About This Stamp
To accommodate business use, the Postal Service™ issued Patriotic Spiral, a Forever® stamp sold in self-adhesive coils of 10,000 and in booklets of 10. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
The festive and energetic design features 50 blue and red stars spiraling around a central gold star on a white background. Below the spiral are the words “Forever” in red type and “USA” in blue.
The idea behind the design was to illustrate a community protectively orbiting a central star that in an abstract sense stands for our nation’s steadfast idealism and hope for a more perfect union. Modern yet timeless, the design is a lively take on past stamps featuring stars.
Antonio Alcalá art directed the project, with art and typography by Polygraph, a Washington, D.C., design firm.
Stamp Art Director
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.