I have extensive experience working in philatelic design. Specific technical requirements such as use of helicon, ink density and lighter areas within stamps ensure stamps are recognised by scanner machines. Design is of small scale and there are specific typography requirements. Subject matter contains a range of commemorative, popular, culturally sensitive and historic themes.
Scope of briefs generally include concept through to finished art of stamps and associated philatelic product which can include stamp & booklet packs, first day covers, stamp booklets, maxi cards, postmarks & prestige booklets
Stamp, minisheet and product design for Australian Antarctic Territory Penguins
Maxicards
First Day Cover
With international womens day behind us for 2021, there’s nothing more fitting that introducing this kick ass woman, featured on some stamps and products I’ve designed. Edith Cowan the first woman in Australian parliament.
Edith Dircksey Cowan OBE (1861–1932), a long-time social justice campaigner, was one of four women candidates in the 1921 Western Australian election. At 59 years of age, she narrowly defeated the sitting member in the seat of West Perth to not only become the first woman elected to the Western Australian Parliament but also to any parliament in Australia. Cowan was a strong and forceful parliamentarian who advocated for social change. Cowan succeeded in the rare feat of having two private member’s bills passed, both of which advanced the standing of women and children. Cowan was a trailblazer for women.
The stamp and products feature quotes that are excerpts from her maiden parliamentary speech. The gumnut motif is a reference to a gumnut brooch that Cowan had made for her election support team. It represented the fact that the seat was, in Cowan’s words, “a hard nut to crack”.
This minisheet, set of stamps and products shows the development of mapping techniques used to survey Antarctica
This minisheet, set of stamps and products marks the events of 1918 and is the last of a 5 year series commemorating The Great War. A slideshow was created for social media to give an overview of project.
Cloudscapes was a wonderful project whereby much research was conducted through instagram to source appropriate and accurate images that met the philatelic brief. A wide range of stamps and products were designed incorporating some of the most dramatic and rare cloud formations that have been seen in and around Australia.
Animals in War is part of a series over 5 years that commemorates the 100 year anniversary of the Great War. This project involved the concept, design, image research and finished art of a range of philatelic products - including stamps, minisheet, stamp pack, first day cover, maxi cards, postmark and a souvenir cover.
The scope for the Territories stamp issue - Art of Cocos (Keeling) Islands included design of stamps, minisheet and relevant products. It features weavings and sculptures created from ocean pollution and plastic that washes up on the islands' beaches.
Blinky Bill Classic Collection packaging - colourising black and white images and rolling out of various products.
Series of Collector Cards housing special stamps and minisheet configurations.
Athens 2004 Gold Medallist stamps and products - This projects was the second of an Olympic instant stamps series, whereby gold medals were won by our Athletes and stamps were designed, printed and on the shelves in retail shops throughout Australia within a few days. I designed a template and associated products prior to the event. An olive wreath was created and incorporates Australia's wattle to symbolise both countries connection during the games. During the actual event, and in conjunction with Getty Images, images of the winning athletes were downloaded, manipulated and placed into the template (by the whole design team, at very ungodly hours in the morning) and artwork was digitally sent to print production houses.
Era of Sail Stamps
Era of Sail Products - First Day Cover, Stamp Pack and Maxicards. From concept to print, featuring some of Australia's well know clipper and sailing ships.
The essence of this project was to create a set of stamps in the vein of classic animal anatomical style. Janet Matthews was commissioned for the illustrations and it was my task to create a design that complemented her drawings. This is one of my favourite all time designs as there has been a large emphasis on format as well as choosing well suited typography. The stamps have micro type printed on them that tell a story of each of the fish.
Prestige booklets are a special collectable philatelic product that contain contents relevant to the subject matter as well as uniquely configured stamps, often with a special side tab. I took this Mr Men collection from concept through to print. Working closely with the brand guidelines I had to create illustrations from existing templates, as well as from scratch. Being 'fun books' puzzles, activities and colouring pages were also created from nothing. The 4 books in the collection contain character from the Mr Men and Little Miss Range.
Young Collectors - Prized Possessions - Exhibition collateral for Postmasters Gallery, a space dedicated to philatelic collections. In collaboration with the exhibitions team, my task was to design the branding, brochures, signage, and catalogues.
The catalogue and flyer graphics sets out to convey how collections are made up of a variety of objects often related in some way. A collection of shapes are laid out in an ordered grid, some that have a typographic resemblance. It is these ones that spell out the exhibition title.
A selection of stamp designs I have created for Australia Post.
