About This Stamp
This issuance is a cheerful and romantic continuation of the U.S. Postal Service® tradition of creating stamps that celebrate love. The Love Skywriting stamp will add a sweet, romantic touch to your letters and cards, not only on Valentine’s Day, but all year round.
The stamp art depicts the word “Love” written in white cursive script against a blue sky studded with wispy clouds. The edges of the letters are just beginning to blur into the surrounding sky. Underlining the word is a decorative swirl of smoke that emphasizes the message. A small, stylized plane, dwarfed by the giant letters, completes the end of the swirl, with smoke trailing from its tail.
Skywriting had its heyday as an advertising medium from the 1920s to the 1950s, promoting everything from soft drinks to bikinis. Messages are created by a small airplane that emits vaporized fluid from its exhaust system to form letters in the air. Still used occasionally for advertising slogans, skywriting more commonly broadcasts romantic — and very public — declarations of love.
Love Skywriting is appropriate not only for romantic correspondence but also for sending letters to friends, to family, or to anyone you love.
Louise Fili designed the stamp, which was illustrated by Jessica Hische. Derry Noyes was the art director.
The Love Skywriting stamp was issued as a Forever® stamp. This Forever stamp will always be equal to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director
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.
Stamp Designer and Typographer
Louise Fili
Designer Louise Fili grew up in New Jersey, the daughter of two schoolteachers from Italy, and fell in love with her parents’ homeland at the age of 16. Her passion for Italian design, typography, and food has informed her career as a designer ever since.
From 1978 to 1989, Fili served as art director of Pantheon Books, where she designed more than 2,000 book jackets. In 1989, she opened Louise Fili Ltd., a design firm specializing in food packaging and restaurant identities. She is the author or co-author of more than 20 books, including Elegantissima, Grafica della Strada, Graphique de la Rue, Scripts, Euro Deco, and Typology.
Fili teaches at New York’s School of Visual Arts and at the school’s Masters Workshop in Rome each summer. In 2004, she was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. She has also received lifetime achievement awards from both the AIGA and the Type Directors Club.
Fili lives in New York with her husband and co-author, Steven Heller.
Fili’s projects for the U.S. Postal Service® include Love Skywriting (2017), Sealed With Love (2013), and Love Ribbons (2012).
Illustrator
Jessica Hische
Growing up in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Jessica Hische always knew she wanted to be an artist. Her first professional drawing project was a mural for a restaurant in her hometown. She went on to study graphic and interactive design at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, graduating with a B.F.A. in 2006.
Hische began her career as a graphic designer in Philadelphia before moving to New York City to pursue her passion for illustration. A freelance designer since 2009, her clients have included Penguin Books, The New York Times, American Express, OXFAM America, and McSweeney’s. Hische also worked closely with director Wes Anderson to create the title design and credits for Moonrise Kingdom.
Using color and whimsy, Hische infuses a unique style into her typographical designs. “A friend of mine described it once as ‘equal parts design, typography, illustration, brown sugar, and heavy cream,’” she says. “I create letterform-focused artwork that always has a homemade warmth to it.”
Hische’s projects for the U.S. Postal Service® include Love Skywriting (2017), Forever Hearts (2015), Sealed With Love (2013), and Love Ribbons (2012). She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Russ, and their cats, Billy and Olive.