Last week, Richard Smith posted a link to several mockups of a US Dollar redesign called the Amero that looks like a completely reconsidered Dollar design that didn’t make it past Federally hired graphic artists. FederalJack has some info on the design and how they were lifted from the Feds. There’s obviously been no official word on this redesign, but a number of things about it strike me as odd — mainly the portraits used on each bill. Maybe the faces here were just used for mockup purposes, who knows really. And overall, it feels like these designs tried to incorporate early American heritage and wording with modern security. Not quite working for me, but I like looking at the mockups anyway.
Visual Economics posted this infographic that shows the value of U.S. currency currently in circulation. The graphic also shows the life expectancy of each denomination of bills and it turns out that the $100 bill lasts about 7 years before being replaced.
The last case of American Tim Tams is up for auction on eBay and it is personally signed by Australian actor Hugh Jackman. As some of you may know, Tim Tam cookies were available for a limited time in the US exclusively at Target stores from November 2008 to March 2009 (it was distributed by Pepperidge Farm in the US). There hasn’t been any word yet on how well they were selling, but I suspect that many people who picked them up fell in love with them right away. Anyway, there are currently no plans for Tim Tams to make a permanent US stay, so if you’re in the US, this may very well be one of the last chances you’ll be able to pick up an entire case of them. Plus, the good thing is that the proceeds of this auction will go to Feed America, the nation’s leading hunger-relief charity. [via]
In this day and age where many goods and services are being outsourced to other countries, to find and see American artisans in their natural element is incredibly powerful and moving. There’s a sense of profound quality in hand-made goods in the USA that just don’t seem to emanate from products imported from overseas and Tadd Myers does an excellent job of capturing the increasingly rare occurrence of such an artist within the US.
