Copies from a catalog have been elevated to postage stamp images.

The world is full of wonders! Ten copies from a museum catalogue of a stamp-requesting party have been copied indiscriminately and ended up on ten stamps of the same stamp-requesting agency. A form of self-gratification and self-fertilization!

Put more concretely. PostNL has unscrupulously dared to reproduce illustrations from the Louwman Museum catalogue, drawn by advertising designer Hans Bastiaan Busking, unvarnishedly onto ten special stamps of the 'Classics from the Louwman Museum' issue! The white-colored and nondescript surroundings of the catalogue illustration can also be found entirely on the uncolored stamp. The stamp image is, however, provided with a horizontal line extending across the stamp and mandatory typography. Expressed briefly, bluntly, and irreverently: “Busking managed to cobble together ten different car stamps in his spare time by cutting ten images of classic cars out of the Louwman Museum catalogue (which he had actually designed earlier) and pasting them onto a stamp. Extremely attractive for Busking: killing two birds with one stone in terms of salary. A high-level achievement, but not really!” As convincing evidence, here are two pages from the museum catalogue, on which five of the ten stamps are depicted (4th, 5th, 6th, 8th & 9th stamp). The remaining vintage cars undoubtedly originate from other pages of the catalogue. To me, it is bafflingly incomprehensible that PostNL (with a respectable design policy up until now) has made it possible (and dared) to allow a commercially oriented advertising designer to use tasteless images from a museum catalogue as stamp illustrations. The statically positioned, two-dimensionally drawn cars float in a meaningless, clean space. The shadow indication beneath each car betrays, after all, some earthly presence. With this manner of depicting cars on stamps, our country aligns entirely with the picture stamps of Third World countries, which all pursue commercial goals in the issuance of stamps. These countries pay absolutely no attention to the expressive power of stamps.

Manufacturers of matches and cigars also apply the same design method through match brands and cigar bands.

Expressiveness

With some reluctance (after an approving introduction assistant), TNT Post eventually entered into a partnership with Robert-Jaap Jansen in the autumn of 2001 to design the Efteling stamps (nvph 2084/88).

In the long history of the Dutch stamp, it had never happened before that a graphic designer from a party requesting the stamp also supplied the stamp designs. There might well be a risk of a saccharine, commercial approach. However, the opposite is the case. The design of Jansen's Efteling stamps is just slightly different (placed on a slightly higher, general level) from that of the Efteling promotional printed matter. The risk of a sweet, atmospheric, and commercial approach to the Efteling brochures could well end up in the Efteling stamps designed by regular Efteling graphic promotion employee Jansen. However, Jansen chose a completely different angle for the stamp design. The faces of the depicted figures are viewed and rendered from above (contrary to his usual practice). Through this original and playful representation, the fairytale characters convey a completely different message. TNT Post was genuinely closely involved and present throughout the design process (intake meeting, review, guidance, and completion). (Read also 'Anton Pieck's atmosphere in Efteling stamps(September 13, 2009). The description of the designs featuring the classic cars clearly shows the opposite. PostNL must have remained aloof and uninvolved throughout the entire design process. One of the rules of thumb for a stamp designer: “A characteristic of the stamp subject can be the starting point for its design.” The word 'automobile' actually means 'moving by itself', in other words, a vehicle that moves of its own accord. Nothing of movement, dynamism, or action can be found in the static car images. A diagonal image of a car (showing the front or rear in combination with the side) immediately creates liveliness. A partially visible depiction of a vehicle gives the sensation that the car is, as it were, coming towards you. An engaged interaction is created between the image and the viewer. Busking has continued along the traditional and commercial advertising route that the museum adopts in its promotional materials: clear, instructive, and clean drawings of classic cars. Stamps featuring clearly prominent images acquire added significance and appeal through the supporting background images.

1. The steam pumping station stamp (nvph 1372) receives meaningful functional support from the grey-coloured flywheels (necessary to skip the water).
2. The overall image of the botter stamp (nvph 1424) gains considerably more substantive impact due to two partial images (fore and aft deck of the boeier).
3. In the background of the World Equestrian Games stamp (NVPH 1617), a greatly enlarged blurry image of the crowd in the stands 'accompanies' the international sporting event.

None of the above backgrounds (suitable for stamp subjects) can be found on the new vintage car stamps. Stamps without this added value are meaningless stamps, or in other words, picture stamps! None of the originality, inventiveness, artistry, and/or creativity customarily applied to Dutch stamps (resulting in stamps with added value) can be found on these vintage car stamps.

PostNL's lemming behavior

The size of the lemming population can vary significantly from year to year. This is closely linked to the food supply. A Disney film depicts hordes of lemmings jumping collectively from Norwegian cliffs into the sea due to a food shortage. The animals follow one another, regardless of the consequences of this self-regulating action. PostNL exhibits this lemming-like behavior as well. Driven by the successes of foreign peer companies, the postal company is spurred on to launch new activities in its pursuit of innovation. The company introduces (copies) new services, new business models, and new products without critically examining them internally or discussing them externally with the target audience in a well-considered manner.

Examples?

1) The issuance of many, too many stamps per year (with the necessary peripheral issues), as happens in many countries nowadays. The number of stamp issues stands in extremely stark contrast to practical stamp usage. 2) With the issuance of this new, inferior stamp issue, PostNL ruthlessly adds yet another item to the already untenable situation.

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A zeitgeist phenomenon? Disinterest and/or indifference on PostNL's part towards target groups? Not taking collectors seriously? Desirable commercial goals? Questions for me; for PostNL (I assume) a fact. You can pour too much into the well until it breaks!