2016 Royal Mail year pack — the stamps behind the stories.
We were as thrilled as ever to work on the 2016 Royal Mail Yearpack, one of our favourite projects, this one designed by the talented chaps at Studio Up.
The Yearpack is the more pithy younger brother of the Royal Mail Yearbook, touching upon the subject matter of all the various special stamp issues of the previous 12 months. It’s a rather lovely pull-out presentation pack aimed at collectors, that comes complete with all the sets of British picture stamps released over the past year.
Up turned the concept a nice twist, coming up with ‘The Stamps Behind the Stories’ rather than usual ‘The Stories Behind the Stamps’. This was made visual by creating clever collages using stamps from the relevant issue: a quill pen for Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary; a poppy for the Great War; a vinyl record for Pink Floyd, and so on.
Our contribution was to give a flavour of each stamp subject in just 150 or so words. This involved considerable research on anything from Agatha Christie to the Great Fire of London to Landscape Gardens, finding an interesting angle, and telling the tale concisely and elegantly. And it was good to see the words being given due prominence in Up’s design approach, which leant more towards an editorial style than in previous years.
As always, it was a real joy to work with the Stamps and Collectibles team Royal Mail — easily our longest-standing client. And you can get hold of your very own copy of the Yearpack from the Royal Mail website.
