The Frauenfeld illustrator Rina Jost has designed Switzerland's first living stamp. The occasion is the 125th anniversary of the National Library in Bern.
Switzerland is her theme: the National Library in Bern collects texts, images and sounds relating to our country. These include analogue and digital books, newspapers, magazines, websites, posters and postcards. The library also includes the Swiss Literary Archives, which hold manuscripts, letters and photographs from almost 300 Swiss authors. We now house more than 5 million documents.
When you get a really prestigious commission, a little innovation hardly hurts: the freelance illustrator Rina Jost born in 1987 had the honour of designing the special stamp commemorating the 125th anniversary of the National Library in Berne. The stamp is the first animated franking in Switzerland. With the free Swiss Post app and AR, the 28 on 33 millimetre stamp comes to life digitally.
Analogue and digital interface leads to AR
The interface between analogue and digital is becoming increasingly important, says Jost. This balancing act gave the Frauenfeld native the impetus for the augmented reality brand. She has been working with such applications for some time. "But the content has to be right," she is quoted as saying.
The franking shows a woman in swimwear and diving goggles diving into a library flooded with knowledge and reading a book. There are headphones on a table and a laptop underneath. If you scan the stamp with the Post app, a crab walks through the picture and the woman leafs through the book. The technical background is a GIF file, i.e. a loop of 44 individual images that lasts three and a half seconds.
"I'm delighted with the result," says Jost. Although she still had to struggle with individual specifications at the beginning. "One challenge was to integrate the lettering in three languages and in a legible size."
The colourful stamp motif was also followed by the first day cancel and first day cover designed by Jost. The collaboration with those responsible at Swiss Post was pleasant and professional. This order has now been completed.
Source: Tablatt / Swiss National Library / Youtube
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