OUGD406: License to Print Money - Printing Techniques

Printing Real Money

29 / 02 / 16

There are several key requirements that must be met by a new banknote: aesthetics, counterfeit prevention, machine readability, physical durability, and public acceptance. Only banknotes that fulfill these requirements perfectly – and perform well in circulation – are capable of establishing themselves long term.'

Various techniques are used within currency design to enforce this idea such as Microprinting and Intaglio Printing.

Microprinting is the production of recognisable patterns or characters on a printed medium at a scale which requires magnification to be read. To the unaided eye, the text may appear as a solid line. Attempts to reproduce by methods of photocopy, image scanning, or pantograph will be translated as a dotted or solid line to the reproduction machine which cannot identify and recreate patterns to such scale. Microprint is predominantly used as an anti-counterfeiting technique due to its inability to be easily reproduced by digital methods.

Microprinting is employed as an anti-counterfeiting feature under the assumption that it would be exceptionally difficult for an individual to reproduce accurately without access to resources which are not readily available to the general public.

Intaglio printing lends the banknote its exclusive character. Strong denomination colours, striking portraits and ornamental designs, and not least the relief-style embossing are the unmistakable features of this sophisticated printing technique. Thanks to the use of computer-aided FIT engraving technology, translucent multi-tone structures can be produced in addition to tactile elements. The result is a wide spectrum of additional colour shades. Embedded security elements for human detection, as well as functional areas for machine readability, reinforce the valuable contribution that intaglio printing makes to banknotes.

I am unable to reproduce the detail produced in these techniques, within my work without access to these kinds of machines. So counterfeiting is a feature of currency design which at the moment I am unsure on how I would satisfy this requirement.

The brief states how: our proposed banknote design should be presented as a finished print that makes use of any of the varied analogue print processes available within the college's workshops. Submissions should additionally be created using a minimum of two colours/finishes. Paper size for completed work will be 21cm x 26cm with banknote designs displayed landscape. (The size of the actual banknotes are to be determined by the student when based on their design rationale. It is up to the student whether they choose to display one or two sides of a banknote on the print.)