This post reminded me of something I linked to recently: a
fascinating interview on banknote design with Ootje Oxenaar, a Dutch graphic designer. His designs are beautiful and I love the way he managed to sneak some personal touches into the notes, such as a fingerprint and his name.

After working in a printshop and designing several gift certificates with guilloché patterns on it made me see banknotes in a whole new light, I find their design quite intriguing.

Speaking of which, something that really struck me as poor design is the size of all the US notes: they’re all the same! From a usability & accessibility aspect that’s got to be confusing — I can imagine it being a huge problem if you’re visually impaired, for instance — and it may also make forgeries easier if you can bleach the ink off a lower value bill and reprint a higher denomination, thereby avoiding the difficult task of finding the correct paper. (This assumes the rag is the same for all notes, though.)

One more tangent: have you ever noticed seemingly randomly-placed circular patterns on many notes, such as the new 20USD? It’s called the EURion constellation and causes photocopiers and suchlike to refuse, or distort, copies.

I don’t know whether this is my own problem–that I’m used to coins being worthless–or a problem implicit in the system. Either way, it troubles me.

http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles1999/Articles0999/JBoggsA.html

http://www.pennylicious.com/2006/08/22/jsg-boggs-art-money/

JSG Boggs is an artist that draws currency. He doesn’t sell his drawings…. he spends them!

http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles1999/Articles0999/JBoggsA.html

Eric: Yes, but at least with the old twenty, Jackson’s hungover mug is much smaller. If you look at the rest of the design touches on the two bills, the old is clearly more artfully done. That said, I’m all for putting MLK on the thing and reprinting.

ian: My god, that is probably the saddest story I’ve ever heard. Holy *crap* that’s sad.

To bad the dollar coin has never really “taken” with Americans.

And to Mikey D., yeah, the old money is way better than the new skid marks the mint is producing these days. However, whenever I come into possession of an old bill, I generally end up spending it even though I fathom I’ll hold on to it for its aesthetic and historical value.

We dug and shuffled around until discovering a crisp, but oddly colored 20 dollar bill in a box. Thinking nothing of it after determining it was in fact a real twenty; we went to the grocery store and purchased (I remember vividly because the list seems so inane to me now) a box of Fruity Pebbles, cinnamon rolls, and a two-liter bottle of Pepsi. Hell, we even came out with lots of change. No sweat!

I would come to find out that his mother spent the remainder of the weekend sobbing after discovering we had spent the last gift her older brother had given her before leaving and consequently not returning from a tour of duty in Vietnam. Not only had we spent a 1968 20 dollar bill, but a treasured keepsake on total rubbish.

To this day, I always look closely at my 20 dollar bills and after reading this story I have renewed hope that the bill we spent is still floating in circulation, since I believe old bills are generally possessed by banks and destroyed by the Dept of Treasury.

Challenge: I think Mike readers should design a twenty all web2.0’d-out.

The gauntlet has been thrown! Show us Currency 2.0
Starting with a name: “curr.nc” ?

I have to disagree with you about the superiority of the old $20 to the current $20, Mike. Given both feature Andrew Jackson looking like he’s coming off a four-day bender, the difference in design is kind of a question of how the deck chairs are arranged on the Andrea Doria. Either way, Jackson’s visage is still going to do a Stockholm on it.