PROEJECT BRIEF
Postage stamps are more than just functional tools for mail delivery; they are miniature canvases that reflect a nation’s collective identity and values. However, the rapid shift toward digital communication has made physical mail less frequent, often resulting in stamp designs that feel dated or disconnected from the contemporary cultural landscape.
The challenge lies in creating a series of illustrations that resonate with a modern audience while maintaining the prestige and “archival” quality expected of a national postal service. For the year 2020, there is a specific need to capture themes that feel urgent and timeless, bridging the gap between historical reverence and future-facing optimism.
PROJECT GOAL
The primary objective is to design a cohesive set of three postage stamp illustrations that serve as a visual time capsule for the year 2020.
This series aims to:
• Establish a Unified Aesthetic: Use a consistent color palette, line weight, and typographic style to ensure the three stamps are instantly recognizable as a single collection.
• Establish a Unified Aesthetic: Use a consistent color palette, line weight, and typographic style to ensure the three stamps are instantly recognizable as a single collection.
• Celebrate National Values: Identify and illustrate three distinct pillars, such as Environmental Stewardship, Social Unity, and Scientific Innovation, that represent what the public should value and remember.
• Balance Form and Function: Create high-impact, minimalist compositions that remain legible and evocative even when scaled down to the standard 1-inch stamp format.
ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) flyer serves as a critical component of the preservation campaign by clearly defining the immediate threats and mobilizing public action.
The flyer helps achieve the campaign goals through the following:
Defining the Geographic Threat: It specifies that the Bureau of Land Management is advancing a plan to open the entirety of the Refuge’s 1.56-million-acre coastal plain to oil and gas leasing.
Highlighting Unique Biological Features: The flyer emphasizes the region’s status as a “vital, intact ecosystem” that acts as a critical habitat for polar bears and the essential calving grounds for the Porcupine Caribou Herd.
Centering Indigenous Rights: It explicitly states that the proposed industrial projects disregard the ancestral traditions and rights of the Gwich’in and Iñupiaq peoples, who view these lands as sacred.
Providing a Call to Action: Using the headline “Fortify the Frontier,” the flyer creates a sense of urgency, urging the public to “Solidify Permanent Protections” through direct engagement, supported by a QR code for immediate advocacy.
WILDERNESS AMERICA
Mission: To unite people to protect America's wild places.
Focus: Protecting public lands and wilderness areas (such as the Arctic Refuge) from threats like irresponsible oil and gas drilling, mining, and privatization.
Legacy: Founded in 1935, they were instrumental in the creation of the Wilderness Act of 1964 and have helped protect nearly 112 million acres of land across the U.S.
Role in Project: Primary partner for the "Fortify the Frontier" campaign for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
THE POSTCARD MAILER
THE FLYER
THE VIDEO GRAPHIC
PACIFIC REMOTE ISLAND MARINE NATIONAL MONUMENT
The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument flyer serves as a visual and informational catalyst to protect one of the world's last "wild ocean treasures" from commercial exploitation.
How it helps with the goal:
• Identifies the Specific Threat: The flyer highlights a recent executive order (April 17, 2025) that threatens to scale back protections and open 408,000 square miles to industrial fishing.
• Emphasizes Irreplaceable Features: It points to the region’s deep-sea coral reefs and ancient Indigenous waterways as vital ecosystems that are currently at risk.
• Highlights Endangered Biodiversity: It notes that the area is home to numerous highly endangered species that exist nowhere else on Earth, reinforcing the “finger-point” to unique natural features.
• Mobilizes Advocacy: Using the call to action “Anchor the Future,” it encourages the public to “Take the Pledge” and fight against commercial exploitation through the Pacific Islands Heritage Coalition.
PACIFIC ISLAND HERITAGE COALITION
Mission: To safeguard the cultural heritage and ocean environments of the Pacific Islands.
Focus: Protecting the Pacific Remote Islands from industrial fishing and deep-sea mining while amplifying the stories and Indigenous rights of Pacific peoples.
Legacy: A community-powered movement that successfully advocated for the expansion of marine national monuments to protect some of the most pristine ocean habitats on Earth.
Role in Project: Primary partner for the “Anchor the Future” campaign for the Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument.
THE POSTCARD MAILER
THE FLYER
THE VIDEOGRAPHIC
GREATER CHACO REGION
The Greater Chaco Region flyer functions as a defensive tool for cultural and environmental preservation, focusing on the immediate danger posed by oil and gas development.
How it helps with the goal:
Pinpoints the Geographic Conflict: It identifies the specific threat of a proposal to open the ten-mile protected buffer zone to drilling, which would jeopardize the integrity of ancient ruins.
Illustrates Resource Imbalance: The flyer highlights the severity of the situation by noting that 91% of the surrounding public land is already leased for oil and gas, making the protection of the remaining landscape critical.
Showcases Unique Attributes: It emphasizes Chaco's status as a cultural treasure renowned for its ancient ruins, diverse wildlife, and pristine dark skies.
Promotes Immediate Protection: With the headline "Block the Drills," the flyer creates a clear objective to protect "Chaco's Sacred History" and prevent permanent damage to an irreplaceable landscape.
ENVIRONMENT AMERICA
Mission: To protect the natural world and guide the country onto a greener, healthier path.
Focus: A federation of state-based groups advocating for clean air, clean water, renewable energy, and the preservation of open spaces.
Legacy: Known for research-driven advocacy and winning major legal settlements against large-scale polluters to protect local ecosystems.
Role in Project: Primary partner for the “Block the Drills” campaign in the Greater Chaco Region.
THE POSTCARD MAILER
THE FLYER
THE VIDEOGRAPHIC
CHALLENGES
One of the biggest challenges with this project was not the design nor the creation. It was the misinterpretation of the word "flyer." When I initially thought of this, I took it as the postcard mailers that one receives with all their other mail....usually from car dealerships. Towards the end of the project, when i reread the initial brief, there was that work "flyer" again. This got me thinking that maybe all the work I had done was all in vain.
With that said, the flyers were simply by-products of the postcard mailers. If future revisions are necessary, the block of paragraph text will be replaced with bullet points on each of the flyers.
With that said, the flyers were simply by-products of the postcard mailers. If future revisions are necessary, the block of paragraph text will be replaced with bullet points on each of the flyers.
