This is the front of the December stamp sheet:
And this is the back of the December stamp sheet with all the information:
What came before…
Halfway through January, while I was watching my son play football in a warm sports hall, I received an email asking me if I wanted to design the December stamps this year. I could have shouted it from the stands: 'YES!'. I have been designing greeting cards for some time now (with dachshund Frits) and have also had matching stamps for a while. Super fun, if I may say so myself, haha. A stamp really turns the envelope into a party. A tiny mini-story on a small sticker. So December stamps? Yes, please! I felt honoured.
Time to get to work…
In February I started working on the first designs. This was the assignment:
'Design 3 stamps, of which at least 1 is fully developed, incl. typography and the mandatory elements in a stamp. Also make a color palette. We will send the test stamps together with your portfolio to the management for approval.' That was quite an exciting moment, because my colors deviate quite a bit from the 'traditional' Christmas colors: green, yellow, red and blue. I used a lot of light colors: blue, mint green and lilac. And of course I also got that back as a critical remark. And so, hoppa, back to the drawing board and breaking away from my 'own' colors...
And so spring came into view and I dove deeper into the Christmas spirit. 'How?' you might wonder. I closed all the curtains, put on some Christmas music, got some tea and lit some candles. Pretty crazy in the spring, haha. But it worked! Because the December stamps became warmer and more colorful and more fitting for the December feeling.
Proofs
And after some back and forth emailing and (positive) criticism of my illustrations incorporated into the designs, I stood at the printing press of the printing house on a warm summer day in early July. How cool and overwhelming it was to see the December stamp sheets together on one large sheet. I was really impressed by the printing machines that had printed the stamps so razor sharp. Really super-super sharp, awesome!
See all the stamps listed here…
After designing the December stamps, PostNL asked me to design a corporate Christmas card and a sticky card for the Libelle. Of course in line with and based on the illustrations of the December stamps. Of course I also said a resounding 'YES!'. I will show you these cards in a next blog post.
What a very special and cool assignment to work on! In a next blog post I will tell you more about the underlying 'stories' per December stamp. I will also 'introduce' the stamps to you one by one on Instagram .
