Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Tired of the drab ol' greenback? I mean what self-respecting artist would limit him or herself to just hues of green? Why not re-design the banknotes and drag them kicking and screaming to the 21st century?

Richard Smith noted that when corporations get in trouble, they rebrand their image. So, the solution to America's economic doldroms is obviously to rebrand the buck:

WHY TAKE PART?

The American Dollar has not truly been redesigned since about the 1930s. The Dollar ReDe$ign Project is your opportunity to theoretically 'change' that. Yes, technically there are many limitations and complications when it comes to bank note design, but if the Swiss can do it on a regular basis, why can't we North Americans too. Besides our great 'rival', the Euro, looks so spanky in comparison it seems the only clear way to revive this global recession is to rebrand and redesign. Why not ? It seems to work for everyone else ...

Here are a few examples:


iMoney by Raffael Hannemann

“My intention? There has to be a full-colored US flag on every bank note, and there have to be faces of some of the latest idols on them. Let's stop looking backwards and focus on the future. This is the time where we live. I've chosen Steve Jobs, but why not Zuckerberg, Larry Page or Michael Jackson?

The main aspect to me is the following: yes, we could choose a very stylish, fresh looking Dollar note draft, just because it's a pleasure to our eyes at the moment we see the bank note draft for the first time. But often the print designs are far away from being timeless. I've created a long-lasting composition of colors and shapes that avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated by focusing on the value of the note itself and the colors of the US flag. Because this is what the Dollar note all is about.”


Relative Value by Dowling Duncan

Why the size? – We have kept the width the same as the existing dollars. However we have changed the size of the note so that the one dollar is shorter and the 100 dollar is the longest. When stacked on top of each other it is easy to see how much money you have. It also makes it easier for the visually impaired to distinguish between notes.

Why a vertical format? – When we researched how notes are used we realized people tend to handle and deal with money vertically rather than horizontally. You tend to hold a wallet or purse vertically when searching for notes. The majority of people hand over notes vertically when making purchases. All machines accept notes vertically. Therefore a vertical note makes more sense.


Girl Power by Magen Farrar

"Despite representing half the human population, women have been struggling with discrimination and suppression for far too long. I wanted to take this opportunity to commemorate some of the most influential American women of the 20th century – Amelia Earhart, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marilyn Monroe and Maya Angelou – and attempt to bridge the gap between gender inequality. What better way to do so than with one of the most identifiable currencies in the world?"

Link: Dollar ReDe$ign - via kottke


Don't you know that when they redesign the money, there is going to be a huge campaign to put Reagan on every piece of currency, from the penny to the one godzillion dollar note? There are people who think he was, and is a god, rather than the guy at the helm when the soviet union self-destructed.
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How about we stop wasting money printing short lived one dollar bills and go to coins? I'm thinking a quarter sized hexagonal shape with either a different medal in the middle or a hole.
Though, I'm glad they are finally going to comply with the requirement for the visually impaired.
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Abolish paper money.

You need four coins: 10 cents, 50 cents, $2, & $10.

Everything else is a check, debit card, or electronic.

Presto, no underground economy.

Then we have fun by knocking off a zero & calling them doubloons...
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What on earth is the $1 note for? It's hardly worth the bother printing it.

The UK moved to a coin for one and two pounds because it was getting too expensive to print pound notes (there never was a widely issued £2 note. The US should have dropped the dollar note years ago.

As for colours - they're there to make it easier to distinguish the denominations. Printing them all the same is silly and just asking for trouble. No one in Europe gets a ten confused with a twenty even at a glance.
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If you guys keep the $1 note, and redesign, then you need to keep it looking like currency. Most of these just look like trendy graphic design. In fact they all look dated to me already! Currency has an established worldwide look. Swirly patterns, geometry, funny little crests and stamps. People like currency to be reassuringly, recognizably, money!

Also, the countries who introduced colour into their note designs did so to scupper counterfeiters. So using CMYK as a design basis is probably a bad idea!
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How long 'til the Tea Partiers get wind of this, mistake it for an actual proposal, and make up six different conspiracy theories about it?

Probably quite soon, considering the satanic look of Steve Jobs up there.
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Are your notes all the same size regardless of how much they are worth then? That's crazy!
We have redesigns here in Britain maybe once every decade. I like it although I still think Euros are the business; so colourful!
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@SkipWeasel > the one dollar note is kept around to keep conspiracy theorists busy. It is also handy in the event you want to impress people by whipping it out and making a cool ring or neat piece of origami.
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I will say, in Canada, we have gone to coins for $1 and $2 denominations, and have partly modernized the look of the money the past 15 years. They have been colored for some time longer than that. Except for The Queen on the coins and $20, we have dead prime ministers still.

The series of bills pictured with Obama look like they are from the later 1960s. They need more security features.

IMO, money is too sacred to put non-presidents on, that is what stamps are for.

The "Jobs" bill is a bit "loud", but could be re-worked to make it practical.

The Monroe/Angelou bills look the most practical.
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