The 2020 Kwanzaa forever stamp designed by Antonio Alcalá and Andrea Pippins

The 2020 Kwanzaa forever stamp, art-directed by Antonio Alcalá and illustrated by Andrea Pippins, took first place in the invitations/announcements category of the 2022 Print Awards, held at the One Club for Creativity in New York in 2022. Alcalá used Tungsten Medium to set the words “KWANZAA/FOREVER/USA” and what appears to be Univers Condensed for the year.

Sheet of self-adhesive Kwanzaa forever stamps

The Kwanzaa forever stamp as it appears on an envelope

Detail of the self-adhesive pane of Kwanzaa stamps designed by Synthia Saint James

Kwanzaa is a celebration of African-American culture that occurs every year between December 26 and January 1. Created by activist Maulana Karenga, it was first celebrated in 1966. The US Postal Service issued a 32-cent Kwanzaa stamp for the first time on October 22, 1997, in Los Angeles, California. Designed by Synthia Saint James, the stamp features the seven symbols used to celebrate the principles that serve as the foundation of Kwanzaa: umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa (cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kuumba (creativity), and imani (faith).

Many Kwanzaa stamps have followed since 1997. This inaugural design uses Koch’s Neuland for the word KWANZAA, and Carol Twombly’s Lithos to set the country of origin (USA) and stamp value. The National Postal Museum notes that “the stamps were issued in self-adhesive panes of fifty and self-adhesive vendible booklets of fifteen.”

The Question can be put simply: How did these two typefaces come to signify Africans and African-Americans, regardless of how a designer uses them, and regardless of the purpose for which their creators originally intended them?

—Rob Giampietro, “New Black Face: Neuland and Lithos as Stereotypography,” Lined & Unlined, 2004

Issued in 2021, this stamp honors Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu (1912–1997), one of the most influential nuclear physicists of the 20th century. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp with original art by Kam Mak.

Forever Stamps were first issued by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in 2007. As the name suggests, they can be used to mail a one-ounce letter regardless of when the stamps are purchased or used and no matter how prices may change in the future.

Several stamps with this denomination feature iconic people and events that helped shape American history. Since 2018 Periódico was used on a number of stamps.

Stamp from March 2018 commemorating Mister Rogers (1928–2003), a popular American television host. Art director Derry Noyes of Washington, DC, designed the stamp.

The “19th Amendment: Women Vote” stamp was issued in August 2020, to commemorate the centennial celebration of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp using art by Nancy Stahl.

“Hot & Cold” (No. 228) ft. Chwast Blimp and Benguiat Charisma Script. “COLD” appears to be based on Oprescu Fingerprint, with the outer lines removed. All three faces are original designs carried by Photo-Lettering.

Covers for various clip books of line art issued by Volk Corp in 1972. This volume continues the portrait format that was introduced in the year before. Just as in 1970 and 1971, many of the display faces like Brave and Free or Futura Dot are novelties from the extensive catalog of Photo-Lettering. Jolly Roger and the refreshingly blasphemous Helvetica Flair originated at Phil Martin’s Alphabet Innovations. The covers with Countdown and Premier Shaded might be among the earliest examples for Letraset originals used by Volk. On most covers, the line “Clip Book of Line Art” is set in ITC Avant Garde Gothic with alternates for e and A.

See also the dedicated post about the subseries titled Grafika which includes booklets published in 1972. For more information on Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, see the post about the clip books issued in 1955.

“Distaffers” (No. 227) ft. Kabel Black, contrasted with Kabel Light.

“Holidays” (No. 229) ft. Brave and Free.

“Radio & TV” (No. 230) ft. Goudy Heavyface Italic.

“Insurance” (No. 231) with a graphic depiction of why you might need one, ft. Kabel Black.

“Opposites” (No. 234) ft. all-caps Kabel Black.

“Occupations” (No. 236) ft. Eurostile and Helvetica [see comments].

“Expressions” (No. 240) ft. tightly spaced Charter Oak.

“Mail” (No. 241) ft. Profil. The subline here uses a bolder weight from ITC Avant Garde Gothic, to avoid a too great contrast in weight next to the chunky shadowed slab serif. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Holidays” (No. 242) ft. all-caps Goudy Heavyface Italic, paired with the similar (and earlier) Cooper Black Italic, here distinguished by swash caps.

“Summer” (No. 563) ft. Novel Gothic.

