What we did
The Royal Mail kindly asked to design a First Day Cover and Presentation Pack for ten Special Stamps featuring ‘Britons of Distinction’. The people who featured were diverse; from Sir Basil Spence, architect of Coventry Cathedral to Alan Turing, mathematician and computer scientist, who devised the Bombe code-breaking machine in WWII. Other distinguished people featured include Frederick Delius, composer. Mary Morris, daughter of the artist William Morris. Odette Sansom Hallowes, the first woman to be awarded the George Cross. Thomas Newcomen; inventor of the atmospheric steam engine. Kathleen Ferrier, contralto opera singer. Augustus Pugin, Gothic Revival style architect and designer. Montague Rhodes James, author of chilling ghost stories and Joan Mary Fry, campaigner and social reformer.
We chose to glue this eclectic mix of individuals together with patterns, textures and symbolism that evoked ‘distinguished’. We were conscious that not one subject matter should take precedence over another so silk ribbons and medals proved to be a natural influence and these were subtly introduced. We kept tones to more muted shades of a bygone era. They had to complement and enhance the beautifully designed stamps.
We designed two hand stamps to accompany the different issues. One uses a graphical representation of Coventry Cathedral and the other showing a beautifully designed Gothic pattern by Pugin.
Overall this proved to be very successful and unexpectedly educational! To be honest we were a little unfamiliar with some of these “great” Britons and we have ultimately been enlightened to some of the fantastic achievements. To find out more about these fantastic individuals click here and treat yourself to a copy.