Create a new form of currency for a topic of choice, pertain the currency to a group of users. 

Audience: 

My intended audience is my classmates and professor so I can receive feedback on my design skills. My target audience would be any person or area interested in an updated or new installment of currency. 

There are two components of research I had for this project. First, to begin my project I had to research areas that did not have their own currency. However, this research went unused when I decided to redesign the existing currency in the United States. The second and most important research that went into this project was on the characteristics of the original US currency, and how these characteristics were consistent through each bill. I used my research on the fonts, phrases, composition, and security features. I reimplemented or readapted these characteristics in my project. 

Phase 1 - Choosing the Story

To start off this project, I created two mood boards for different ideas to center my currency redesign around. Instead of having the founding fathers/presidents as my currency, I wanted something more modern and contemporary. My first idea did not quite have the modern aspect in mind. The first mood board is on influential people in America– from any timeline. The second mood board was more current, but still lacked the wow factor I was looking for. The second idea is based on local or national parks in America. 

Fortunately, I reexamined my ideas and thought of something more out-of-the-box and modern. My third and final idea is based on environmental protection and current climate events. This is the mood board: 

Phase 2 - Process Work

I didn't experiment much with different graphic styles due to a lack of time, but it worked out because my end goal in mind was pretty definitive. I decided to stay pretty realistic in style and include traditional characteristics from the original bills in my redesign. 

One of the first things I did to start my bills was outlined the dollar bill font myself– since there is no official font for it. I had taken screenshots from online that someone else had previously made and traced them in Adobe Illustrator so they'd be vector lines. 

I grouped the layers of words that had punch-outs, and then I duplicated and grouped words. 

Lastly, I went online and found some images that I blended together in Adobe Photoshop– each bill formatted as 2.61 x 6.14 in. I spent a lot of time organizing my thoughts from my original mood board with other research into each bill. I found some inspiration for my bills from other works on Behance too. 

Final Work: