Currency Design

Follow the story ”…water was pouring through the streets. You could barely see the neighbour’s house. People were screaming, suffering… Level of water was rising rapidly. Noone could escape. People tried, but cars stuck in the water, they were trapped…I could see with my bare eyes how this natural disaster took peoples lives. I grabbed my younger sister’s hand and climbed the rooftop. I noticed boat approaching…”

After years of widespread anarchy finally, someone took over control. Amir Tulugh is escaped convict from Mongolia who came to Cairo after the civil war in Asia. Once his own people expel him from his position and now he full of rage. He denies his country, race, religion and his roots. Now he wants to rule the western world as once his great-great-great….greatgrandad Timur envisioned himself! As the descendant of Amir Timur, he has the right charismatics to be a dictator to people in need. He promises to bring people to a better life and to put an end to this dire poverty. But not all of his intentions are positive. He seeks revenge. With his new nation he is building he wants to conquer the Middle East and Asia! He does not tolerate disobedience and kills whatever he faces.

I designed coins for 5 and 10 dollars in Adobe Illustrator. As my main character in the story wants to conquer the Western world (he wants to seize their culture as his own), I was inspired by current Egyptian money notes. I combined different designs I made - I took existed symbols and redesigned them an idea of heritage. One side of the coins is mainly the shape of the dictator’s profile with the number of value. Both profile shapes are made from a different pattern. Timur means iron in an ancient Turkic language, in connection to that history trivia, coins are supposed to be made of iron.

Tulugh follows Timur’s steps. Timur had a great interest and found his inspiration in Arabic Architecture. Tulugh puts architecture of Cairo on his bank notes and cards. The colour palette for bank notes was inspired by Nile delta. If you look closely you can notice the picture of the river in the background. Both are top views, one in the day and other in the night. One is earth and water, another one is fire and power. I chose a more traditional way of money.

Contrary to the more traditional design of bank notes card was designed in a minimalistic modern look. The idea is that the card is fully black, but once you scan it, it reveals two pictures and a number. To unlock the card it requires a fingerprint. The first picture is “new look” of graphic design pattern, that tells the idea of modernism and future of the kingdom. It repeats in banknotes and cards. Second is its history in a symbol of a Cairo’s antique building. Strong leadership controls people’s lives and does not permit being different from one another. All the card are the same, and there is no name. Just numbers. People are numbers.