Banknote Rethink - Chinese Yuan

Trip to Beijing //

Over the Easter holidays I had the amazing opportunity to fly to Beijing for a week long vacation. Whilst I was there I made sure I visited as much places of interest as I could possibly fit into one week. 

These places included...

The Forbidden City, former home to the Chinese Emperors 

The Summer Palace, a retreat for the Emperors in the Summer months

And the Great Wall of China.

When visiting these places, I made sure to take high quality photos. From these photos, I had the idea to use some of the images for my banknote design.

So instead of producing currency for the Japanese Yen, I will be designing a banknote or two for the Chinese Yuan.

I will still be using fabric screen print during the process as my chosen traditional printing method.

To do this, I have had to manipulate my chosen photos so that they produce successful prints.

Two Chosen Images

Forbidden City

Great Wall of China 

 I chose these two images as two that I think convey iconic images of China. I want the note to be immediately recognisable as a Chinese banknote.

To use these images for screen prints I've had to make them black & white and then change the mode to Bitmap. This will allow the print to have tones.

I have also designed a second layer for each note which includes the value in english and Chinese characters.

Test pieces

I grabbed a few textile samples from the fashion studio to test out my prints. I then made a decision on which to choose based on context and aesthetics.

Out of the samples I printed onto, I chose silk as the textile to take forward. I chose this material as silk was originally discovered in China all those many years ago, the other reason for chosing this was the fact that it gave the banknote a valuable and important appearance as though the banknote itself is worth as much as its monetary value. 

Final Resolution

The final resolutions consist of three layers of colour. The first layer is the main image of the design as the background printed in red or green. The design decision to choose red or green came from what I had learnt on my trip to Beijing. The colour red in China represents good fortune and joy, and Green is associated with health, prosperity and harmony. I have tried to create a patriotic design that any Chinese citizen would be proud of using .

The second and third layers of the design include the value of the banknote in Chinese and english characters so that the banknote can be used by locals and tourist. I have also included a small pattern which is typical of Chinese silk design and that acts as a counterfeit measure. I’ve used gold as the third layer to strengthen the valuable appearance of the banknote. Gold is also commonly used in a number of different ways in Chinese culture such as in textiles and architecture.

Evaluation

The combination of fabric screen printing onto silk produced an elegant banknote that successfully conveyed my aim. I wanted to produce a banknote that was a little different in terms of texture and weight in order to redesign it in a way that might be preferable to use rather than the digital payment methods of today.

If I had more time with this project, I would add a lot more detail to the design. I would first add tones and shading to the background image and I would also implement typical Chinese patterns into the background as another anti-counterfeit measure and to also strengthen the patriotic imagery and use of colour.