Irish Women in Sport Stamp (2022)

To mark International Women’s Day 2022, An Post asked us to design six stamps celebrating the sporting achievements of Sonia O’Sullivan, Katie Taylor, Kellie Harrington, Rachael Blackmore, Ellen Keane, and the Women’s Hockey Team.

All of the featured athletes have won medals for Ireland and it was important for us that the stamps were not only read within a national context. Their collective achievements are comparable with international sports icons, so from the outset, we chose a design direction that had the confidence of global campaigns for the likes of Nike or the Olympics. 

Inspired by the energy and sheer determination to excel in their individual sports, we opted for action photography that captured the athletes' dynamic movement in moments of intense concentration or celebration. We chose the extra condensed typeface – Pressio, by Max Philips. We worked with Max to further refine each athlete’s name, ensuring their legibility and full impact at minute scale. This bill poster typography combined with a punchy colour palette reflects the spirit and passion of each individual athlete.