First Day of Issue: Love Stamp 2014

Display at a Florida USPS Office featuring my stamp as the O in LOVE. Thank you to Amelia Sauter and Leah Houghtaling for the shot from the road.

Display at a Florida USPS Office featuring my stamp as the O in LOVE. Thank you to Amelia Sauter and Leah Houghtaling for the shot from the road.

Today is the first day of issue for my Love Stamp (2014) for the US Postal Service. How Exciting! There is an event at the Time Warner Building today (on Columbus Circle NYC) with speechifying and an opportunity for people to make their own valentines for people they love. Its all very splashy and fabulous...and for me a little stunning with the time I am spending on the PR that is being generated.

I just spent an hour and a half with an amazing woman who interviews and films for Time Warner Cable's news channel who is doing a little 1.5 min. feature on the stamp...and it will run in a few regional markets in the state. I wish there was more real content other than, "yeah, I did that" and even spinning one out is pretty thin. But, she is a remarkable person--that I am sure with a little cutting and pasting, she will create something salvageable.

I am busy placing an order with the Post Office to get my own little pile of stamps for my annual (yet to be figured out) valentine...which will have a stamp on it in some way. Should I buy all the commemorative stuff for my children (no, just more stuff is my thinking)? Once again, I would really love to see the data on this once they exhaust the supply. But somehow, this is not something that I think I could gain access to.

It has been work and sleep here. I am beginning to wallow a bit in a cider label system for a friend. They will be  coming out with their own hard cider (wine style) and want a series of labels...so I am on apples, and have been trolling font sites to see if there is anything that feels new, fresh and inspiring to push this ahead. I will be doing a few layouts using chalkboard graphics as a place to start which is very Ithaca/ Tburg from waaaay back before the chic Brooklynites started to own that world. The names they are entertaining are either very locally based and or farm based (for their farm). They love a more pulled back, more wine related label to suggest the market they are going for (which I will show them)--but I would love to see this thing have a bit more snap and pop...than something so "grown up". Does a cider buyer want their beverage to look more elegant and refined like wine? or something that has a bit more attitude and spirit than wine and even beer for that matter? We will see.

 

Monday in January

It's that time of the year, when dark bookends the day such that even at noon--it is only seconds away from darkness--that my friends, the producers and farmers rest, reassess and analyze what worked, what didn't, what will be new and what will stay the same. This is a busy time for me as I am on the new and fix it  projects--so I am busy working on finalizing a dozen labels for a local meat producer, a look/feel and labels for a new cider enterprise and two bed and breakfasts are coming on. I am inspired to move these entities forward--and hope that my efforts find traction with these ambitious people. Even in this quiet time, the deadlines are furious with the FDA and the Agriculture Departments demanding times for approvals and processing.

The Cut Paper Stamp hits tomorrow. Ithaca Journal ran a nice article today about the stamp--and then the furor will die down. I really would like to know how this illustration pulls for the USPS. I am sure that many of their illustrators do not care about the sales of their stamp, but I would love to know how this thing performed--particularly against the former Love stamp designs. I am sure this is information that is not shared, but it would be fascinating.

Come to think of it, I think I will post some of the sketches and layouts related to the stamp to have a a gallery on the work for those that come looking for this information.

2014 Must be the Year of unexpected public relations! There is going to be an article on my work with the local food producers and farmers in Edible Finger Lakes,  in the next issue. I had such a nice time meeting and talking with the writer and photographer along with prepping a folder of imagery for them to select from. We have all of this interest in the stamp and then in case we forget, the honor of being awarded Business Person of the Year from the Trumansburg Chamber of Commerce. Who knows what all this furor will bring.

And so it goes for today.