Irish Women in Sport
Client
An Post
Agency
Unthink
Role
Lead Designer
Team
Noelle Cooper Creative Direction
Services
Typography
Awards
100 Archive 2022 Selection
ICAD 2022 Silver Bell Winner
Created during an internship with Unthink, this project was commissioned by An Post to mark International Women’s Day 2022. The brief was to design a series of six stamps celebrating some of Ireland’s most accomplished sportswomen: Sonia O’Sullivan, Katie Taylor, Kellie Harrington, Rachael Blackmore, Ellen Keane, and the Irish Women’s Hockey Team.
Overview
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. The stamps were accompanied by a launch night at the GPO where a panel of female sporting stars engaged in a discussion and Q&A. The stamps received press coverage from various news outlets such as The Independent, RTÉ and The Irish Times. In 2022 the stamps were awarded a silver ICAD award and entered into the 100 Archive.
Challenge
Designing for stamps meant working within an exceptionally small format while needing to convey scale, energy, and motion. We overcame this by introducing a silver backdrop that unified the series and allowed the athletes to break the bounds of the printed area, visually amplifying their movement and impact.
