{ the jaunty magpie }

This Bird is a nerd for, yes, you guessed it... stamps! I love writing notes to loved ones and I admit to having an extra bit of satisfaction being able to put a thoughtfully-designed stamp on the envelope. A portrait of a favorite musician or actor, something socially-conscious for the environment or animal welfare, or just something gosh darn pretty. I was really excited to see the latest set of USPS stamps coming out featuring a dozen legendary American industrial designers, adding these stamps to a Fancy gang of envelope corner dwellers that I like to keep at my desk.

You may not have names like Walter Dorwin Teague or Eliot Noyes on the tip of your brain, but you've likely seen these their work before. These designers helped shape the design of the modern-day appliances we use to this day -- flatware, phones, lamps; they all need someone to consider a look that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Much like the haute couture of fashion, it took innovators to shape the idea of what we consider a pleasing form, and eventually the look trickles down into the mass market. But these designs had to start somewhere and the new stamps seek to celebrate these design pioneers. In the same notion that a well-designed life should be sought out and embraced, the same goes for your notes. If you're going through the effort of writing a letter, isn't it nice to send it off with a Jaunty stamp? (Save the boring, plain stamps for sending out bills!)

Jaunty Fine Print:  images of stamps from USPS stamps page