~ License to print money - research & initial experiments ~

My initial idea was to create a banknote design that celebrates the beauty of Britain by illustrating some of the plants and animals found.

These are some initial sketches I did towards this of native plants I consider to be iconic.

But after some more consideration I decided I wanted to do something with a stronger concept that reflected my personal views of money and it's distribution.

The politics of money in contemporary society are very prominent - the amount you have decides which part of the British class system you are considered to be and the standard of living you lead.

This table shows a breakdown of the different class systems and percentage of the British population that belong to each of them.

My concept is to represent this class system in my series of bank note designs; the five pound note representing the poorest of people who are out of employment up to the fifty pound note representing the elite who don't need to work to support themselves (example: royal family). 

Despite the concept being a serious topic I don't want the outcome of my design to be dark so instead I plan to create a more comedic outcome; more like a satirical view of the class system.