The project: Design a series of U.S. Postal stamps that highlight an aspect of American culture.
The idea: My goal was make stamps to highlight the positive impact immigrants have had on the United States. I also have a passion for food, so I decided to mix these ideas together and create “Uniquely American” - a stamp collection that showcases food widely considered to be from other countries, but were actually created in the United States, by immigrants.
Tools: Sketching, research, Adobe Illustrator
My Research
I researched extensively on foods that would be a fit for this project. I searched through numerous sources about American history regarding immigration to inform myself on the various ethnic groups in America, and the culture and cuisine they have created here. Once I made sure all my information was accurate, I moved on to researching through food blogs and recipes to get an idea visually of how these foods traditionally look.
Process
On the left side are EXTREMELY rough sketches I did while browsing recipe blogs for these foods. On the right are the finished illustrations, prior to them being turned into stamps.
A challenge I faced when illustrating these foods was stylizing them in a way that was clean and simple without making them look generic. For example, many sandwiches are somewhat similar to a Cuban - so I would research on what I could include in my illustration that was specific to this kind of sandwich, such as types of bread, toppings, condiments, etc.
The states
A subtle detail I decided to add to these stamps were a shadow of the state each food originates from. I felt it was important to emphasize the states as well as the food in this project, as each one of these states has a unique immigration history.
I have a huge passion for geography, and I’m so glad I was able to showcase this in my stamps. Throughout this project, I learned so much about both immigration history and food history, and these stamps emphasize the importance immigrants have had on American culture and cuisine.