Stamps of Austria: The Future Factor (2016)

he future has not yet been written. It is what we make it. A new inspirational stamp introduced by Austrian Post’s special campaign
17.02.2016
“Die Zukunft ist noch nicht geschrieben. Sie ist, was wir daraus machen!“ (The future has not yet been written. It is what we make it!) ‒ this is the slogan with which the design team Anna Liska and Andreas Wesle won this year’s stamp design competition, held by Austrian Post in collaboration with the daily newspaper “Die Presse”.

This year‘s theme was “The Future Factor”: What is it that will define Austria as a successful location for business in the future? This was the question for which the creative participants had to come up with a design for a stamp which must be produced graphically, through illustration or typographically in a size of 35 millimetres by 35 millimetres. 5,000 Euro awaited the winner.

StampNews.com is glad to introduce the winning entry that has already become popular among collectors worldwide.

A spirit level hanging perpendicularly was one design; the motto “Schau’ ma mal” (Let’s just wait and see) arranged in front of mountain peaks another. The designs submitted also included eagles bearing a ski-jumper aloft, and speech bubbles, to remind us that dialogue is a means of resolving conflicts and problems. 96 designers took part in the competition, the only requirements being that they must be at least 18 years of age and were only allowed to submit one design each.

Otherwise the competition was open to anyone with a creative urge. A preliminary panel comprising experts in graphics and communication as well as representatives from “die Presse” and Austrian Post selected 15 finalists, which were then showcased in the “Presse am Sonntag” and on the newspaper’s website. The creative people behind the designs were also showcased, and a text explaining their design idea published.

Getting into the final required just that little bit more: “The message must still work in that critical small format”, said Jörg Pribil, Head of Philately at Austrian Post.

“In times of crisis it is much easier to look ahead if you do it with humour, and design ideas which include an ironic wink to the viewer motivate us to do so. It was often the new, surprising take on everyday things that convinced us”, Bauer continued.

On top of all that, the winning design should tell a story if it is to be well received by philatelists and stand up to closer scrutiny. “Above all else, philatelists play close attention to the details of the design”, said Jörg Pribil.

The winning design by Liska and Wesle shows the sentence quoted at the start of this article, printed white on white on the stamp using varnish. This symbolically makes the stamp a white (i.e. blank) page, and is intended to encourage everybody to get involved in helping to create the future, as the two artists explain. The Liska Wesle design studio works in Vienna and Berlin, providing graphic solutions in the art and culture sector. Its customers include Tanzquartier Wien, Secession Vienna, MUMOK Vienna, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, 21er Haus, “Spex” – the magazine for popular culture and many others.