door PostNL will release the stamp sheet Typically Dutch – Cats on 12 August 2024. This release is the 5th and last in this year’s Typically Dutch series. The multi-year series started in 2020. In 2024, it is dedicated to the animals we know best and that are closest to us. The 6 identical stamps each bear a value of 1 for mail up to 20 grams with a destination within the Netherlands. The price for a sheet of 6 stamps is €6.84.
The design of Typically Dutch – Cats was created by senior graphic designer Adam Lane, executive creative director Edwin van Praet and concept director Huub van Veenhuijzen from Total Design in Amsterdam. Artificial intelligence was used to create a design featuring figurines shaped like Delft Blue pottery. In the Typically Dutch series, 4 stamp sheets were released earlier this year, depicting cows, dogs, horses and songbirds respectively.
SUBJECT
Cats. The domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) is descended from the African wildcat (Felis silvestris). The cat is one of man’s oldest pets. It is estimated that humans first brought cats into their homes around 9,000 to 10,000 years ago, as mouse control and companion animals. According to research from 2022, there are around 3 million domestic cats in the Netherlands and 23 per cent of all households own 1 or more cats. In addition to those 3 million domestic cats, there are around half a million stray cats in cities. Large numbers of feral cats also reside in the countryside. The size of the latter group is uncertain; estimates range from 135,000 to 1.2 million. Even at the most conservative estimate, the cat is the most common predator in the Netherlands. Every year, cats kill at least 18 million birds in our country. Cats are commonly classified by colour (from white and black to brown and sandy) and by the patterns of their fur (from solid and white with occasional colour to tabby, tortoiseshell and patch patterns). Of the millions of cats in the Netherlands, only a small percentage belong to the approximately 60 different cat breeds recognised worldwide. The ancestor of our domestic cat – the wildcat – already disappeared from the Netherlands in the early centuries AD, presumably due to deforestation. Fairly recently, the wildcat has made a comeback in the Netherlands. A small population has lived in Limburg since the turn of the century, probably originating from Germany. The wildcat resembles a domestic tabby, but is more heavily built and also has longer fur that makes it appear more robust.
Delft Blue. The genesis of Delft Blue is closely linked to eastern porcelain. Delft was one of the strongholds of the Dutch East India Company, with warehouses where large stocks of this porcelain were also stored. Delft potters themselves developed a ceramic product that was similar to eastern porcelain in shape, shine and decoration. Delft Blue became very popular in a short time and experienced its heyday in the period from 1650-1750 with about 100 pottery factories. Today, only a few factories still produce Delftware in the classic way, including De Porceleyne Fles and Heinen Delfts Blauw. This traditional painting can be recognised by a mark on the underside of the product.
Artificial intelligence. AI refers to learning computer systems. These AI systems are able to make extrapolations, decisions and choices and come up with interpretations based on large amounts of data and algorithms. Developments in artificial intelligence are rapid and applications can be found everywhere: from facial recognition on smartphones to self-driving cars, from smart thermostats to deep fakes (digitally manipulated images, sound and text). A separate discipline within AI is generative art, where the computer algorithm creates an original artwork or design.
DESIGN
The stamps on the Typically Dutch – Cats stamp sheet feature 2 domestic tabby cats, a small one with a larger one sitting right behind it. The portrait consists of figurines made of shiny Delft Blue earthenware. The image of the 2 cats was created using the AI programme Midjourney, which creates images based on text descriptions. The bottom of each stamp bears the sorting hook, the year 2024, the country indication ‘Nederland’ and the value indication of 1. At the top of each stamp there is the logo of the Typically Dutch series, with a folded Dutch pennant to the left and right. On the left side of the sheet, another cutout of the stamp image is repeated in a larger format. At the top of the sheet edge, the Typically Dutch logo is again depicted, with a short explanation of the relationship between cats and humans in the Netherlands to the right.
TYPOGRAPHY
The fonts Nexa Thin and Nexa Rust (Svet Simov, Fontfabric, 2012) were used for the text on the stamps and the stamp sheet.
DESIGNER
The design of Typically Dutch – Cats was created by senior graphic designer Adam Lane, executive creative director Edwin van Praet and concept director Huub van Veenhuijzen of Amsterdam-based Total Design. This design agency has been responsible for the Typically Dutch series since 2021. For the 2024 series, PostNL asked Total Design to elaborate on the Delft Blue theme by combining photography and illustration. The stamps feature Delft Blue, albeit with a contemporary twist.
