OUGD406 Studio Brief 03 - Collaborative Practice - Exhibition Foreword

As most of the design roles within the group had been taken I was given the role of writing the exhibition foreword to briefly explain at the start what our exhibition is about.

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In an age of Apple Pay, Bitcoin, contactless, Paypal and other options for the transferring of funds, is there a future for "real" money? 

We at LCA wanted to show the relevance and the beauty of the banknote, the banknote as a piece of art. Using traditional print methods which range from screenprint to letterpress a diverse range of financial currency has been created, from each student studying graphic design. This exhibit celebrates the banknote and highlights its relevance in todays world and the next.

The theme that has been set and runs through the exhibition relates to the era of the 60’s, combining the hard brutalist architecture of the building with the bright bursts of colour from the pop art movement, to emphasize the diversity within the designs.

The first banknote appeared in China around 618AD made from recycled gray mulberry bark, it was designed to be accessible and coherent to as many people as possible. Digital forms are still not accessible to all, and it will be many years to come before this is the case. There are also many who are still struggling to use technology, or those in the world that haven’t touched it. 

If we go digital we lose accessibility and coherency.


If we lose the banknote, we would lose a piece of history and art combined.