Transform The Beatles Into Stamps

The act of designing for stamps comes with its own set of pros and cons. Despite their diminutive size, these tiny bits of gummed paper are studied in the finest detail by customers and collectors across the world, who aren't afraid to pull punches if they don't like them. And while some creations are celebrated and pass into design history, quite a few are quietly forgotten.

Having already designed a selection of stamps at johnson banks, we felt well-equipped for the challenge when the Royal Mail asked us to design a set on The Beatles in 2005. Prior to this the Royal Mail had never issued any Beatles-themed stamps, so with the 50th anniversary of Lennon and McCartney's first meeting coming up, the brief was to put this situation right.

In this tutorial I take you behind the scenes of the design process, explaining how we worked with the client, and the different solutions we considered to best answer the brief.

Click here to download the tutorial for free