About This Stamp
With the Heart Health stamp, the U.S. Postal Service hopes to raise public awareness about the importance of maintaining a healthy heart.
The stamp art focuses on the feelings of wellness and vitality that come from physical exercise, a key element in controlling and preventing coronary heart disease, or CHD. The design shows a bright yellow sun disc, a leafy green tree icon, and a blue swirl of a sky. The striding figure at the center of the stamp has a full red heart. At the figure’s feet, a large red apple represents a well-balanced diet, another essential factor in maintaining a healthy heart.
Although CHD is the leading cause of death among women and men in the U.S., it doesn't have to be. Many cases of heart disease can be prevented. Most people can lower their risk of developing CHD — and protect their hearts for a lifetime — by making just a few lifestyle changes. Exercising and eating a heart-healthy diet are critical factors. Quitting smoking, managing stress, and getting enough sleep are equally important.
Because heart disease can develop over decades without symptoms, many people do not know they have it. Some risk factors, like age and a family history of CHD, can't be avoided, but regular medical checkups make early detection and treatment possible.
The U.S. Postal Service has a long tradition of issuing special stamps to help raise public awareness about health and social issues. For this beautiful and upbeat stamp, art director Derry Noyes teamed up with award-winning illustrator Nicholas Wilton.
The Heart Health stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp in self-adhesive sheets of 20. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate. At the time of issuance, the Heart Health stamps are being sold at a price of 45 cents each, or $9.00 per sheet.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Derry Noyes
For more than 40 years Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for close to 800 United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.
Noyes worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by American Illustration, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, Graphis, Creativity International, and the Society of Illustrators.
Before becoming an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981 to 1983.
Noyes is a resident of Washington, D.C.
