Design for money, but not in the usual sense

So, a certain proposal to redesign the U.S. $50 bill has gotten some attention, recently. I’ll forego comments on that suggestion for now, as I suspect it will probably go no further than related suggestions from years past.

I do want to share a few thoughts on currency design, though. I would hardly be the first person to make the observation that the design of American currency is, by and large, boring. Dead presidents, neoclassical buildings, a near monochromatic color scheme. Yes, there’s that surreal pyramid with an eye, and imaginative people with time on their hands have found ways to fold certain bills into more provocative images.

But on the whole, boring. I’m not sure this is entirely bad, either. One might argue that money already holds quite enough excitement for many people in our great country as-is, without the added allure of flashy colors and eye-catching design. And, despite the occasional suggestion of an approaching paperless monetary system, I also wonder whether a boring and, perhaps more importantly, consistent currency design encourages confidence in the dollar, at least in some minor way.

Of course recent years have seen relative turmoil in U.S. currency design, as part of anticounterfeiting efforts, but only relative. On reflection, in the “big picture” sense which a designer must keep in mind, the design of our paper money has been barely tinkered with. Larger, redrawn portraits yes… but still the same portraits. Little details changed, and even a hint of additional color… but still the same general layout, lettering styles and decorative flourishes.

The single, not really considered worth counterfeiters’ time, is of course a rock of stability (as is its shy friend, the $2 bill), but I think it’s safe to say that all of our currency designs retain a visually-iconic status. The greenback is still green; benjamins still feature the kite-flying sage’s countenance. (Admittedly, the latest fiver is pushing things.)

One does, meanwhile, occasionally feel a bit of envy at other nations’ lively currency designs. I particularly like those of our northern neighbor, which is perhaps ironic given that America is considered the brash and exuberant nation compared to the staid Canada of “peace, order and good government.”

You wouldn’t know it from comparing our safe and traditional greenbacks with their notable notes, however. I particularly love the fiver. The front, much like our money if more colorful, features traditional elements with a statesman’s portrait and a government building. But the reverse…

Yowza. Sledding. An informal hockey match. Action, movement! Colors that border on the psychedelic, at least compared to those of U.S. notes. Plus a tiny little quote, in this case from Roch Carrier: “The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places — the school, the church and the skating rink — but our real life was on the skating rink.” (Small wonder we fell short against these guys in hockey.)

Perhaps I’ll do more thoughts on currency (and then there’s coinage, a whole other set of issues) another day. For now though, one final interesting note: did you know that some scanning software is now capable of recognizing currency and refusing to produce an image? Pretty clever, if not quite clever enough to consider the odds that anyone would attempt to go into counterfeiting by making a low-resolution scan of worn, creased old notes… ah well. A photo serves our purposes here quite adequately without tripping any of the Bank of Canada’s worthy security measures.