Design Observer :: Join the Discussion http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/postage-stamps-by-aiga-medalists/25128/ en-us Design Observer Group 2011-03-01T22:03:20-05:00 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0 Josh Kramer http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/postage-stamps-by-aiga-medalists/25128/#comments 2011-03-01T22:03:20-05:00
Yes, here's how Time reported some of the response to the design in 1967:

"After he [the Postmaster General] approved a 5¢ stamp to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Henry David Thoreau's birth, furious collectors complained that the Post Office Department was making the Walden Ponderer look like a thug, a Communist, a hippie or "a beatnik suffering from withdrawal symptoms." One fan even threatened civil disobedience. "If you bring a blown-up poster of this hideous thing into Concord, Mass.," he wrote, "you'd better send along a contingent of the National Guard."

I don't know much about stamp designing as a career or who actually carries out much of the work when not an outside artist or designer, but recently the Times ran an obituary for Paul Calle:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/arts/design/31calle.html
]]> Michael Russem http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/postage-stamps-by-aiga-medalists/25128/#comments 2011-03-01T16:48:09-05:00 It would be interesting to know if there are designers who had special skill in the special area of stamps. Coin design, as recent US quarters show, is subtle. Stamps too--you don't just shrink a painting or poster. ]]> phil patton http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/postage-stamps-by-aiga-medalists/25128/#comments 2011-03-01T11:06:13-05:00