Studio Brief 02 - Licence to Print Money - Development

Now that I understand more about South Korea and the styles of raphia design currently in use over there I was able to start sketching ideas that I thought would be most relevant too the brief. As the brief is for an exhibition I want to make the bank more more of a piece of art to look and rather than a functioning bank note. So when it came to sketching out ideas using my research as influence, I started thinking about how I could have design two styles of notes one that shows what South Korea is now and how much they have changed over the last 10 years this will include imagery of technology and architecture and another that is more relevant too the contemporary graphic design coming from South Korea. 

Architecture Notes - 

I looked into famous landmarks in South Korea, many were old and traditional buildings that I could use to help show ff the countries long history but as Asia and South Korea alone is one of the fastest developing countries in the world I wanted to find stunning/interesting buildings that may show this. 

The first I designed was using imagery of the Seoul N Tower. The tower is renowned as a national landmark, and for its cityscape. The 236.7 m tower sits on the Namsan mountain (243 m). It attracts thousands of tourists and locals every year, especially during nighttime when the tower lights up. As a renowned national landmark I thought that it would be good to show off all over the country, as its not just relevant to the capital. 

The second is the National Library which is a very interesting looking building. It is based in the city of Sejong meaning that the bank I am not just looking into the building based in the capital city. I thought as it is such an amazing modern building, and a part of the new South Korea it would be suitable that it went on a bank note for everyone too see. 

Gyeongbokgung was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. Built in 1395, it is located in northern Seoul I feel that this building shows off the traditional side of South Korea and its heritage, as Learnt from a crit was that the Asia is very proud of the heritage so it would be good to show of the still are in touch with that as well as the modern side. 

Using the sketches that I made I was then able to use that idea/concept and start putting them together on illustrator. This is where I decided that I would make my note the same size as the the £20 pound note, as I felt that this would be a good size for a note of this style, it would also allow me to have two side of a note (to meet the requirements for the exhibition 21 cm x 26 cm). 

Alternative Designs - 

As well as looking into the architecture I wanted to develop some designs that shows a more contemporary design that links with the current styles happening in the South Korean design scene at the moment. This is why I looked at current designers and how they are presenting, developing and finishing their work. I believe a design like this maybe more appropriate for an exhibition like the note will be presented in. 

This is my first computer rendered design, it is simple but it focuses on the architecture and the contemporary style of graphic design that South Korea are building. I understand that this design could still do with some work as I feel it is perhaps too simple for my liking and it would need more to make it a better bank note for the exhibition. For the Korean lettering,I google translated the current note so that I could have some legitimate lettering on the note rather than making something up. Luckily I also found some very beautiful Korean typefaces online, which meant I was able to use them in my design. I also looked at how I could experiment with different colours, as I didn't want to limit my outcomes it also helped me come to a design decision of finalising my ideas.

The second followed the design I created that involved the Korean National Library, I tired to combine the use of modern key-line drawings with the more traditional Korean patterns that can be found on clothes or on old buildings etc. With the large lettering I took inspiration from the Korean design that I looked at, a lot of the design that has inspired me for this brief uses large type because the type itself is a very big art of the design. I also wanted to make the design look slightly different, so I added the blue drop shadow to the number hoping that it would bring the note to life more as I used a lot of shade of blue. For the alternative colours I used swatches from traditional South Korean colours that I 

located online.

As the notes are not just for the capital of South Korea, I also wanted to represent the rest of the country, the best way I thought of doing this would be to create a simple map that showed all the major cities in South Korea, I then followed the idea of using coordinates to make the note visually more interesting, as the net would be very dull without this. With this design I did not want the numbers to become the main feature of the note, although this is one of the most important parts currency as this is for an exhibition i would rather show off the country I am representing rather than the numbers. 

As all my other design involved visual imagery of South Korea, I also wanted to try and develop a design that showed the Korean style and how that I did the was by creating a very simple design that used three key feature, the first the lines that work well by adding colour to the design and they also link well with the Asian style. Second the type because the type is so interesting it is almost like a design on its own so i did not want to over complicate the rest of the design. And third the leaves these, inspired by the cheery blossom tree.