10 LEI of Romanian banknote
"My love for my country is my religion" Queen Maria
Banknotes and coins will ever be in use because of their sustainability competitive advantages like person-to-person payment, lacking individuality (anonymous), a fastening for a payment anywhere, secure and readily availability.
According to Hans de Heij, an engineer at the Dutch Central Bank “a communication concept is the key element necessary for a successful banknote design as, at least 70% of public appreciates the banknote as attractive.”
The two main functions of a banknote are its value and its security features, which in themselves are sufficient to result in a characteristic design.
A main image on a banknote only adds value if such an image contributes to an immediate recognition of the banknote or if the image contributes to a positive emotion or appreciation. I like to think that through my design process I succeed to combine both by using architectural recognizable Romanian monuments on one side and important historical personalities on the other side in a unique bold personal developed style.
The visual exploration in modeling, illustrating and creating a new Romanian banknote of 10 lei led me to an balanced composition, with a dominant graphic element on each side of the banknote.
For the 10 lei banknote I chose to picture the image of Queen Maria, known by the nickname “Mama Răniților” ("Mother of the Wounded") and The Frumoasa Monastery, a Romanian Orthodox neoclassical architectural style monastery located in Iaşi and listed in the National Register of Historic Monuments. For these accent-elements, I used bold pure intense colors as a color balance and composition contrast.
Another important element is the wheat spike (ear), the symbol of abundance and fabulous wealth. Being one of the most common symbol in Romania, the wheat spike is constantly encountered on the Romanian folk costumes, the national embroideries that convey the entire cultural heritage of the Romanian peasant, as well as the common household objects.
The background has a geometrical asymmetrical pattern grid, inspired from the traditional carpet themes. The square, the diamond shape, the circle, the snails, the rope, the cross, the eyes and the straight lines were motifs related to the imaginary world and the old beliefs of the Romanian peasants. As a vibrant pattern, I chose to use analogue colors as the main elements, but with a low intensity and opacity for a smooth calm background.
Organization of the elements from the banknote composition was done by level of importance. So, the hierarchy begins with the number 10 as the most important element, followed by the currency “lei”, the written number “ten”, the unique banknote number, the name of the national bank “National Bank of Romania”, the National bank logo and the description of the main graphic element.
