About those Star Trek Stamps

So, back in the summer, I was on vacation but checked email and found an invitation to consult on the USPS’ forthcoming Star Trek stamp set. For a modest fee and a few hours of my time, would I look over their designs and text?Of course I agreed and when I returned home, I found the first designs and copy. I offered my art direction notes and rewrote some of the copy. I looked at things a second time and continued to offer notes about how the U.S.S. Enterprise was depicted. I was thanked and paid.The stamps were announced the other day and I see fans have the same concerns over the art as I did.All I can say is I have no clue why they went with artwork and not photography or why the starship proved challenging to properly capture as line art.Criticisms aside, I am thrilled to see Gene Roddenberry’s creation properly celebrated with these stamps and was happy to play a small part.Here’s the official write up, in case you missed it:Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the television premiere, the new Star Trek Forever stamps showcase four digital illustrations inspired by classic elements of the television program:

• the Starship Enterprise inside the outline of a Starfleet insignia against a gold background;
• the silhouette of a crewman in a transporter against a red background;
• the silhouette of the Enterprise from above against a green background; and,
• the Enterprise inside the outline of the Vulcan statue (Spock’s iconic hand gesture) against a blue background

The words “SPACE… THE FINAL FRONTIER,” from Captain Kirk’s famous voice-over appear beneath the stamps against a background of stars. The stamps were designed by Heads of State under the art direction of Antonio Alcalá.

#Tags: stamps, USPS