The Canadian $20 bill. Image from Chris Davies’ 2008 blog post “Landlords don’t have to accept cash”.

The cash I find most visually appealing comes from our northern neighbor, Canada. The bill pictured on the left is the 2004 version of the $20 bill featuring a portrait of Queen Elizabeth – a more updated version was released in 2012 with additional anti-forgery methods. What I find interesting is the more anti-forgery methods used to create a bill, the more visually interesting it seems to become. The 2004 version to the left, for example, has a unique gradient, textured numbers, a subtle holographic element – the list goes on and each only add to the visual appeal. I chose the 2004 version because I do find it more visually appealing than the 2012 version.

I’d probably wind up saving this kind of cash partially because I doubt many American businesses would accept it, but also because I’m a big fan of the black and white portrait over the overlay-decorated gradient background. I love the positioning and angle of the portrait, and the cool colors blending into the warmer colors behind the portrait itself is something I find visually appealing. I also like the use of texture within the large “20” on the bill itself. It’s a visually interesting way to prevent forgery – functional graphic design.

I would say color theory would be highly important as a visual choice for creating paper currency. Not only should visually able individuals be able to tell what they’re holding or receiving at a glance, but so should color-blind individuals. Creating a color scheme that is visually appealing to at least most levels of vision should be a priority in modern bill creation. Additionally, while different sized cash can be incredibly frustrating, they’re useful to visually impaired people who cannot see what bills they’re handing over without some kind of tangible clue. So dimensions are another important choice for creating currency. Finally, typography. Every bill has some kind of visual indicator that tells us how much it is worth – the placement and font choices in this are huge because that’s what people are primarily going to be looking at on the bill. You can have the best colors in the world – if you chose a bad font, it’s going to be a bad currency.