Richard Smith’s Dollar Redesign Project has been going strong with a constant stream of submissions as of late. I wanted to highlight Michael Tyznik’s particular submission because it seems to solve the biggest problem people have with redesigning US currency — that it remain green (so that we can call it greenbacks). In keeping the bills green, Michael also left the portraits of the American Presidents alone because he feels it’s better than having the government decide what images of the economy are most important to the American people as a whole.
And I for one agree with Michael’s last statement about changing denominations altogether. He says:
Lastly, I changed the denominations of the bills. I think we need to get rid of the penny, because they’ve gotten to the point that they’re more expensive to produce than they’re worth. Instead, the coins would be 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1, and $2. The coins can keep their current design, and the $2 would be slightly thicker and larger than the $1, with a shape similar to the UK 50p coin. I’ve added a $200 bill because the $500 is entirely impractical, but the 200 € banknote is in general circulation and I think a $200 could be useful.”
We need to get rid of that $1 bill and start using coins. And as for the Penny…I really think it’s more of an annoyance than a necessity. Peep the gallery below to see the new bills.
Ooo, I wouldn’t mind these as the new greenbacks.
What about Hamilton? (He wasn’t a president, but neither was Ben Franklin) Will he be on the $2 coin now that Jefferson is on the $20?
And Tyznik needs to spellcheck. The proposed $200 bill says “EEighteenth President”.
Lose the nickel too.It is also next to useless.
Beautiful visual design, as misleading as the following statement may be:
“it seems to solve the biggest problem people have with redesigning US currency — that it remain green (so that we can call it greenbacks)”
A bigger problem is actually that the US dollar uses the same dimensions for all values, making it impossible for blind people to quickly discern how much they’re giving out.
I noticed that the designer DID solve this problem by adding Braille to the color strip on the bills :) this is a double whammy in my view, since maintaining the overall dimensions intact and equal across all values allows the Treasure to keep their “money-handling-hardware” as is.
really nice.
i like these. i think i’d prefer not to have such a colorful gradient where it highlights the amount. maybe just a subtle one. and a different color for each amount… so you could easily recognize bills by the color strip. think adobe cs icons.
penny debate has been going on for decades, but they are still essential. these bills look like crap. $2 coins are a stupid idea. look at canada. heck $1 coins are annoying as hell.