in the new cycle will feature an imaginative hand-crafted animal mask. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá, Art: Camille Chew

The Hearts Blossom stamp shows twelve colorful hearts with casual script intended to create a personal, happy, and positive message of love. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá

These four stamps celebrate the Christmas season with an ornament, a decorated tree, a stocking, and a reindeer rendered in red and green modern designs. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá, Art: Kirsten Ulve

This sheet of stamps present eight images captured from recent space missions. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá.

This set of four high-denomination stamps are the first completely abstract designs issued by the USPS. Art Direction: Antonio Alcalá, Designer: Michael Dyer.

Using a key phrase from the original document, this stamp commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Art Direction: Antonio Alcalá, Designer: Gail Anderson.

The fifth design in the “Music Icons” series commemorates Janis Joplin with a psychedelic-era inspired stamp. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá, Stamp photo: David Gahr, Stamp lettering: Daniel Pelavin, Cover photo: Bruce Steinberg.

This is the first U.S. stamp issued featuring thermochromic ink. With the warmth of a touch, the dark circle of the eclipse turns clear to reveal the moon. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá, Stamp photo: Fred Espenak.

Virtually unknown during his lifetime, Martín Ramírez is recognized today as one of the great self-taught artists of the twentieth century. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá.

A flower-like design composed of geometric shapes, these stamps utilize different color palettes, creating a set of four. Art Direction: Antonio Alcalá, Designers: Nicole and Petra Kapitza.

A civil rights activist and one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S., Harvey Milk is commemorated in this stamp with a photo by Daniel Nicoletta.

Part of the “Love” stamp series, this design plays on the meaning of “Forever” both as a signifier of long-lasting love but also as a representative of the denomination. Art direction and design: Antonio Alcalá, Design and lettering: Jessica Hische.