For a colorful eye-catching design, Ethel Kessler has one-square-inch to work with. And what she does with that one-square-inch is powerful. That is the size of a postage stamp.
Only four companies in the country have a contract with the U.S. Postal Service to design stamps. Kessler and her Bethesda, Md., company, Kessler Design Group, is one of the four.
"The first thing is, you have to get what is the essence, what is the message, what’s the issue here," she tells Grandparents.com in a phone interview. "And you know how difficult it is to get a message across."
But she seems to be doing just fine. Kessler has created 200 stamps in the last 12 years, and two are particularly close to her heart — one for Breast Cancer Awareness and one for Alzheimer’s Disease.
Kessler is a breast cancer survivor, and the stamp she created, with an illustration by Whitney Sherman of Baltimore, Md., has been on sale for 10 years; it has raised $65 million for research. The stamp is what is known as a "semi-postal stamp" — part of the sale of the stamp goes to the U.S. Postal Service, part goes to fundraising. Kessler says about fourteen cents from every stamp goes to fundraising. Figure how many stamps have been sold to raise $65 million — and counting — a lot.
In 2006, Kessler was named one of the Yoplait Champions. Yoplait, a division of General Mills, teams with Self magazine and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to annually recognize 25 individuals for their fight against breast cancer.
"Obviously, it was a great honor," she says.
The Alzheimer’s stamp that Kessler designed was issued October 17, 2008. The stamp, with an illustration by Matt Mahurin of Northport, N.Y., is especially powerful. It shows the picture of an elderly woman, with another person’s hand resting gently on her shoulder. Kessler says she wanted to make sure the stamp reflected the role of caregivers, hence the image of the reassuring hand on the shoulder.
"It had to be caring," she says. "It had to express the importance that the caregiver plays."
Kessler says she enjoys working with the U.S. Postal Service. And she mentions the 40,000 to 50,000 ideas for stamps the public submits each year; those are whittled down. In fact, she’s working on designs for stamps right now that might not be for sale for years.
"It's fun, and great satisfaction," she says.
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