Typography | Type Culture

Current Currency

Positive Cash Flow. Put aside those lofty aspirations, this assignment's all about the money.

In Lecture Six, we explored the relation of typography and design to society and culture: mainstream, subcultures, and so on.

This final project is very concept-driven. You're going to take a currency of the world (perhaps your own) and subject it to a redesign.

As money/currency is highly symbolic, this exercise can be conceptually challenging. Just remember that in the end, it's just a piece of paper with ink on it.

Oh, and also remember: Do not to try to spend it, no matter how slow your design business is right now.

United States Quarter. Newer mintings celebrate individual states on the reverse. The front side retains its traditional design.

Recently the U.S. government issued a special series of quarter-dollar coins, celebrating each U.S. state on the reverse.

Look at the example (right) from the state of Tennessee. The front side of the coin is the traditional quarter design but the back of the coin features images that identify the unique musical heritage of Tennessee. Each of the 50 states gets its own showcase.

It is common to see postage stamps also take on alternative subject matter—from pop culture personalities to natural landmarks to social awareness causes. They have grown beyond simply using historic leaders to symbolize the government and the nation.

Postal Stamps. Personalities from pop culture and social issues are topics.

So here is the concept for our project: We will do the same with the US currency.

In the same way that postal stamps have moved beyond solely historical, patriotic and nationalistic symbols to using cultural, contemporary icons we will design a "new dollar" for the twenty-first century.

Or, if you're one of the school's international students—from over 90 different countries—you may prefer to choose the currency of your own country.

Let's take a moment to explore type history and culture with the following Review Kit before you begin creating your currency design:

Directions

Our primary design concern with the "new dollar" is rethinking its symbolic qualities. What new icons represent the people of the United States? Bill Gates, Britney Spears, WalMart, the Space Shuttle? What is relevant to the 21st century?

A secondary aspect to consider are the functional qualities—such as the prevention of counterfeiting. Currency designers use watermarks, color-shifting ink, microprinting, and security threads to impair duplication.

Before you begin your project, check out these Web resources: Bureau of Printing and Engraving and the United States Mint. Here's some more inspiration in the form of a currency collage:

Currency Around the World. Photo credit: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images.

United States Currency. Former versions of the $20 bill.

Actually, the U.S. banknotes were redesigned fairly recently, but the focus was on security and usability, not the image or symbolism. The Treasury designers write:

"The currency still has a familiar American look. The size of the notes, basic colors, historical figures and national symbols are not changing. New features were evaluated for their compatibility with the traditional design of U.S. currency."

Our goal is in this project is much different: to use typography, image, language, graphics to push beyond the traditional symbols.

Focus on the $20 bill. Open format and full color are your options. Remember that you are designing one banknote in a system of currency. How would the $5 be different from the $10?

This project brings together type, graphics, and image (illustration/photo). If you think pop icon Elvis Presley is a great symbol of the nation—then how should you treat the typography on the banknote? Should the typestyles and arrangement suggest 1950s Rock 'n Roll or the later Elvis years in Las Vegas?

Or maybe you want to create an official look-and-feel. How can an illustration style or typographic style work together to make the dollar (only some paper and ink) appear valuable?

Because this is a concept-driven project, don't get bogged down in the "realities" of the problem. Keep your mind in motion, and check out this student work:

This 20 dollar bill, designed by Sessions student Kate Caryk, uses clean typography, negative space, and minimal color to create a modern bank note indicative of the United States of America.

If you have access to a scanner, you might begin your project by scanning in a bill in digital format, using the original as a template to modify. But remember to keep it legal. Currency can be reproduced in print but must be 150% or 75% of the actual size, it can be reproduced only as one-sided, and should display the message "not legal tender."

If you don't have a scanner, so much the better; your design will be less derivative.

Save your work as a PNG or JPEG, at 150% the size of an actual note. We want to make sure there is no possibility someone could print and spend the money you're designing!