The two basic rules that every stamp collector adheres to are to enjoy collecting stamps and to properly take care of them. Except these, you get to decide what kinds of stamps to collect and have them displayed in any way you want. Therefore, philately can be a very enjoyable activity for someone who is creative.
Basically, there are four kinds of stamps: traditional, topical, specialist, and worldwide stamps. The stamps you would find in a traditional collection are those that represent a specific country. The stamps included in a topical collection are those based on collector’s choice of design. Specialist stamp collectors are those who have multiple duplicates of just one stamp design. Worldwide stamp collectors are those who would add any stamp they can get their hand on, to their collection. Any How to Collect Stamps class will tell you to start as a worldwide stamp collector until you decide what you like best and then you can specialize if you desire.