Purpose designs Britons of distinction stamps

Purpose has designed a new set of stamps for the Royal Mail celebrating Britons of distinction, including architect Augustus Pugin and WWII code breaker Alan Turing.

Appointed through a two-way pitch, Purpose – which has worked with the Royal Mail before – was given a list of ten Britons to work from.

An initial approach to show a photo of each person backdropped by their achievement was dropped as there were no photographs found of some individuals, and the achievements of composers ‘were not tangible enough to depict’ according to Purpose senior designer Paul Felton.

A new route was taken to show some achievements and some portraits, before digitally colouring black and white photographs to mimic the effect of the photochrom technique.

Photochrom is the process by which colourised images are produced from black and white photographic negatives.

The Alan Turing image was captured when Purpose travelled to Bletchley Park in MIlton Keynes to photograph a replica of the Bombe Machine, invented by Turing, to crack the Enigma code during World War Two.

The ten stamps comprise images of: architect Sir Basil Spence and Augustus Pugin; opera singer and composer Frederick Delius; designer Mary May Morris; secret agent Odette Hallows; inventor Thomas Newcomen; performer Kathleen Ferrier; author Montague Rhodes James; code breaker Alan Turing; and social reformer Mary Fry.

The stamps launch today.

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