African Franc further designs.

 Tracing and image of the map of Africa and applying this to the back note gave me a detailed shape that I could edit freely, leaving this shape in white and adding a back background gives the note more depth and is a design feature I picked up from the Burundi currency designs shown bellow, this cut out makes the designs really distinct and recognisable, additionally I can look at experimenting with different coloured stocks to change this. The designs basic grid being influenced by the Dutch Guilder, I felt the rest of the design should reflect a more African style. The type for the numbers needed to be clear important as would be the main thing to communicate in the note. Looking at using an outline typeface allows for a variety numbers that work together, The triple lined feature was an element of the design that looked pretty modern and was an interesting change, and something I didn't see in my bank note research. I have additionally used the typeface Snell Roundhand for a small detail under the numbers with 'Twenty Five African Francs' as this is typically seen in bank note design, this adds an old fashioned feel the note an connected the note to the old bank notes of Africa. This works in conjunction with the large type on one side of the note in very clear and easy to read type. This adds an additional level of clarity to what value the note features.

 For the large rectangular space  on this side of the note I took illustrations seen on various bank notes in my research into African currency and created these negative space illustrations, the design had to very clear what animals they were, detailed and striking, these animals would make up the main illustration and imagery for this print for the had to look good. Taking examples from a very large range of notes from different places meant the designs represented as many countries as possible. Tracing directly from these images meant the designs accurately showed this, using the negative space for the details of each animal and extending the shadows added a extra bit of needed detail to really bring the animals to life. 

 I then used this pattern taken from the old Central African Republic including traditional African patterns will only emphasis the African theme and make the note even more distinctive of Africa. I experimented with the with of the patter to really make it stand out and would work when screen printed.

Additionally the for the note I have included a security code of AF 3492380 this extra use of type fills the note and adds more subtle detail, again using a more classical type adds the the subtle details that reflect older currency designs. On top of this I used another more subtle colour for a back ground image of 25 in large type, this would be a part of the second colour separation when screen printing.

Looking then at colour combinations for the different screens for screen printing, as I could only use a limited number of colours what parts should be more and less dominate, identifying a approraite hiarachy of information is key in currency design. Using yellow and green felt appropriate, this is comes from my research into flags of Africa, the colours that seemed to be used most frequently were yellow, red and green as shown in these images of the flags. The use of a Star seen throughout these flags and I felt this would be simple design feature that again adds to the subtle detail of the note but not becoming to complex and busy.



  Overall the I feel the digital designs have a interesting modern feel to them but appropriately represent what an African currency might look like. Moving forward I saved my files ready to screen print, selecting what would be inculded on each page of the screen was very important for how the print would come out so I decided to use the smaller details on one screen and the other screen as more of a background. Setting up liked this would allow me to test both of the colours I would use for each screen and give me a bigger range out different outcomes.