About This Stamp
Five stamps in a pane of 20 celebrate the American spirit of innovation, specifically in fields in which U.S. scientists and engineers have made significant contributions that have touched lives around the world: computing, biomedicine, genome sequencing, robotics, and solar technology.
Each stamp design features a photograph of a subject representing one of these five fields: Computing (detail of a circuit board), Biomedicine (immune-system cells), Genome Sequencing (detail of a DNA chromatogram), Robotics (a bionic ankle-foot prosthesis), and Solar Technology (detail of a square solar cell). The word INNOVATION is laid over each of the images. Each of the pane’s four rows includes all five stamps, arranged differently in each row to add visual interest.
The quest to conquer new frontiers is forged into the American spirit, but today frontiers have more to do with science and technology than geography. Combine an invention with practical uses for that invention and the result is innovation. No one does this alone; it requires collaboration. American scientists and engineers work with and build upon the work of their counterparts around the country and the world. Some of the innovations in which Americans have played a major role include the integrated circuit, vaccine research, magnetic resonance imagery and elastography, neural implants, genome sequencing, CRISPR, robotic prosthetic limbs, and the photovoltaic cell.
Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamps, choosing a detail of an existing photograph for each. The Innovation stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Designer, and Typographer
Antonio Alcalá
Antonio Alcalá served on the Postmaster General’s Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 2010 until 2011, when he left to become an art director for the U.S. Postal Service's stamp development program.
He is founder and co-owner of Studio A, a design practice working with museums and arts institutions. His clients include: the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Phillips Collection, and Smithsonian Institution. He also lectures at colleges including the Corcoran College of Art + Design, SVA, Pratt, and MICA.
In 2008, his work and contributions to the field of graphic design were recognized with his selection as an AIGA Fellow. He has judged international competitions for the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, AIGA, and Graphis. Alcalá also serves on the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and Poster House Museum’s advisory councils. His designs are represented in the AIGA Design Archives, the National Postal Museum, and the Library of Congress Permanent Collection of Graphic Design.
Alcalá graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and from the Yale School of Art with an MFA in graphic design. He lives with his wife in Alexandria, Virginia.