A Stamp for Ireland

An Post asked us to design a stamp on the theme of Irish identity.

Avoiding cliché Irish motifs, such as the shamrock or harp, we decided to celebrate one of Ireland’s obsessions: the rain. Rain is one of the defining characteristics of Irish identity and dominates much of social discourse. Just as the Inuit have over 50 different words for snow, the Irish have accumulated a similar number describing rainfall.

Closer inspection of the design reveals that the metallic silver raindrops are microscopic letters that spell out words and expressions for rain, in English and Gaelic. For example, ‘a soft day’ (a mist), ‘spitting’ (a few drops of rain) and ‘lashing’ (diagonal hard rain).