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Creativity

Sending Love – Designing a Stamp For The U.S. Postal Service

 By: Greg Breeding – President & Creative Director at Journey Group.

I’ve served as an art director for the U.S. Postal Service for seven years. It’s a curious and delightful job and one that has brought me a great deal of creative fulfillment throughout my tenure. The process is quite fascinating, involving not only folks from the Postal Service but also American citizens who’ve been selected to help decide appropriate stamp subjects. Yet, as an art director, one of the most rewarding aspects of my work is developing relationships with the artists themselves.

The stamps I art direct — such as Johnny Cash or Batman — are typically assigned to me, but every now and then, I get to pitch my own ideas. There’s an open call to propose topics for ongoing series of stamps, such as those that feature the American flag or celebrate holidays or love. While there’s no shortage of creative ideas floating around my work/life atmosphere, as a designer and as president at Journey Group, it’s knowing when to capture the right idea that’s key — and then where to find the perfect collaborator.

Part I: Art directing and designing a stamp

The Love series started in 1973 with a stamp by pop artist Robert Indiana, and stamps from the series remain a favorite choice for those mailing valentines, wedding invitations or love letters. As an art director, Love stamps present an engaging creative challenge. You want to pitch something fresh and new, but the subject also needs to appeal to a broad audience — and reference the soaring emotion of love without being too saccharine or melodramatic.

As I was pondering ideas I had banked away, my colleague, Mike Ryan, creative director at Journey Group, campaigned to have Anna Bond design a stamp.

Anna Bond, for those who may not recognize her name, is the creative genius behind the wildly successful Rifle Paper Co. I first met Anna about 10 years ago when she was just beginning her design career and have kept up a long-distance friendship with her since then.

“Since I was little, it’s been my dream to design a stamp. I’ve always said that’s one of my top-five career goals.” — Anna Bond, Rifle Paper Co.

I, along with the rest of the world, love her vintage-inspired illustrations and aesthetic sensibilities. Upon hearing Mike’s suggestion, I knew she’d be the perfect illustrator for a Love stamp, and I had a hunch she would be up for the challenge. In 2015, Journey Group interviewed Anna for a feature story for the Postal Service website Beyond the Perf.

When Anna was 8 years old, she was given her grandfather’s stamp collection in a binder.

“I didn’t realize it, but looking back, it’s obvious that I was drawn to the graphic design of stamps,” she said. “Since I was little, it’s been my dream to design a stamp. I’ve always said that’s one of my top-five career goals.”

With the help of the team at Journey Group, I was excited to help make that dream come true.

The work

I struck up a conversation with Anna at a stamp show in New York, and we met for coffee to brainstorm about the future stamp. She was immediately on board, and I was delighted about the collaboration that was taking shape.

A floral design felt like both the obvious and right choice for this stamp, based on the series and on Anna’s aesthetic. I am also a sucker for hand-lettering, and I have always loved Anna’s loose, cheerful script on her stationery. We agreed that the design should be in the middle of the plate, with the word “Love” written in her script and surrounded by her signature flowers.

Anna began to work her magic, and in short order, we had two leading designs, one version on a dark green background and one on a white background. The stamp with the white background was ultimately chosen as the final design.

The result

The Love Flourishes stamp, which released on January 18, promises to be a thrilling success.

Anna and I were present for the First Day of Issue ceremony in Love, Arizona, and I was delighted to receive affirmation that Anna was the right choice. The audience was composed of many stamp collectors, as well as many fans of Anna’s work.

Part II: Translating stamp art

We were thrilled with the final stamp, and we were equally excited to extend the stamp’s success to another product that we work on at Journey Group: the Postal Service magazine USA Philatelic. For the spring 2018 issue, we knew that the Love Flourishes stamp would make a gorgeous and eye-catching cover.

Journey Group’s art director Ashley Walton and production designer Brittany Fan were enlisted to translate the stamp art to the magazine. Inspired by the stamp artwork, Ashley wanted to make the two-dimensional design come alive by using actual flowers and paper cut-outs for the cover.

With this concept in mind, Ashley and Brittany trekked to Washington, DC, to hunt for flowers at wholesale markets. A particular challenge was finding flowers with the right color, texture and feeling that would evoke Anna’s illustration — without knowing the exact names of the seemingly countless floral varieties.

Arriving with their arms full of flowers, Ashley and Brittany worked with photographer Len Rizzi to prepare the shoot in his studio, including laying out the design with hand-cut paper shapes and type, styling the flowers and mounting them in foam core, and managing consistent shadows, despite the differing depths of the material.

The team wanted to conjure up a cover that was soft, romantic and delicate and yet would stand up well next to Anna’s original artwork.

From start to finish, we were delighted with how the partnership with Anna Bond played out. As a person who works intimately with stamps, it was a pleasure to work with someone who still loves using stamps and sending mail through the post.

“It’s so special to receive a letter in the mail these days,” Anna said. “I’m used to getting mail that I don’t want to open, so I think a letter automatically makes you feel good because you know someone put effort into it. It shows they care.”

