Tropical Birds

Phil Jordan grew up in New Bern, North Carolina, and attended East Carolina University. After Army service in Alaska, he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in visual communications. He worked in advertising and in design at a trade association before joining Beveridge and Associates, Inc., where he provided art direction for corporate, institutional, and government design projects. A partner in the firm, he left after 18 years to establish his own design firm where he managed projects for USAir, NASA, McGraw-Hill, IBM, and Smithsonian Books, among others. He was Design Director of Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine for 15 years. His work appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications such as Graphis and Communications Arts. A past president of the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, he was an art director for the U.S. Postal Service from 1991 to 2014. A resident of Falls Church, Virginia, he is a retired glider pilot and a member of the Skyline Soaring Club.

Born in Switzerland and raised in New York City, Robert Giusti studied painting, sculpture, and graphics at the Tyler School of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. The son of a graphic designer, Giusti grew up in an environment where expression of creativity was highly encouraged — the perfect atmosphere for a budding artist.

Giusti returned to New York after finishing school, finding success in the art world there. He began to work in advertising and publishing before setting out as a freelance illustrator and designer, gaining acclaim for his unique style. Some of the clients he has worked with throughout his career include United Airlines, Columbia Records, The New York Times, ExxonMobil, NBC, and TIME.

Since childhood, Giusti has had a fascination with animals, enamored with their simple, honest beauty that lends itself to imaginative recreations. His portfolio of stamps created for the U.S. Postal Service features an array of colorful wildlife. His love for abstract paintings and concepts has remained steadfast through the years.

Currently, Giusti is illustrating covers for Der Spiegel magazine, as well as their children's publications. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, winning him silver and gold medals from the Society of Illustrators, among many others.

Giusti lives in Bridgewater, Connecticut, with his wife, Grace, and their two dogs, Lupo and Baci. Songbirds in Snow (2016), Songbirds (2014), and Tufted Puffins (2013) are his most recent projects for the Postal Service. Other designs by Giusti include Cardinal (1991), Wild Animals (1992), Tropical Birds (1998), and Red Fox (1999).