50 New Pound Scots

Description:

Following the Scottish succession from the United Kingdom, the newly formed Kingdom of Scotland acted quickly to introduce a new currency. The new Scottish nation wanted to use the continental EURO currency. However, before Scotland could move to the EURO, the nascent sovereign nation would have to begin the long accession process into the European Union. Thus, a temporary currency was needed. This new, independent currency would act as an intermediary between the abandonment of the British Pound Sterling and the eventual adoption of the EU’s EURO.

Idea:

The 50 New Pound Scots banknote was created for the same class assignment that the 20 AFRO and 10 ASERO banknotes were created for. The mythical creature I had to adapt or utilize this time was the Unicorn. Because the Unicorn was a prominent symbol in Scottish heraldry, I found it appropriate to make a design of a fictional Scottish banknote around it.

Process:

Like with all the other currency design projects. The process of bringing the design to fruition took place in Adobe Illustrator. I had less time on this piece than the other two currency piece so unfortunately, the banknote lacks a bit of additional details I had meant to put into the final piece. That being said, some of the creative decisions I made on this piece of currency would later reflect themselves on my AMERO 20 and AMERO 50 notes.

This design in particular focused on other security printing features found in banknotes like a security strip and holographic strip. At the time of making this, I did not know how to properly replicate the guiloche patterns that are common in modern banknotes. This would be something that I would feature in later currency designs that I did.