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Reexamining Currency Design F REEXAMINING CURRENCY DESIGN FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM by Elio L. Arteaga A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida December 2003 REEXAMINING CURRENCY DESIGN FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM by Elio L. Arteaga This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate's thesis advisor, Prof. Stephanie Cunningham, Department of Visual Arts and Art History, and has been approved by the members ofhis supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts. Prof. Linda Johnson 6.ftzej ~~:k_ Dr. Wil · m A. Covino, Dean, The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters /~~~[ 1/(ri'f,!J . Lemanski, Ph.D., V.P. ofResearch Date Division of Research and Graduate Studies 11 ABSTRACT Author: Elio L. Arteaga Title: Reexamining Currency Design for the New Millennium Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Prof. Stephanie Cunningham Degree: Master of Fine Arts Year: 2003 The design of paper currency has attracted attention recently with the introduction of the Euro and American currency design modifications. New designs provide deterrence against counterfeiting, and, in some cases, accommodate the special needs of visually challenged individuals. Often aesthetics are given lower priority or ignored completely. This thesis is an examination of the author's motivations, inspirations, goals and design decisions involved in creating a set of paper currency bills that fit the high­ tech, fast-paced and culturally diverse society that is twenty-first century America. The author incorporates a deep visual texture with American symbols and historical events illustrated by shape and shading alone-no color or line. Semiotics and visual metaphors are applied to convey meaning to abstract or complex concepts. Counterfeit deterrence features and features for use by visually challenged individuals are integrated into the design, thus producing a system of currency that is both functional and aesthetic. 111 CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................ v GLOSSARY ...................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ............ ..................................................... .. ......................... 1 2. BACKGROUND ........................................................ ...................................... 3 3. DESIGN DECISIONS ......... .. ........................................................................... 9 4. THEMES .............................. ......................................................................... 16 5. COUNTERFEIT DETERRENCE FEATURES ................................ .............. 24 6. FEATURES FOR THE VISUALLY CHALLENGED ................................... 26 7. SELF-EVALUATION ................................................................................... 29 8. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 33 APPENDIX ....................................................................... ................................. 34 WORKS CITED ................................................................................................ 35 lV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. First paper bill issued by Massachusetts Bay Colony, December 1690 ............ 4 2. Five-dollar silver certificate, 1896 .................................................................. 5 3. Twenty-dollar Federal Reserve Note, series 1929-1996 .................................. 6 4. Twenty-dollar Federal Reserve Note, series 1996-99 ...................................... 7 5. Twenty-dollar Federal Reserve Note, series 2003 ........................................... 7 6. Initial sketches exhibit dynamic balance and hierarchy ................................. 11 7. First design attempt ...................................................................................... 12 8. Incorporation of flat-color illustration ........................................................... 12 9. An attempt to distill concept to its most essential elements ........................... 13 10. Conceptual approach sacrifices recognition value ........................................ 13 11. One-dollar note ............................................................................................ 17 12. Five-dollar note ...................... .. ................................................................... 18 13. Ten-dollarnote ............................................................................................ 19 14. Twenty-dollar note ...................................................................................... 20 15. Fifty-dollar note ........................................................................................... 21 16. One-hundred-dollar note .............. ................................................................ 22 17. Data Glyphs, Xerox Corp ............................................................................. 28 18. Dutch guilder, R.D.E. Oxenaar .................................................................... 29 19. Dutch guilder, J.T.G. Drupsteen ................................................................... 30 20. Swiss franc, Jorg Zintzmeyer ....................................................................... 31 v GLOSSARY Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). The branch of the U.S. Treasury Department that prints currency and stamps. The BEP prints billions of Federal Reserve Notes for delivery to the Federal Reserve System each year. Delamination. The splitting or separating of a paper bill into layers. Federal Reserve Bank. One of the 12 operating arms of the Federal Reserve System, located throughout the nation, that together with their 25 branches distribute the nation's currency and coin and serves as banker for the U.S. Treasury. Federal Reserve Notes. Our nation's circulating paper currency printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and issued to the Federal Reserve Banks which put them into circulation through commercial banks. Lining figures/old-style figures. Lining figures are the same height as the cap height of the type (012346789). Old-style figures vary in height and resemble upper and lower case text with ascenders and descenders (0123456789). Obverse/reverse. The front and back sides of a bill or coin. Transmitted light/reflected light. Transmitted light passes through translucent objects, such as paper currency, and reveals embedded objects and watermarks. Reflected light bounces back from the paper's surface. Ink is visible by reflected light. Vl To Debbie 1. INTRODUCTION Frilly decorations, antique typography, symmetrical balance and vintage illustration quality-a Victorian design aesthetic has permeated American paper currency ever since the U.S. government began printing money over 140 years ago. Its nineteenth century style has endured into our modem society, appearing antiquated in the Information Age. Our twenty-first century society is faster-paced, more technological and more diverse than the pre-Civil War America our currency represents. Opportunities to redesign our paper currency in 1929, 1996 and 2003 have not improved its look. The 2003 redesign is the worst yet, exhibiting distorted type and unaesthetic color combinations. Across the Atlantic, the pre-Euro currencies of some European countries exhibited sophisticated, modem designs representative of their arts and culture. I propose a new currency design that draws inspiration from the Dutch guilders and Swiss francs of the eighties and nineties. The design fits twenty-first century America, while celebrating its rich 227-year history of daring risks, awesome accomplishments and high ideals. It is intended to bridge the old and the new. By combining an active, yet recessive texture with an asymmetrically balanced arrangement of typography emphasizing contrast, hierarchy and letterform relationships, a modernist design aesthetic is achieved. While radically different from the look of our current paper money, it is expected that the new style will be well received by the population as both functional and artistic. This thesis paper is a descriptive account of the motivations, inspirations, goals and design decisions involved in this thesis project. Included are a self-evaluation of the design and a description of how design goals were accomplished. The choice for currency design as the subject of a thesis exhibition stems from the concept that graphic design is a profound part of everyone's daily lives. People often take such things for granted. We work with paper currency every day, and hardly ever think of it as a work of design-probably because it's so boring. I assert it doesn't have to be that way. 2 2. BACKGROUND It's not surprising that paper money was invented in China since the Chinese invented ink (for writing on silk, c. 2400 B.C.), paper (c. A.D. 105) and printing (a few decades afterward). The Chinese began printing paper money around A.D. 810 due to a shortage of metal coinage. Paper money lacked the intrinsic value of precious metal. Paper itself was cheap and easy to print. It required a leap of faith-and a command from the emperor-for the population
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