What Would U.S. Money Look Like, Given the Proper Attention of an Industrial Designer?

By Rain Noe - Core77.com


Industrial designer Andrey Avgust hails from Belarus, a country whose currency I admit I've never seen. But he's seen our yankee dollars and recognizes that their design kind of stinks.

For fun Avgust gave U.S. bills a redesign, starting with the material: Polymer.

https://i.imgur.com/NJQYbG5.jpg

Then he took the design iconography of current American cash and reimagined it within a new window, flipping the orientation from landscape to portrait (except for one shot of the stubbornly horizontal White House):

https://i.imgur.com/xx3wAcM.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ZN0LCXi.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/vA6VOtY.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/kspaZgB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/crGh1Cq.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/hsggyBa.jpg

He had a bit of fun with the anti-counterfeiting measures too, imagining what metameric (optically variable) inks would look like under a black light:

https://i.imgur.com/MAiB06U.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/9KHD43Q.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Mqc2Wto.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4EPceN8.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HToZWXV.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/M6IbSvw.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmtw8grnnUM

Love it..!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Muddy

Love it..!!

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Me too, would love to see our currency undergo a change like this.

Great - cept you want to replace those pesky, wallet-breaking dollar bills with 1 & 2 dollar coins while you're at it :meh:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lost in melb.

Great - cept you want to replace those pesky, wallet-breaking dollar bills with 1 & 2 dollar coins while you're at it :meh:

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The $2 bill, while it exists and is still printed, is rare to find in actual circulation. They've tried multiple times to replace the $1 bill with coins, but people here hate it (I'm in favor of going to a coin). It's more economical as the average life of paper currency is between 18 and 24 months and the average lifespan of a coin is at least 30 years. The only way to do it is to just make the change and screw people whining about it. They would get over it soon enough.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Teh One Who Knocks

The $2 bill, while it exists and is still printed, is rare to find in actual circulation. They've tried multiple times to replace the $1 bill with coins, but people here hate it (I'm in favor of going to a coin). It's more economical as the average life of paper currency is between 18 and 24 months and the average lifespan of a coin is at least 30 years. The only way to do it is to just make the change and screw people whining about it. They would get over it soon enough.

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I agree, just do it. $1 is of so little value nowadays anyhow.

https://i.imgur.com/kIMWn6Ll.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Up4FZ7Fl.jpg

The last two attempts to replace the $1 bill. The Sacajawea dollar coin is currently made each year, but you rarely come across them unless you get change from a vending machine or something.

I have a bunch of $2 bills laying around. You can still use them in transactions, and to get them, all you have to do is ask a teller at a bank or credit union to exchange a $10 or $20 for them. They're still printed occasionally, but not as much as the other denominations are.

I have a few .50 pieces and a few Susan B. Anthony and Eisenhower dollars as well. They're not really worth more than their printed value and can be used as legal tender but I keep all of that stuff in my gun safe.

I also have an Indian head penny from back in the day. I think it's stamped year was 1898 or 99. It looks pretty bad, but it still holds some kind of value, although I don't know how much it's actually worth. Probably a dollar or two in the condition it's in. It came to me after my Dad passed on. I've heard that near mint condition Indian heads from the mid-1800s can go at auction for well above $100,000.

If we do a coin for a dollar it needs to be square or something so it isn't quick confused for a quarter at a toll booth or something.

I'm thinking the dollar bill is probably cheaper to produce than a stamped coin.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DemonGeminiX

I'm thinking the dollar bill is probably cheaper to produce than a stamped coin.

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Just looking this morning, the most recent numbers I can find, which seems harder to find than you would think, is that it costs 5.5 cents per dollar bill and 16 cents per dollar coin. The cost to make the dollar coin fluctuates depending on the spot value of the metals used to mint it. The dollar bill over the last 10 years is lasting longer than it used to as well. It used to have an average lifespan of 22 months but now it's jumped to 48 months over the last decade. Maybe because people are using cash less now than they used to? Coins still have an average lifespan of 30+ years.

And as a side note, the US Mint has lost money on the penny and the nickel since 2006, it costs more to mint each coin than they are worth. :wha:

https://i.imgur.com/NImpm3q.png

They will never do it but I hope they do, a designer like myself could never counterfeit an engraving but I could counterfeit these with ease. :dance:

The last thing I want is more change