New Issue: Friendship (Finland)

Here's another new issue, this time from Finland. It celebrated friendship and shows people doing different things together. The pictures speak for themselves. These have been issued with Valentine's Day in mind (maybe a bit early?) and you can see why. They were designed by Pietari Posti, who says: "The stamps are cheerful and warm images of friendship, spending time together and shared moments. The themes of the stamps center around the different dimensions of friendship – from travel and adventures to small everyday moments." The stamp design feels quite modern but also reminds me of the style of old travel posters from the 1930s. Posti says this gives the stamps a "timeless" feel and he is right. Design Quality - The designer has a very distinct style and you can see more of his work here. I don't really like this style, but it is definitely a quality design that feels quite fresh but also a bit nostalgic. There is a simplicity to them that is charming, and friendship is a good subject for it. Unfortunately, the data matrix codes really don't help the design and in my view they ruin the stamps. That isn't Posti's fault but it does mean I give a lower score. 6/10

Theme and Subject Choice - Friendship is always worth celebrating and what is nice about these is that we see people doing things together (always in couples), sometimes it's something exciting like hot air ballooning and other times it's just going for a walk in the snow. The most important thing is the people, not the activity. So it's a good subject for stamps around Valentine's Day and tells us that love isn't just about romantic love, which is probably more thoughtful than more stamps showing heart shapes. 6/10

Historical and Cultural Relevance - Valentine's Day of course has cultural relevance and in Finland it is also National Friendship Day (ystävänpäivä), which is why they have had a Valentines issue every year since 1993 and why the stamps are often focused on friends rather than romance. 7/10

Innovation and Creativity - I think the artistic style is very creative, but not unique and the style is often used.  6/10

Collectability - I can imagine there are people out there who collect the Finnish Valentine's stamps, which are now as important in the Finnish stamp calendar as Christmas. 8/10

Personal appeal - I like the theme and I think the design works well, but I'm not a big fan of the style and I'm sorry but the "barcodes" are terrible and spoil the stamps. 5/10 Overall score - 38/60