Currency is important. At it’s best, a bank note distills it’s countries vision, values and aspects that make it unique from other countries. At it’s worst, a bank note represents a bygone era and a bygone belief system and a bygone aesthetic.
In many cases, currency is the first impression people will make of your country.
The Daily Blend have taken it upon themselves to start the (found via ):
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.
This is a great initiative and reminds me of one of my favorite projects as a graphic design student at Rutgers Newark – redesign the currency of the country of our choice. Because my classmates were all from different countries, we had currency redesigns for around 10 different countries. Being born and raised in New Jersey, USA, I was all about taking a crack at the horribly out-of-date US dollar bills. I decided to represent architecture, music and art that was distinctly American.
On the one dollar bill I represented American architecture with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum in New York City. On the five dollar bill I represented American music with jazz legend John Coltrane. And on the twenty dollar bill I represented American art with Jasper John’s 3 Flags:
