OUGD505: Studio Brief 1 - Extended Practice: Series Development

OUGD505: Studio Brief 1/ Licence to print money   

Extended Practice: Series Development 

With a developed resolution meticulously developed for my Exhibition piece this strengthened my concept which made it far easier to develop over a series. Within the series it was important to reach a sense of continuity across the series to ensure they were identifiable as part of a set. The most challenging aspect of this development was designing the transparent elements to reference each brutalist piece of architecture, due to the limited timescale of the brief I made the decision to limit my time spend on development the series as this was to simulate the extension of the final exhibition piece, this would give me more time to focus on brief 2 in isolation as this is more substantial in terms of its design process and resolutions. 

£5 Banknote

To ensure my series was representative of the United Kingdom I varied the banknotes around examples of Brutalist Architecture from the north midlands and south to ensure it is representative of Britain. The £5 banknote takes inspiration from an Embassy based in Dublin, build between 1962 and 1964 by american architect John M. Johansen and Michael Scott. This building is notable of brutalist design with a large authoritative concrete framework that is considered a landmark in Dublin. For the design I took inspiration from the uniquely crafted windows which translates well into a simple geometric pattern for the transparent windows featured within the note. The colour scheme is a strong emerald green to ensure the note is distinct from the rest of the series this is also representative of Ireland therefore an appropriate colour selection for the banknote. 

£10 Banknote

The £10 note design is inspired by the Grade II listed Balfron Tower in London. Designed by  Ernő Goldfinger in 1963 and Listed in 1996 I took inspiration from the unique geometric windows within the buildings service tower. This pattern worked well with the form of the banknote to create a nice range of continuity with the other notes within the set. The red colour scheme was inspired by the doors and window accents of the building and also works well to represent London, the capital on England depicting by the classic red and white flag.  

£20 Banknote

The final banknote in the series was the most complex to design taking inspiration from the Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham opened in May 1972. The complex interviewing structure of this brutalist work was less geometric than the other designs so was more difficult to create a strong sense of consistency. I started by tracing the pattern of the interchange and copping it to the size of the other transparent windows to obtain this synergy between the designs. With the main colour groups taken with the other banknotes and not wanting to contrast the Gold with a yellow design I chose to develop this design in a deep royal purple, similar to the current £20 note and balanced the colour palette of the set appropriately. 

There is a strong sense of continuity between the series of banknotes that demonstrates my ability to develop a range of designs based on my exhibition resolution print. This series highlights how my concept of a celebration of culture, specifically brutalist inspired architecture could be extended into a live context through a full series development. There is still room for further development to refine and improve these designs however due to the limited timeframe of the module I have made the conscious decision to focus on brief 2 which requires a more detailed range of investigation and responses.