I’m down in Atlanta at the 2016 HOW Conference. Leigh and I are being BLASTED by campers at our merch table. I meet this gaggle of young ladies in my receiving line at the end of the table and they say, “We’re big fans of your work at the USPS!" Your work is all over our mood boards!” I notice their passes say, “United States Postal Service” as the group they are representing, so emphatically take my shot: “You guys work for the USPS?! And my work is in your offices? Well hell, why don’t you CALL ME for a stamp design?!”

For many years up to this point, I was so excited to see Jessica Hische’s incredible “Love” 2012 stamp, Tyler Lang of Always With Honor’s stunning “Coastal Birds” 2015 stamp and Invisible Creature’s fire-breathing “Dragons” 2018 stamp out in the world. And how they were getting calls up to the USPS stamp leagues! Was so proud of my colleagues! But how the hell was I going to get my meat foot in the stamp door?

And here I was talking with real, live, breathing USPS designers! This was my moment! So I bring them in nice and close and say, “It’s my graphic design dream to make a stamp. Please please please consider me!”

And a couple weeks later, I get an email from one Greg Breeding of the Journey Group in Charlottesville, Virg. He introduces himself and his agency, and says he’s a fan of my work!

And at the end of the note he says, “I'd love to talk to you about working together on some stamp projects. I have two or three in mind, but wanted to at least introduce myself and get the ball rolling if you're interested.”

Just a couple days later, Greg tasks me with doing explorations for “Alzheimers” and ”PTSD Awareness” stamp concepts. I dig in right away and arm him with stuff to run up the flag pole. I can’t tell you how excited I was to be this close to a fella who had made so many incredible stamps.

Interested? OF COURSE. So I feverishly write him right back, but this is a Sunday. I can’t contain myself. He writes me back and includes his phone number and with his permission I call him that day and UNLOAD my dream on the poor man.

And he was so kind and we hit it off. Greg took my punishing assault in stride and I point-by-point laid out my case of how much I’d be honored to do a stamp.

And also got a conversation going about a patriotic stamp. I showed him a couple samples of existing “stars & stripes” designs, and he’d dig up things I did here and there and we had a starting point, but had to put it on ice.

We tried a number of explorations for the “Alzheimers” and ”PTSD Awareness” directions, but sadly nothing took. Folks were interested and they were being passed around. And Greg was very patient explaining this is how the stuff could go with the layer and layer of the USPS.

The summer, fall, and winter went by working on the two concepts, and in May of 2017 Greg hit me up to tear into a patriotic stamp. I was on the the book tour going nuts and time was tight. Each night after the show, back in the hotel room and Leigh crashed out, I’d dig in.

Over a week I had a mess to start refining. For my first official “patriotic “volley, I delivered a VERY SPIRITED first-round presentation of 40 different comps. I went nuts. This was my shot of shots!

Within a month there were a handful of my stamps the top brass were interested in, honing in on one finalist.

We tuned it and tuned it, submitted it and the waiting game began. Contracts, paperwork, hemming and hawing on my part, and a year of pins and needles. And Greg was awesome along the way, updating me on its progress at each step in its approval journey.

My very first official stamp for America, the 2019 “Star Ribbon” stamp came out on March 22, 2019!

I’d like to dedicate the stamp to our mailman Phong, who emigrated from Vietnam to the States when he was a little boy. Considering the divisions and upheaval in America over the last decade, it’s paramount that we keep in mind that we are a nation of immigrants.

Thank you, Greg Breeding and the good people of the Journey Group!

(I also owe a debt of gratitude to Tyler and Elsa Lang from Always With Honor. They put in a good word to Greg about me, and I’ll forever appreciate their kindness and nod.)

And Hey:
01. Here’s a cool post by the incomparable Jason Kottke!

02. On the mighty Uncrate!

03. Check out where this all started with my series of “Stars & Bars” stamp-inspired mini prints: Check them out here!