Stamp Packaging

For submission to the RSA stamp design competition I have chosen to use my Splitting the Atom stamp designs which commemorate Britons Ernest Walton & John Cockroft being the first people to successfully split the atom in a controlled manner. My reason for choosing this design over any other is that it is more conceptual that my other concepts, there is an element of interactivity and it is unlikely that other applicants would have thought of it (unlike Darwinism etc). My other designs wont go to waste though as I will be making a small publication to showcase them. But seeing as the submission for the competition is looming I decided to design some packaging for the Atom stamps - ready to print tomorrow, photograph and construct the boards to post off the following day. 


Looking at existing stamp packaging it is apparent that the inside is always white so I chose to conform to this convention so as not to distract form the stamps themselves. Accompanying the stamps on the inside of the packaging is a short explanation / dedication to Walton & Cockroft. You may also notice that I have changed the stamp design for a slightly larger portrait format to enable me to place type at a slightly more legible size. I've also tweaked the atom diagram itself - changing the weight of line of the proton paths to make it a bit more dynamic.
The writing on the first is 10pt but in my opinion it looks a little too plain (the gap on the far right margin is for the off-centre fold): 

Reducing the point size to 8pt helps with the type balance + the addition of Walton & Cockroft's portraits  not only fills the white space but also allows the user to put a face to a name. My only qualm with this is that the photos don't fit in with the sharp vector approach.

To get around this I replaced their portraits with my atom illustration. I can't decide which I prefer so will print at 100% tomorrow and discuss with some people in the studio prior to printing. 

Alternative reversed out inside spreads:

For the cover I wanted to reflect the conventions of the current Royal Mail stamp packaging but use a relevant colour choice. The use of dark grey + white it aimed to represent a blackboard used at the time of the discovery. 

Cover layout and type tests:

Not liking the atom sitting only on the front of the cover I tried spanning it across the offset spine. It looks much more interesting and ties the concept of the stamps together nicely. All conventions of the Royal Mail packaging have been adhered to so the set of stamps appears authentic and trustworthy.  

Example of the 5mm offset fold. I tried placing into on the 'flap' but decided against it as it looks too busy.

Better:

Alternative colours for the outside of the packaging. These could be used should different denominations of the stamps need to be produced, 2nd class for example.