Occasional stamps for every moment
On May 11, 2020, PostNL released the stamp sheet Voor elk moment (For every moment), the successor of the Gelegenheidspostzegels (Occasional Stamps) from 2017. The 6 new stamps are suitable for postcards or letters meant to congratulate or to encourage a person, to show appreciation, to apologize, show affection and share humor.
PostNL asked Beukers Scholma to design new Gelegenheidspostzegels with a positive look, suitable for a wide audience. In the briefing a strong preference for a typographical approach was expressed which at the same time should not to be taken too literally in order not to limit the application possibilities.
Typographed text, however, is of course already literal.
As the stamps are about emotions that people share with each other, the text has been replaced by emoticons that have been designed especially for this purpose. Nowadays, one can’t imagine a digital world without emoticons. A great way of communicating without text.
The illustrations of 6 faces are depicted on the stamps as large as possible against a white background. The clear approach makes the emotions splash off the stamps. At the same time, they are open to multiple interpretations. That is why the description of the emotion is not on the stamp itself, but on the ‘tab’, the sheet edge. The perforation pattern is adapted in such a way that each stamp has its own tab. So you can choose whether you stick the stamps with or without a tab.