Love Stamp
A cute and customizable stamp concept for the US Postal Service.
Project Overview
Objective
Create an innovative concept for the US Postal Service's annual "love"-themed forever stamp. Developed for my Creative Concepts course at the University of Baltimore of Baltimore.
Solution
My postage stamp concept is designed to transform the stale stamp buying process into one that’s fun, engaging, and personalized. Using an online app, users can create and sign cartoon avatars of themselves that they can then get printed on custom stamps. The stamps double as peel-away stickers that recipients can save long after their letter has arrived. The concept reimagines what stamps can be, turning a throwaway element of a letter into a tiny gift for the recipient.
The Process
While most people need to buy stamps every once in a while, writing letters to loved ones is becoming less and less common. With my love stamp concept, I wanted to see if I could encourage a broader, younger audience to use letters as a means of connecting with the people they care about. To do that, I knew I would need to design a fresh and modern stamp — one that people would want to buy, even if they didn’t have something they needed to mail.
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Discovery
I began this project with exploratory activities, digging into the problem space with word association and mind mapping. I went through several rounds of visual and factual research with my classmates before deciding to move forward with the idea of signing letters with love.
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Experimentation
Once I’d identified my core concept, I could begin iterating on it. I brainstormed a variety of possible directions, sketching out possible ideas. I then used the SCAMPER method to test my ideas and see if I could push them even further.
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Implementation
Thanks to the feedback I gathered from my classmates, I was able to move forward with my final concept. My customizable love stamps are vibrant and fun, and their unique personalization makes them appealing outside of their main purpose as postage. At the same time, they also complement the contents of letters to loved ones, and their reusable sticker elements support a long-lasting connection beyond the receipt of the letter itself.