“The Golden Years” (No. 564) ft. Kabel. Sensitive typophiles may cringe at the combination of two very similar typefaces.

“Autumn” (No. 565) ft. Jolly Roger.

“Education” (No. 566) ft. Countdown, designed by Colin Brignall (Letraset, 1965).

“Groups” (No. 567) ft. Premier Shaded, designed by Colin Brignall (Letraset, 1970). Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Christmas” (No. 568) ft. Kalligraphia and Helvetica Flair.

“Couples” (No. 569) ft. slanted Futura Dot. The addition “20th Anniversary issue” suggests that Volk was founded in 1952 or 1953. The oldest booklets published in Bart Solenthaler’s collection are from 1954.

“Transportation” (No. 572) ft.Buxom. Just like in “Mail” (No. 241, see above), the weight of “Clip Book of Line Art” is increased to hold up against the heavyweight.

“Sales” (No. 573) ft. Uncle Bill.

“Women” (No. 575), pairing Normande Italic with handwriting.

“Human Relations” (No. 576) ft. Cartier and Windsor for the bottom line.

“Teens” (No. 577) with more Jolly Roger.

In the wake of the USPS potentially going bankrupt and subsequently affecting the 2020 Presidential Elections, I decided to buy stamps and send postcards to friends and family. Almost 300 people shared their addresses with me on Instagram (way more than I had anticipated) so I decided to create my own set of nine postcards.

Designed during one late night after work, printed by Moo on an impressively strong and durable paper with silky, soft touch, matte coating finish on both sides; and using nine completely different and unique typefaces, the set has resulted in an elevated but clean design. With the core message of letting you, and the world know, that while we are going through difficult times at the moment, it will be okay in the end. And it is equally fair to not be okay at this time. You do you.

“Okay”, set in Miniature Display, Druk Condensed, Opposit, and Migra, latter with a mix of roman and italic glyphs.

“OK”, set in Parabole Display, Pilowlava, Kernit, Hatton and Nostra Sett.

Postal Museum:

Bessie Coleman, the world’s first licensed female African American pilot, was born today [26 January] in 1892.

Arago:

This stamp is part of the Black Heritage Stamp Series. Initiated in 1978, the USPS continues to issue a stamp featuring a notable Black American every February in conjunction with Black History Month and at other times during the year.

The typeface is a condensed Lithos, designed by Carol Twombly in 1989. Together with Neuland, Lithos has “come to signify Africans and African-Americans, regardless of how a designer uses them, and regardless of the purpose for which their creators originally intended them”, as Rob Giampietro writes in his essay “New Black Face: Neuland and Lithos as Stereotypography” from 2004.

A Mailgram is a type of telegraphic message which is transmitted electronically from the sender to a post office and then printed and delivered to the recipient via postal means. Western Union invented the Mailgram in 1970. The service was discontinued in 2006. [Wikipedia]

It won’t be obvious to anyone but type nerds, but I commend the designer for the atypical font choice on these stamps. No Helvetica or Copperplate Gothic or Myriad here; instead, the typeface is perhaps a little wink to those few who do notice: Galaxie Polaris.

The Heads of State:

Summer 2016 marks the 50th Anniversary of the original Star Trek television series on CBS. We had the honor of creating this series of 4 commemorative postage stamps for the United States Postal Service. Live long, prosper, and send greeting cards.

The design firm GrandArmy has recently posted an array of images on their website detailing their involvement in the U.S. Postal Service’s recent sign and identity redesigns. Knockout and Gotham are given center stage in these patriotic renderings. The USPS chose to rework their proprietary boxes with another firm. (GrandArmy also revealed an image of their rejected box design.) The end result falls very much in line with GrandArmy’s vision.

One major element of the postal service’s presence has remained wisely unchanged — Muts Yasumura’s decades-old logo (which includes a typeface by Ray Cruz).

Unused proposal for USPS propriety boxing.

This 55-minute stop-action feature by Rankin/Bass Productions premiered on American television December 6, 1964, and is still immensely popular in the US after fifty years. It was based on a 1939 poem, written for a department store, which was in turn released as an immensely popular song in 1949. 

