Money Further Research

I continued looking into the history of currency, keeping an open mind to my approach to be inspired by each new design. Which took me to look at an online magazine column titled 'Designing the most desirable product: Exploration of banknote design'.

This is a note from the Ming Dynasty and is one of the oldest surviving paper notes, which were issued during the rule of the Ming Dynasty, between 1368 and 1399. This, the Ming Dynastys 200 Kwan note, is nearly the size of a modern legal document. The note was manufactured from recycled gray mulberry bark paper. It is mainly type but also uses a coloured stamp which sits in the background, perhaps there concept of a watermark so that the money was not so easily forged. The note contains decoration even then.

This is the the current and updated 100 Dollar bull, in circulation as of October 2013, it is the latest banknote to get an updated look and has more accessibility features. The new "Benjamin" bears a number of innovative anti-counterfeiting features, one of which is an intricate effect when the bill is directly exposed to lighting.  The new bill features the number 100 presented in an orange colour alongside the classic green look. The green colour used in the US Dollar comes from the time of the American Civil war where the back of the Dollar was printed in green to show growth and stability in the uncertain times of the country. 

2006 the US Banknote redesign which I previously looked at is now no longer active but designers continue to send in there projects, for example above is the design from Travis Purrington, an American designer who works a lot with digital print methods, his work is very geometric and detailed, creating interesting simple designs like the ones above. Following this project he produced a personal project based on the dangers of money, mixing the way cigarette companies use warnings on boxes with the current dollar bills, looking at the dangerous outcome of money and its addictive nature, just like cigarettes.

Above is a re-imagining of the Euro banknote, which was not used, studies show that people have more confidence in a banknote that shows a human face. This is just one of the aspects that designers have to consider once designing a bank note, one which I can consider, as well another detail taken into consideration is the size of a regular wallet, a survey conducted by the Dutch central bank in 2004, found that 94% of the respondents called the height of the 20 Euro banknote (72 Millimeters) "Exactly Right"

Swiss Franc - There has been Eight series of Swiss franc notes printed since 1907. Each series relies on a different note size and colour scheme for its ease of use. With every new release, the francs feature more elaborate layouts, typography and colours. The Latest of the eight have been in circulation since 1995, which reaches a new level of bold design. The current design was designed by Jorg Zintzmeyer and is circling around the art, featuring motifs from Swiss artists such as Alberto Giacometti and Le Corbusier. 

The German term notgeld, or “emergency money,” refers to a form of currency that is issued by a body other than a central bank. The most obvious example of notgeld is the paper money that was printed in Germany during the period of hyperinflation following World War I. During this period, over 36,000 types of notes were issued by over 3,500 companies, towns and cities. Notgeld went beyond being just bills, evolving into a powerful force for raising the spirits of a desperate society. While the majority of notgeld had very little intrinsic monetary value (paper notes were printed almost nightly in every area), the quasi-currency played a huge role in the visual culture and history of Germany. 

The design of most notgeld was based on the historical subjects and heraldic images, offering a way for a defeated country to seek comfort in a glorious past. Some notgeld series, such as the one created by Herbert Bayer, incorporated a minimal, modernist aesthetic, calling people to think of a better future, instead of recalling the past. At that unstable period, notgeld became a means of expression for contemporary artists and designers; therefore, they quickly became more of a target for collectors than actual currency. Another reason for some of the intricate designs relates to finance: If a bill was left as a collectible, the debt would not have to be paid.