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A whole airline in twenty-two by thirty millimetres

Lesson 2 of 18 in Identity systems.

STAMP DESIGN | Interview with David Gentleman · The Postal Museum

Lesson

One ink, engraved hatching, and a plane drawn from the least flattering angle available.

An Indian postage stamp printed in violet-blue: a four-engined Lockheed Constellation seen from below and behind, banking against a finely hatched sky, with AIR INDIA INTERNATIONAL across the top, FIRST FLIGHT 8TH JUNE 1948 beneath it, INDIA POSTAGE along the bottom and the value 12 As in the corner. — The stamp India issued for Air India International's first flight in 1948. A whole airline's promise, drawn at the size of a thumbnail.Air India International inaugural stamp. India Post, Government of India, 1948.Wikimedia Commons/Public domain

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Question 1, locked
The 1948 stamp was printed in a single violet-blue ink. How does it show lighter and darker tones?
- With a grey second ink laid under the blue
- With lines placed closer together or further apart
- With a smooth gradient cut into the printing plate
- With dots of ink in a range of different sizes
Question 2, locked
The Constellation is drawn from below and behind, banking away, hiding its famous profile. Why does the lesson call this the most convincing choice?
- It showed off the plane's dolphin profile at its best
- It was the easiest angle to engrave at such a small size
- It hid the four propellers, which were hard to draw
- It is the angle you would see from the ground as it left
Question 3, locked
The stamp has three bands of type at a tiny size. Which line is set smallest, and why?
- The event line, the only part you can afford to lose
- The airline name, since it is reversed out of solid colour
- INDIA POSTAGE, because it sits at the base of the stamp
- The value, because its box already draws the eye

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