Artificial intelligence
The designers began their search for the new design concept by considering other typically Dutch decorative styles. “There are more, of course,” says senior graphic designer Adam Lane. “Think Hindeloopen, Makkum, Gouda pottery, different styles of clog painting or Staphorst dotwork. All these are relatively unknown, though. We also wanted to see if we could do more than just use images of vases, plates or figurines. We were looking for a modern twist. And so the idea of doing something with artificial intelligence came up. We already had some ideas given our existing expertise in AI, but we wanted to explore how exactly we would shape it.”
Agency night
The three designers therefore organised an agency night: a brainstorming session with all their colleagues. “We often meet with the agency to further develop ideas or approaches together,” says concept director Huub van Veenhuijzen. “On these evenings, we combine teamwork with informal moments after working hours. We eat pizza together and see where the creativity of the group takes us. For this particular project, about 25 designers worked together. In small teams, we used the AI programme Midjourney to combine typical Dutch subjects with different decorative styles. Delft Blue proved to work best as other Dutch decorative styles were too unfamiliar to AI. The results were magnificent, with dreamlike, often surreal, images of diverse subjects: from ice skating, cheese, and board games like Game of the Goose, to Dutch interiors and garments – you name it. At the end of the evening, the portrait of a dog suddenly came along. We all found that interesting and wanted to go in that direction. Why not do a series on the animals that we hold dear in the Netherlands?”
Mysterious creatures
Executive creative director Edwin van Praet is a big cat lover. “I think they are fantastic pets,” he says. “They are mysterious creatures, really different from dogs. Cats play the boss, that’s just how it is, while dogs are much more docile. What always strikes me about cats are their eyes. Just look at the shape of the cats’ pupils on the stamps. They are slit-like. Other felines don’t have that but snakes do and they are also mysterious animals, almost supernatural like cats.”
Domestic cats
Van Veenhuijzen is also a cat lover. “We have two classic indoor cats at home. Real domestic cats, just like the tabby cats on the stamps. I read not long ago about a study from Japan that established a relationship between the pattern of the pads under their paws and the cat’s personality, so you can tell whether they are friendly, shy, suspicious or just plain crazy. I immediately grabbed my cats and checked their paws. And yes, it was right on the mark. You know those videos of cats on social media playing with boxes? The other day I saw a video of lions in a zoo. They do exactly the same thing, only with much bigger boxes.”
Animal duos
After the brainstorming session, the idea of favourite animals was further developed by Lane, Van Praet and Van Veenhuijzen. A shortlist of animals was drawn up and they opted for two animals per stamp instead of one. Van Veenhuijzen: “Working with animal duos created something very familiar, like seeing a double portrait of your children. The images were created with AI commands. You describe the desired situation, the lighting, the position of the animal, where the viewer is standing, and so on. That way, you steer the AI programme in the desired direction.”
Confident animals
Compared to the other stamp sheets, generating cat images with Midjourney went smoothly. “The AI programme relies on images available on the internet,” says Van Veenhuijzen. “As everyone knows, there are comparatively more images of cats than, say, house sparrows. Most domestic cats are short-haired tabbies, even on the internet. That’s why the stamps also feature real tabby cats. Midjourney used Delft Blue flowers to represent the cats’ tabby coat pattern. You can even see the earlobes on the round ears. My cats have those too. At first, the AI programme generated images of rather cute cats. But these cute images did not match the look of the animals on the other stamps. We adjusted the images with commands until we got the self-assured cats shown on the stamps. They sit together on the windowsill, drawing you in with their eyes. So again, this image tells the story of the animals we all love, the ones we love to care for, who are close to us both literally and figuratively.”
Different generations
As with all animal duos in this year’s Typically Dutch series, the animals depicted clearly belong together. “Within the series, the cat stamps stand out as you see an older and younger animal together,” says Van Praet. “In the other releases, the animals – cows, dogs, horses and songbirds – are the same in the sense that they belong to the same generation. Their relationship could be anything: friends, brothers, sisters, father and mother or a couple. But with the cats, there is a clear generational difference with the kitten in the foreground and the older cat behind it. I think that enriches the series. All the animals are gender neutral. Who or what they are and what kind of relationship they have, everyone gets to decide for themselves. That way you can make up your own story.”
