Happy hearts do not hang down: the design process for the 2018 Valentine’s Day postage stamps of Finland

Abstract

This article focuses on the multimodal design process for a set of Valentine’s Day postage stamps. It shows how semiotic resources were used to create the overall mood of the design. In particular, the style of the images made the general mood melancholic. During the process, the design was adapted to a commercial Valentine’s Day context through changes in specific resources.