I wanted to incorporate all the work I have inputted into this brief however due to my lack of skill in this matter I had to over simplify my design to the point where my genuine intent and purpose for the design changed, the colour scheme and general approach stayed the same. I have mono-printed before but I thought I might as well get used to the process as this year is about stepping out my comfort zone. So my goal for this brief was to produce a modern take on the dollar, expressing a new take on innovation and inspiration that should be displayed on currency, or to generate a type of awareness, such as global warming.
The theme of Norway’s new bank notes was supposed to be the sea, but the winning design is so radical, you’d be forgiven for thinking the actual theme was sea change.
Each bill depicts a particular landmark along Norway’s coast with the details boldly omitted. Large blocks of color are stacked together as in a blown-up jpeg, creating an atmosphere that’s just barely representational, both arctic and evocatively generic. The most startling aspect of these new bills is that they look genuinely new.
This was my main inspiration. I believed it’s brilliant in depicting a modern take on a banknote. I wanted to experiment with photography. I like the array of colours and it’s very aestheticly pleasing. I wanted to incorporate a security strip in my design, similiarly like U.K banknote, except I would use Steve Jobs. Like below. However, I needed to keep it simple.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/us/women-currency-treasury-harriet-tubman.html?_r=0
The new 50 dollar bill is there version on modernising the bill, injecting collar, less use of guilloche patterns, a simpler design, obviously they cannot change the design too much as the amount of bills that are in circulation. There is even a new bill being made to have the first woman on it, to demonstrate equality in America.
Legal tender has a very narrow and technical meaning in the settlement of debts. It means that a debtor cannot successfully be sued for non-payment if he pays into court in legal tender. I felt this was an important factor to have on my note, I realised I could not include all the information on the note through screenprinting, when I lack the experience. However the two designs I kept in was the insertion of:
- legal tender
- seal of U.S treasury
- seal of Federal Reserve district
I thought of creating a theme, perhaps to demonstrate in a range of currencies. Imagining how this style could be replicated, and how a change in colour scheme for each note would be suitable. Stock stays the same but colour selection varies. I tried to create a theme on location. Steve Jobs is from California, so I tried to base the note on this state.
I looked into national symbols of California and how I could introduce it to my design. I looked at the California symbol, The Golden Gate Bridge and other national landmarks that could represent the note.
I designed this vectorised bear as it is a national symbol, it originally was part of the back of my bank note, but seeing as I have to simplify my design, I made the design decision to make this a focal point in my design, and I thought it would be aesthetically pleasing once screen printed.
My other design decision was to do the other side of my note including Yosemite National Park, it is a national landmark. Promoting awareness of the G20 environmental summit that occurred this year. Creating awareness on global warming. I want my note to represent as well as spread a message. Bank notes are subtly a large marketing tool. They are part of every day life, promoting the correct message was an important part of my design decision. Looking at the image I used I only realised far too late into the brief that I should have used a lighter image, however screen printing would not have made much of a difference.
I originally chose Steve Jobs as my face for my note, I wanted to modernise the note, and get rid of century old founders and inspirations. I wanted it to be representative of this decade, and spread a positive message, still inserting the American Dream. Jobs is a modern day inspiration, he revolutionised technology and promotes innovation. These are key influences in todays high speed evolving world.
The design of Jobs is also well fitted with security and fake copies. The different tones and shades make it difficult to reprint. As you can see each design decision is quite in depth. Originally I thought this template would work with the overall design.
Wong - Redesign project
This is a theme I really wanted to grasp in my note design, of course along with others, as I wanted my note to express a lot of subliminal messaging, but as a solid combination, I felt the ideals that Americans so proudly boast themselves of should be displayed in my design. Which is why I went for a typical red, white and blue patriotic colour scheme but it is applied with discretion.
My original feedback was mainly positive, from the colour selection, to placement etc. It was only the impossibility of screen printing that was the negative. I chose to build from my positives sticking with my original idea as much as I could. Again my feedback was mainly positive for my new designs and my final choice may not have been my own personal choice, but taking into consideration the difficulty in screen printing and what would look good aesthetically as a final print. The vectorised bear was most popular. Interesting because I think people were just talking visually. Yes the bear is a national symbol and fits well with the general theme, but my personal favourite was Steve Jobs, however people expressed the difficulty it would impose trying to screen print unless I went with 3 colour print. I decided to stick with the bear design, following from the feedback.
Another idea was to play with acetate, as a representation of polymer in bank notes. As recently many bank notes have started to released polymer bank notes, such as the UK, is this the future of bank notes? However, I realised a lot of people were following this approach in our class when it came to crits, so I went off this idea purely for the reason alone. I wanted my note to be different and unique.
My last idea, was to play on the generalised concept of money. As children in cartoons, or your general early perception of money, everyone invisions green animated currency with two dollar signs ontop. This is the vague concept of money, and believe it to be a worldwide simple envision of currency, due to western media. It is this perception I wanted to experiment with in my designs, of course this is a very strong bold colour that would detract from my designs and initial colour scheme, so I wanted to experiment with this idea, however perhaps with more subtly, so my design is still the focal point, but still knodding to that perception of money, I needed to find a green that would mix well with my chose two colour choice of orange and black.
Overall, am I happy with the final outcome? No, I am in the sense that I am much more happy and familiarized with the screenprinting process. I am disappointed because the true scope and effort I put into this project cannot be demonstrated, and I was unable to put my full imagination and thought processes into practice, in ways due to not being digital print I was limited with what I could offer. All the research I developed could not be put into this brief. Again time management would have assisted me greatly. I was not expecting for all our deadlines to be so close together so my design decisions towards the end of the process had to be hasty and not as much thought as I would have liked. I regret not developing more prints. When you look at Andy Warhols screenprints you can see he has many experimented prints till he has a final selection, I thought I did the same however not enough as only four of my prints were actually able to be displayed. I wish I spent more time developing more prints so I could get a more perfected note. As a disappointment of my final resolution is the spacing and alignment of it. Which was mainly down to note correctly aligning in the digital production and preparing my designs for screenprinting. Certain text is not aligned etc. It is frustrating as I personally feel the amount of time I dedicated to this brief was not evident in my final designs, I felt there was a lake of professionalism. However this brief towards the end I realised was more about experimentation, ultimately it does not matter the postives I have gained from this far outweigh the negatives. Obviously I would have preferred a digital print, as I did not get to produce the note I particularly wanted to, but this brief has made me more comfortable with screenprinting, to the point where I actually enjoy it now, I have a deeper understanding in the subject and will not look to use it in future briefs. The mistakes I made during the screenprinting process, have taught me a lot, I originally had a knightmare in the early goings a lot of restarting, not making the correct design decisions such as placing the black print on before the orange. The mistakes I have made I can assure will not happen again, so in this sense I am satisfied, as it is a learning curve and ultimately what this year is about, in experimenting with new ideas and new approaches, but I knew I could have done better had I organised myself a bit better, planned ahead, and taken more time in the design process to produce a better quality print.
Saying that however my true intent and purposes for this brief were demonstrated in my final resolution. I have made informed design decisions in every step of this process. I wanted to make a modernised take on the U.S dollar, whilst still conforming to traditional values and monitorary policy. I have tried to illustrate this, in the content provided in the note and the colour scheme and stock selected.
No comments:
Post a Comment