Anatomically perfect
Another difference from the earlier releases is that the older cat’s ears run underneath the Typically Dutch logo on the stamps. The earlier releases always left space in between. “That’s true,” says Van Praet. “We made the image on the stamp as large as possible so that the kitten’s smaller head is also clearly visible. We tested whether we could solve it better by making the kitten proportionally a little bigger. But that immediately created something unnatural. Another challenge was giving depth to the whiskers. We succeeded by first making them white and then using very thin shadow and light lines to separate them from the background. This made them anatomically perfect cats with the look we were looking for, with the intimacy of a real close-up shot. And of course we added a few more adjustments to the composition – we are designers after all.”
Special design process
AI programmes are self-learning, so the results got better and better as time went on. At the end, the designers just made minor changes to the AI images, for example by adjusting the animals’ eyes, removing blemishes in the rendering of the fur or enhancing the feel of shiny pottery. “The blue colours were also evened out where necessary,” Van Veenhuijzen concludes. “And at the bottom of each stamp a slight colour gradient was added to keep the typography legible. That was the final step in a special design process, a process in which we combined AI with traditional design tools for a flexible and powerful workflow in which we could quickly get started, create and, above all, innovate.”
About the designers
Adam Lane (Hemel Hempstead, UK, 1994) studied graphic design at Southampton Solent University (UK), where he graduated with first-class honours in 2016. He then moved to Amsterdam to work at Total Design, rising through the ranks from intern to junior graphic designer and senior graphic designer. Lane is part of the Branding Team at Total Design. In 2023, together with Edwin van Praet, he was responsible for designing the Typically Dutch series about the special sights of our country.
Edwin van Praet (Breda, 1971) studied graphic and typographic design at the St. Joost School of Art & Design in Breda. After graduating, he worked for seven years as a graphic designer for Tel Design in The Hague. In 2003, he joined Total Identity/Total Design, first as senior designer and now as executive creative director. Van Praet is part of the Branding Team at Total Design. He has won many awards for his work in both national and international design competitions. Van Praet has previously designed stamps for PostNL including 100 Years of Aviation (2019), the Typically Dutch series about Dutch dishes (2020), typical house types and facades in the Netherlands (2021), typical Dutch sports (2022) and special sights in our country (2023).
Huub van Veenhuijzen (Amsterdam, 1985) studied graphic design at Mediacollege Amsterdam and design and advertising at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. He has worked at various agencies in creative positions and freelanced for many years in areas such as copywriting, concept development and digital applications. In 2023, he joined Total Design as concept director (copy).
About the agency
Total Design is not just a name. It describes what the agency does. The name Total Design stands for an integrated approach, leading to result-oriented, surprising and iconic solutions for every project. Total Design has been doing this since 1963 as a unique creative collective with young and experienced talent from different disciplines. Strategists work with developers and branding experts with storytellers in an open playground to jointly realise clients’ objectives.
SALES/VALIDITY
The stamps are available from the post office in Bruna stores and at www.postnl.nl/bijzondere-postzegels while stocks last. The stamps can also be ordered by phone from the customer service of Collect Club on 088 – 868 99 00. The validity period is indefinite.
VALUE
The Typically Dutch – Cats stamps each bear a value of 1, intended for mail up to 20 grams with a destination within the Netherlands. The price for a sheet of 6 stamps is €6.84.
TECHNICAL DATA
Stamp size 30 x 40 mm
Sheet size 170 x 122 mm
Paper normal with phosphor print
Gumming gummed
Printing technique offset
Printing colours cyan, magenta, yellow and black
Print run 75,000 sheets
Appearance sheet of 6 identical stamps
Design Adam Lane, Edwin van Praet and Huub van Veenhuijzen from Total Design, Amsterdam
Printing company Cartor Security Printers, Meaucé-La Loupe, France
Item number 440862
COPYRIGHT
© 2024 Koninklijke PostNL BV
SUMMARY
Release: Typically Dutch – Cats
Release date: 12 August 2024
Appearance: sheet of 6 stamps in 6 identical designs
Item number: 440862
Design: Adam Lane, Edwin van Praet and Huub van Veenhuijzen from Total Design, Amsterdam
