Project part of the Typography and Design class administered by Prof. László Lelkes at Magyar Képzőművészeti Egyetem (Hungarian University of Fine Arts). We had the assignment of reviewing a current currency design, and for this project the current hungarian national currency was chosen: the Hungarian Forint.
Above is the design of the current bank note in circulation, being first printed in 1997. From there and being a foreign student in Budapest, a serious research was made to understand how important some symbols are to the hungarian population. King Stephan I, the founder and first king of the country today as Hungary and depicted on the 10.000 ft bill, gives name to several institutions, streets and is a significant persona of this millenial country, as is his Holy Crown of Hungary. All the individuals depicted on the bank notes, from the great reformer of Buda and Pest, Count István Széchenyi to King Matthias Corvinus, the Just, are of utmost importance to the creation of the hungarian nation. So, as a strategy, it was decided not to revolutionize national symbols, renowned nobility and commoners from the past and important sites to an entire nation and to some the core of what being hungarian is. The strategy of the redesign was taken then to review the current bills and bringing them to the 21st century. New graphics, new color schemes and new technologies that would modernise the bank notes, whilst conserving the tradition of its composition.
The main rules on how to compose design-wise are described above with the addition of proportional bank notes according to value (bigger to the biggest amount, smaller to smaller amounts). And with the proportions, itens and security systems to be incorporated, the bank note was developed to a final design.
The main concept, as cited before, was to renew tradition. And this was made by new color schemes, the choice of a more contemporary typeface and giving the main stage to the figure, that while is produced by etching style, it is coloured and still can produce the illusion of someone tangible, bringing a figure that passed away a thousand years ago back to life. The hungarian flag is accompanied by the EU flag under the serial number, something that does not happen on current bank notes. Tradition is preserved by the guilloche graphics and the use of the flag of Hungary in front of the ruins of the first settlement in the hungarian land. The Duna (Danube river) also plays an important security part, printed on beveled ink that increases protection over forgeries.
The back part follows the same design criteria, using the Esztergomi Láktép painting as the main focus.
Only the 10.000ft bank note was redesigned, but the pattern and standards would be the same for the other bank notes.
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