About This Stamp
Expressions of friendship, romance, encouragement, or just to say “I’m thinking of you” — these new stamps from the U.S. Postal Service will deliver your message in style.
The art for this latest stamp in the Love series features horizontal rows of red and pink hearts on a white background. Toward the center, red hearts in varying sizes replace pink hearts in a formation that creates one large red heart, the focal point of this graphic design.
The connection between sentiment and the heart symbol is at least as old as the ancient Greeks. They used images of ivy, grape, and fig leaves — all shaped like the heart — in art and on pottery to symbolize abiding love. Use of the heart as an expression of romantic constancy might date to the concept of courtly love that was the fashion in the Middle Ages.
Today, the heart is used to signify more than romantic or eternal love. Hearts feature in many slogans that denote a love of place and in the logo designs of many businesses and organizations. A favorite motif in art, hearts are also design elements frequently found on furniture, jewelry, textiles, shoes, or clothing. The heart is universally understood to symbolize devotion, affection, and love.
While issued for use at Valentine’s Day, these stamps need no special holiday. The exuberant design is just right for thank-you notes, get-well cards, or any occasion when love is the perfect message.
Antonio Alcalá designed the stamp and was art director for this project.
Made of Hearts is being issued as a Forever® stamp in panes of 20. This Forever stamp is always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Artist, Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
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.