About This Stamp
This Presorted Standard stamp showcases easily recognizable design elements from the American flag to create an eye-catching image that conjures the Stars and Stripes and feelings of patriotism. In this vibrant graphic design, red and white stripes appear to radiate from a blue star. While white stars adorn the U.S. flag’s canton, the stamp designer created this star in two shades of blue to give it a three-dimensional look. The Radiant Star stamp includes the words “USA” and “PRESORTED STANDARD” below the design in the same two shades of blue.
The Flag Act of 1818 established that the American flag would have 13 stripes and one star for each new state, added on the Fourth of July following the state’s admission to the Union. It wasn’t until President William Taft signed an Executive Order in 1912 that the proportions of the flag and arrangement of the stars were established. Each star had to have one point going upward as well. The current 50-star flag’s design was created when President Dwight Eisenhower signed an Executive Order in 1959 calling for nine rows of stars staggered horizontally, and 11 rows of stars staggered vertically.
The Presorted Standard rate may be used by mailers of bulk quantities of items such as newsletters or notices and is available in self-adhesive coils of 3,000 and 10,000.
Antonio Alcalá was the art director of the project. The stamp was designed by Carol Beehler.
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.
Stamp Designer
Carol Beehler
Graphic artist Carol Beehler specializes in the design of books, catalogues, magazines, brochures, and exhibition-related materials.
With a degree in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design, Beehler worked for many years at the Smithsonian Institution, first as a book designer at the Smithsonian Institution Press and then as art director for publications at the Freer and Sackler Galleries. She has also operated her own design practice and worked at Studio A, a graphic design firm in Alexandria, Virginia.
Beehler lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her family. She has designed two stamps for the U.S. Postal Service: the 2023 Patriotic Block Nonprofit Org stamp and the 2024 Radiant Star Presorted Standard stamp.