Brilliant posters of official American states' insignia by Julian Montague

Quite how Americans manage to differentiate between 50 states is beyond me. No doubt it’s helpful to have culturally reductive official insignia to aid memory – lucky then that so many American states’ insignia consist of such wonderful and varied mammals, birds, foods, fossils and insects. For starters there’s the Tarantula Hawk Wasp (New Mexico), the Western Meadowlark (Kansas), the Nine Banded Armadillo (Texas), the Emerald (North Carolina), the Western Wheatgrass (North Dakota) and, of course, the potato (Idaho).

Graphic designer, taxonomy enthusiast and book cover champion Julian Montague has created a brilliant series of posters celebrating these icons of America. Harking back to classic mid-twentieth century book covers, they’re informative and extremely pleasing to the eye. No longer need the states of America be restricted to red and blue! These crisp, colourful designs deserve to be a staple of every classroom and beyond.