Anna’s effort and care with this design emphasizes the key to any successful creative collaboration. As an art director, what I’ve learned is that you give someone like Anna basic parameters and boundaries, and then you let her go. That’s when it goes well. The hardest and best thing I do as an art director is select the right artist. If I do that, the work flows beautifully. Choosing Anna for this project was the right call for the right time, and I loved helping her work find its way onto a stamp.

About the Author of this Post:

For Greg Breeding, strong communication—visual or spoken—is always about clarity. A graphic designer at heart and by trade, Greg’s decidedly Swiss perspective is shaped by years designing magazines, art-directing postage stamps for the U.S. Postal Service and taking an annual pilgrimage to (where else?) Switzerland to study the craft. Since co-founding Journey Group in 1992, he’s brought strong design thinking to many client relationships, building rapport through genuine interest, well-told stories and a subtle Southern drawl.

February 22, 2019 by

Two Keys To Making Brainstorming Work

Brainstorming is about producing ideas. It's not about picking a solution.

If you’re like most businesspeople, you’ve entered problem-solving meetings excited to devise a solution, but then left feeling like you wasted valuable time.

Often, the solution is similar to something already in place or it was brought up early in the meeting. It feels like the meeting could have been more easily accomplished in an email that didn’t take you away from your desk.

With results like these, it’s easy to question the value of brainstorming. And, it’s understandable why most businesses don’t devote time to regular brainstorming sessions.

What is Brainstorming Really?

Most “brainstorming” meetings look something like this: A bunch of people get in a room and suggest solutions to a problem. People comment on the ideas as they come up. Eventually, one mediocre idea triumphs.

But, this isn’t brainstorming.

Brainstorming, as conceived by advertising executive Alex Osborn, consists of coming up with as many ideas as possible (wild or tame), without passing any judgment.

Brainstorming is about producing ideas, not picking a solution.

This why most problem-solving meetings produce poor solutions: they fail to set aside time to focus solely on generating ideas.

Ideation + Evaluation = Less Ideas

By not focusing solely on idea generation, what ends up happening is that the meetings become a free-for-all with anyone being able to say what they want, whenever they want.

It may seem like this the best way to encourage people to think freely and create a steady flow of ideas. But, it does the opposite: it causes people to fixate on ideas and have their thoughts drift toward existing solutions.

As creativity researcher Patricia D. Stokes observes, “Free to do anything, most of us do what’s worked best, what succeeded the most often in the past.”1

Additionally, allowing people to say anything they want combines the processes of ideation and evaluation. Ideation activates a different part of the brain than evaluation. And, by switching back and forth between these two modes of thinking, you impede the ability of either function to work at its maximum level. In short,  switching between ideation and evaluation hinders the generation of ideas.

These sessions end up resulting in a battle over a narrow range of ideas. And, that isn’t brainstorming.

Evaluating solutions should come after the brainstorm has ended, not as part of the brainstorming session.

Creating an Environment of Openness

The brainstorm leader’s goal is to make sure that communication isn’t forced in one particular direction. The leader should help keep everyone on track and set an open, nonjudgmental tone for the session.

The leader must make it clear that there will be no criticism of ideas. The goal is to get as much feedback, ideation, and data out of the group as possible—not to discuss a specific solution.

This method is contrary to the way most people approach group brainstorming. The goal is not to come into the meeting with an idea in mind and then try to win people over to your way of thinking.

Brainstorming isn’t an essay contest or a debate. Evaluating and deciding on a solution comes later. It is essential that the leader makes this distinction clear.

Focus exclusively on generating ideas without judgment. This forces people into being more open and receptive, creating optimal conditions for idea generation.

Facilitating the Art of Listening

The most important factor in producing ideas in a group brainstorm is listening to other people’s ideas, without constantly focusing your attention on the solution you want to champion.

Hearing is a passive act of sensing sound. Listening is a conscious, active process that requires you to give your full attention to the person speaking.

Creating an attitude of openness by not allowing evaluation in the brainstorm makes it easier for people to listen. It’s harder to fixate on a solution when there’s no chance that a decision will be made. The natural impulse to prove a solution becomes minimized.

The creative process is the result of linking ideas to existing memories or ideas and creating new combinations. By listening to others during a meeting, you have the opportunity to receive new ideas that can combine with your own ideas and memories to create more new ideas.

Ideas propagate ideas.

Generating as many ideas as possible is important, as there’s a direct correlation between the quantity and quality of ideas: the more ideas generated, the greater the quality.

Like Ray Dolby, creator of the Dolby NR noise reduction system, advised, “You have to have the will not to jump at the first solution, because a really elegant solution might be right around the corner.”2

Two Keys to Making Your Brainstorming Sessions Work

Establishing an environment of openness and listening to others creates the best conditions for brainstorming.

Two Keys to Brainstorming Infographic
Share the Two Keys to Brainstorming infographic with your team

Remember:

  1. Create an environment of openness. Only produce ideas; don’t evaluate them.
  2. Actively listen. Pay attention to what others say. Ideas propagate ideas.

Focusing on openness and listening will vastly improve your ability to generate original and valuable ideas.

