Overall, I did really enjoy getting to grips with screen-printing as it is something that I have done in the past but through making each layer of colour as a stencil rather than exposing them to light. I did find it quite daunting at first but once I had got past my first attempt and built my confidence up with the process I did thoroughly enjoy traditionally printing my work! I have learnt some valuable tips within the process regarding flooding the screen and getting the most out of the print. I look forward to experimenting with the process off my own back rather than within the guidelines of the brief, especially now I know what I'm doing.
Looking back at my overall currency concept there were some problems with it that I knew people would raise. The whole point of a community currency is so that we boost our local economy and our local suppliers but this would upset the larger chains who are supplying for Leeds, there was also the point risen that uni's might not actually be able to offer these reward schemes for money, so it would be restricted to the student jobs that are already on offer. However, the majority of people were impressed by what my currency design was driven from as I am trying to develop and renew how currency is viewed and made use of day to day. In this context, I think I have come up with quite a unique concept which does offer something conceptually new but also visually, in the sense that the aesthetical aspects of my note design is not what you'd usually expect either.
Through communicating both a playful and then a more serious work banknote I had to consider how I was to create this consistently, but also with a distinct contrast between the two. This was done through the use of colour, typography and the use of geometric shapes which feature in my work - one being structured and organised, the other more random and spontaneous.
By finalising my design with only two colours present it is a different approach to take in comparison to what other people have done, however I am keen on how my note designs appear. The contrast solidly being made between the two different distinct background colours used, a bright orange for PLAY money and a nice blue for WORK money. Orange is a more playful colour which was easy to choose however with the blue I needed to pick a less playful colour without it appearing too dull or out of place next to the other note. Using only black ink pulled through people have commented saying I need to be more experimental however I did not feel it was necessary for the notes I was creating, I wanted to create the effect of them through the pattern design and type rather than filling them with lots of unnecessary colours.
I did experiment with type on my bank notes and I do feel the typeface used for the WORK/PLAY is very student appropriate being quite hand-rendered and eye-catching. By adding the linear shadow on the words it does create more depth for the feature word on the note. For the number-forms I did use a very modernist sans-serif type called Biko, Helvetica was used for the other letter-form based type however I personally preferred the feeling Biko created for the numbers, they fitted better and showed more character; whereas I was quite pleased with Helvetica to be used elsewhere due to its consistent, rounded upper case letterform, being a popular typeface which peoples eyes have provenly adjusted to in terms of legibility and readability.
I finally settled with the style of geometric patterns that are present as they do appear very playful and again student appropriate, making the notes feel very aesthetically pleasing and current. I communicate a more playful, spontaneous pattern layout on the PLAY notes, whilst structuring and ordering the same shapes for the WORK notes. Thus communicating the difference in notes in a way which still feels consistent with eachother.
I ended up being able to feature all that I said was necessary on my local/student currency - Amount letterform and number form, communication of it being based in Leeds and also it being aimed at students. And last but not least, whether it is money for WORK or money for PLAY! To conclude, I did enjoy this project and felt I have produced a different take on what the future of our currency could look like!
No comments:
Post a Comment