A note on YouTube by the Miser Brothers Press, who distributes merchandise related to the special, says that “[t]he lettering that is featured on the packages in the original end credits was done by Tony Peters and Arthur Rankin, Jr.” Peters was the storyboard artist and Rankin was the producer. Rankin, who had worked as a TV art director, also drew the characters, so he probably directed Peters on the lettering. Tony Peters died in 2009, and Arthur Rankin died only last February.

A digital version of the letterforms was created by Steve Ferrera and has been published as freeware font under the name Island of Misfit Toys. Thanks to Ryuk on Typophile.com for identifying it so quickly. Island of Misfit Toys has been used in the TV movie A Miser Brothers’ Christmas (ABC Family, 2008). The stamps don’t use this very font, though: the letters there either are heavily modified and cleaned-up, or custom.

I never liked this program, even when I was a kid!

Clip from A Miser Brothers’ Christmas

Clip from A Miser Brothers’ Christmas

I almost walked right past a package intended for me until, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a little red stamp. “First Class” it said — only 1" x 1.5" — and unmistakably Mantinia. An envelope from Matthew Carter, surely. Immediately I inquired about its origin; he replied:

“One of the few consolations for a lifetime of toil and heartbreak in type design is getting to design one's own stamps.”

It’s the little things in life. To take that quote somberly is to ignore Matthew’s jovial sense of humor which, like his friendly smile, is always at the ready.

“These were done long ago when I was working on Mantinia, and are a little worn by now.”

Yes they are, though no less striking. My hope that his local post office had their own set was not fulfilled but at least they haven't gone unnoticed.

“I try to avoid having to go through the line at the post office, so the stamps come in handy. Once or twice when I have gone to the post office because something is too heavy to drop in the box, I have had compliments from the staff on my stamps.”

“This stamp celebrates the 150th anniversary of Nevada statehood. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864. The stamp art depicts a close-up view of an area in Fire Canyon, part of Valley of Fire, Nevada’s oldest state park. The painting is an oil-on-Masonite panel. Captured by Nevada artist Ron Spears at dawn, the sandstone formations glow in shades of brilliant reds and yellows—a result of various quantities of iron in the rock—highlighted by deep purple and blue shadows. Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamp.” — USPS

Read more on uspsstamps.com

The descender of ‘d’ has been shortened to cap height. The dates in the corner look a little messy, with the mix of styles, sizes and orientations. Maybe lining figures would have been a calmer choice here. 

Issued on March 13, 2014, just before the Jimi Hendrix Celebration concert at the South by Southwest Outdoor Stage at Butler Park in Austin, TX, the new limited-edition Jimi Hendrix Forever® stamp, designed by artist Rudy Gutierrez, features a vibrant design fashioned to evoke the movement and rhythm of the late singer and pay homage to the psychedelic rock era of the 1960s. — Stamp Services

“The stamp features a photograph by West Virginia photographer Roger Spencer showing an early morning view looking east from the Highland Scenic Highway (Route 150) in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, within Monongahela National Forest. Greg Breeding [of Virginia] served as art director.” — USPS

Read more about the stamp at Beyond the Perf.

“On January 27, 2011, in Topeka, Kansas, the Postal Service™ issued a “Kansas Statehood (Forever)” commemorative stamp. This stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of Kansas statehood features artwork by renowned commercial and fine-art painter Dean Mitchell, Tampa, Florida and designed by Howard E. Paine, Delaplane, Virginia.” — USPS

It’s a pleasant and appropriate piece of work, but too bad they couldn’t find an illustrator and designer in Kansas to create it. Even better, the type could be local too. Clarendon certainly represents the hearty style of typography common in the Western US in the 1800s, but there are also a few worthy Kansas-based designers who could provide such type or lettering for the stamp. Erin McLaughlin or Nathan Williams come to mind.

Read more about the stamp at Beyond the Perf.

Hey, hey, it’s Uncle Ray! The larger image above is the reverse of the stamp sheet. Note the little sliver of black at the top of the stamp sheet below to mimic an LP record poking out of its sleeve. From the USPS website: 

The stamp art features an image of Charles, taken later in his career, by photographer Yves Carrère. … Art director Ethel Kessler worked on the stamp sheet with designer Neal Ashby.

I’m so glad the Postal Service actually gives credit to art directors and designers. The website also shows a poster for sale. It uses another condensed sans which I couldn’t quickly identify.

The Postal Service is usually very good about crediting designers and art directors on their website, but there were no credits for last year’s Madonna of the Candelabra stamp – except for Raphael.