STAMPING OUT SOCIAL NETWORKING

Writer: Paul Taylor

I have just received the third email of the day informing me that I have been super poked by one of my friends and it is only 10am. I stop what I am doing and immediately switch browser windows, open on my Facebook page, and look to see who it was. It was my friend James who is actually sitting at the other end of the room, when I look up he is smiling and waving in sarcastic excitement. I think it is fairly safe to say that social networking sites seem to have taken over people’s lives as the main form of communication between friends, relatives and even “friends” you have never met. People are finding themselves with bigger addictions than Amy Whinehouse as they communicate through sites such as Myspace, Bebo and Facebook, myself included.

RECEIVING A HAND-WRITTEN LETTER IS RARE SINCE MOST PEOPLE RELY ON SOCIAL NETWORKING TO STAY IN TOUCH

Online social networking is a great way to keep in touch with everyone but how great was it as a kid to receive some mail through the post? I remember running to the front door as I heard the letterbox clap and would sort through the letters, looking for something with my name on the envelope. I still get that same excitement today if I happen to be at home and I hear the letterbox feed the house some letters. My pen pal Jessica lives in Johannesburg, South Africa and whilst we could use email and Facebook we both took a vow to never add each other on social networking sites as we love the excitement of receiving a hand written, posted letter. I love seeing that airmail stationary envelope lying on my hallway carpet and enjoy looking over the wonderful foreign stamps that have traveled halfway across the world just to reach their destination.

The first stamp was created back on May 1st 1840 within the United Kingdom and revolutionised the way in which postal communication worked. Letters were now pre paid by the sender using stamps such as the now iconic first stamp, the Penny Black. To this day the United Kingdom is the only country not to have its name printed upon the stamps. Postal stamps have become a major player in the collectors game due to their huge diversity in design and can command millions of dollars. Stamps that have been printed featuring errors aren’t seen as damaged or of no use but become desirable collector items because of them.

18 - 30 year olds are hardly using postage methods as a form of communication, designer Samuel Sheard noticed this trend emerging in young adults and decided that something should be done to encourage young people into sending letters again. Sheard set about creating a series of stamps for the Royal Mail Special Stamp Collection to entice the young audiences back into buying stamps. Looking at products his target audience could relate to Sheard hit upon using the imagery of classic retro sweets and added the smell of each sweet in a scratch and sniff format. Sheard believes that “by including the use of more than the normal one sense of sight within the design of the stamps a stronger nostalgic memory is triggered creating a more personal relationship between the user and stamp.”