About This Stamp
In 2019, the Postal Service™ issued Star Ribbon, a Patriotic Forever® stamp sold in coils of 3,000 and 10,000 and in panes of 20. Offering a fresh take on patriotic stamps, the design features a digital illustration of a star made from a single red, white, and blue ribbon. The white space in the middle of the ribbon creates a second smaller star. The words “Forever” and “USA” appear below the star. The tri-colored ribbon, folded into a patriotic symbol, is intended to evoke the connectedness of the American people.
Aaron Draplin, who designed the stamp, created the artwork first by sketching the design by hand and then rendering it digitally. Greg Breeding served as the project’s art director.
This Forever stamp will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director and Typographer
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.
Stamp Artist and Designer
Aaron Draplin
Aaron James Draplin was born in 1973 in Detroit and grew up in Traverse City, Michigan. He earned a degree in visual communications from Northwestern Michigan College in 1993 and in 2000 graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
He became an art director for Snowboarder Magazine in Southern California. After a stint at the Cinco Design Office in Oregon, he struck out on his own in 2004, forming Draplin Design Co. Based in Portland, Oregon, the graphic design and illustration company’s clients have included Esquire, Wired, Nike, Patagonia, Ford Motor Company, the Barack Obama administration, Sub Pop, and country star Chris Stapleton.
Draplin also created Field Notes, a popular line of memo books sold around the world. His first book, Pretty Much Everything, was published in 2016 and is now in its seventh printing. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon.
Draplin's projects for the U.S. Postal Service include Star Ribbon (2019) and Drug Free USA (2020).