Everyone I’ve taught these keys to—whether in my creativity workshop or when I introduce them before leading meetings—has found them to be valuable in their own work. I hope you do too.

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January 11, 2019 by

Why You Should Play at Work

 

In a society that values goals and results, it’s easy to see why play isn’t valued by adults.

Play is a state more than it is a thing. Play involves doing something enjoyable for its own sake. There is no goal aside from enjoying the experience.

But, play is not a trivial activity: play makes people happier, it helps develop empathy, it reduces stress, and it strengthens resolve.
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November 9, 2018 by

How Mindfulness Improves the Workplace

“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn

The truth is that many of us spend most of our time in the office. Think about how you can transform the lives of those around you by becoming more aware.

This shift toward more humanistic management practices doesn’t merely improve productivity, creativity, collaboration, loyalty, and profitability; it can also help the people around you become better spouses, better parents, and better citizens.

You can invite your employees to grow by finding ways to make the workplace more engaging (less static), more inspiring (less mundane), and more open (less fixed). As Abraham Maslow put it, “We must try to make a particular kind of people, of personality, of character, of soul one might say, rather than try to create directly particular kinds of behavior.”

When we practice mindfulness, we are training our brains to examine internal and external cues rather than react to them, so we can better manage emotions and develop into our full humanity.

October 26, 2018 by

We Need Time with Wonder

How often do you daydream or even allow yourself to get bored?

It turns out there’s a lot of value in letting our minds wander. Daniel Goleman calls this “open awareness” and says when our minds wander we’re free to constructively envision our future—essential for planning and goal setting, and we can reflect on our thoughts and actions—central in making new and creative associations between ideas.

Our brains aren’t designed to go nonstop. When we drop into neutral, ideas flow on their own, memories sort themselves out, and we give ourselves a chance to rejuvenate. If we eliminate this natural rhythm, we won’t be more productive. And we won’t get ahead. We’ll start falling behind.

What could happen to your creativity, energy, and attitude if you took the time to wonder?

October 12, 2018 by

Stress Can Stifle Creativity and Performance

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

William James, Philosopher, and Psychologist.

Stress in the workplace can have damaging effects, such as stifling creativity and risk aversion.

When we operate under pressure, we shift into survival mode and in this mode of perception, we can have a much harder time thinking creatively and seeing things with a broader, longer-term lens.

Similarly, when your associates are stressed, they tend to avoid taking risks and have a hard time thinking creatively, which ultimately affects their potential.
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September 28, 2018 by

Embrace Discomfort, Create Change

If something is comfortable, it won’t lead to progress.

Growth was seen as an endless series of daily choices and decisions in each of which one can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.Abraham H. Maslow1

If you’re comfortable, you’re not growing. It’s the uncomfortable things that make us grow.

The same is true of business: companies that embrace discomfort as a regular part of business life are more likely to achieve their goals and move closer and closer to fulfilling their company vision than those that don’t.

Companies that stay comfortable—which feels great in the moment—end up losing in the long run, which doesn’t feel so great.

Discomfort is a prerequisite for change.

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August 31, 2018 by

Creativity In The Workplace

Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.George Lois, Damn Good Advice

When Leon Battista Alberti declared, “A man can do all things if he will,” he condensed the ideals of the Renaissance into the figure of the Renaissance Man—a person with knowledge of a wide range of subjects. Since then, knowledge has become very specialized and having the breadth of knowledge in the wide range of subjects embraced by Renaissance Men is impossible.

The Renaissance man still walks among us, but we now call him groups. A group can have a collective knowledge that far exceeds the knowledge of any individual.

Brainstorming, invented by advertising executive Alex Osborn, was designed to maximize effective and creative group problem-solving. Research on brainstorming initially failed to show an increase in the number and quality of ideas when compared to individuals working alone; but in the last two decades, research has revealed that brainstorming can be productive if the procedures guard against impediments that naturally occur like conversation being controlled by a limited number of individuals and shared data being disproportionately represented. When small groups of individuals attempt to collectively arrive at a solution through discussion, great solutions can be uncovered.
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May 18, 2018 by

Ten Tips to Make You and Your Team More Creative

Ten-Tips-to-Make-You-and-Your-Team-More-Creative

Being creative is essential to business: it provides the edge to beat the competition. In an increasingly competitive market, creative thinking is no longer solely the function of departments like advertising and product development; it is now necessary for everyone in the organization.

By following these ten tips derived from our creativity workshop, you will increase your creativity and help your company get ahead.
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May 11, 2018 by

How To Be MORE Creative

Bright background
THE BIG IDEA: Creativity doesn’t happen in a flash of insight; it’s the result of a lifetime of learning.

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Most businesses isolate creativity to specific parts of the organization; they treat it as if only a chosen few can tap into the mystical force of creativity.

Part of this stems from a belief that only some departments can benefit from creative thinking. But, great businesses know that creative solutions can come from anywhere within the organization.

The other part is the result of the way we believe creativity happens: in a flash of insight that only happens to a chosen few.
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May 4, 2018 by