Made of Hearts Forever First Class Postage Stamps

Rows of small hearts in red and pink across a white ground. Toward the middle the pink ones give way to red ones in graduated sizes, and the substitution assembles a single large heart out of the smaller ones. Antonio Alcala designed it and art-directed the issue, which came out in 2020. It is a piece of straight graphic design rather than an illustration, and it works because the trick only resolves at a distance - up close it is just rows of hearts.

It carries Valentine's mail, which is the obvious use, but the graphic treatment keeps it usable for engagements, anniversaries and wedding correspondence without tipping into greeting-card sentiment. Sheets of 20. The Love series runs a new stamp most years and older ones stop being printed, so this design is not coming back - worth knowing if you like it enough to want more than one sheet.