

Get Helvetica Off Our Money - rads
http://gethelveticaoffourmoney.com/

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mga
i'd rather support 'get "in god we trust" off our money'

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duck
Alright, since no one else is commenting on this... why?

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techiferous
It's about as appropriate as "In Zeus We Trust". It's not something that is
representative of the consensus of the American people.

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duck
They say statistics can be used to prove anything, so I'm not expecting this
to change your mind, but poll after poll shows that the majority of people in
the USA are Christians.

<http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html>

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techiferous
But there are two things: (1) relevance and (2) I'm guessing the consensus
among Americans is that we wouldn't want merely a majority-rule democracy, but
a democracy that also respects the rights of minorities.

Using the reasoning of popularity, we could put "Land of the Whites" on our
money.

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zck
All the new dollar bills seem like they were designed piecemeal, with little
thought as to how they coalesce into one image. Independence Hall is cut off
on the right by the giant 100. It's not cut off on the left. Who cares about
symmetry?

The back of the $20
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_$20_Series_2006_Reverse...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_$20_Series_2006_Reverse.jpg))
looks like a child took a highlighter and drew _20_ on the bill dozens of
times. There's no discernible pattern; it looks like noise.

The front of the $10 ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US10dollarbill-
Series_2004...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US10dollarbill-
Series_2004A.jpg)) has three things going on in the exact same place. Look at
the seal on the right of the bill. It also has _TEN_ written over it, and _We
The People_ in the same spot. Is it harder to counterfeit if you can't read
it? It simply looks lazy to me.

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thwarted
_The back of the $20 looks like a child took a highlighter and drew 20 on the
bill dozens of times. There's no discernible pattern; it looks like noise._

But it's not noise. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation>

_The front of the $10 has three things going on in the exact same place. Look
at the seal on the right of the bill. It also has TEN written over it, and We
The People in the same spot. Is it harder to counterfeit if you can't read it?
It simply looks lazy to me._

Yes, that's exactly why, it's an anti-counterfeiting device. Are you really
having trouble reading "We the People" or using that TEN to determine the
denomination?

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zck
I think it's bad aesthetics. There must be ways to make bills similarly
difficult to counterfeit while still having designs that don't look like they
were designed by a committee of blind bureaucrats.

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thwarted
It's unfortunate that things can not be appreciated solely for their
functional utility and that everything gets judged on its visual impression
and that visual impression is valued so highly that _every other aspect_ takes
a back seat; do we really stare at our currency for so long that we are
offended by its "bad aesthetics"? People are increasingly using cash less
frequently thanks to the ease of ETF and credit for small transactions. One of
the goals of cash is to be easily and quickly identifiable and the different
monetary values to be distinct. If you have enough time to seriously
appreciate the look of your currency, it's not currency. Is anyone going to
say "Sorry, I'm not going to accept your $20 bill because it's ugly"? Get
real.

I think calling the work that engravers do the result of a committee of blind
bureaucrats does a disservice to the work and artistic effort that goes into
designing cash.

There's also a reason not to make cash valuable for reasons other than the
monetary value it is meant to represent, bad "aesthetics" is perhaps one way
to do this. Turing cash into works of high art may end up making the value of
the paper greater than the monetary value.

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jamesbressi
We should have used something ridiculous like windings just to add to the
conspiracy theories surrounding the hidden meanings in our currency.

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qq66
Out of curiosity, why is there so much hand-wringing on the Internet about
fonts? I agree that typography has importance in design. But the attention
given to it seems totally incommensurate with its importance.

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techiferous
More info here: <http://www.newmoney.gov/currency/100.htm>

The large Helvetica 100 is meant for the visually impaired.

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rantfoil
Helvetica is awesome. I disagree vehemently.

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mortenjorck
Here's the thing. Helvetica is indeed awesome. But it fits into the design of
US currency about as well as an Eero Saarinen table fits into a Victorian
living room.

If we're going to have Helvetica on there, we need to go _full Modern_. The
old Dutch Guilder notes
([http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/5_Gulden_...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/5_Gulden_%28Vijf_Gulden%29_%281966%29.jpg))
might be a nice place to start.

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jessriedel
I'd sacrifice increased counterfeiting if it meant we could get rid of all
those colors. For the longest time, the US had currency that was truly unique
looking compared to the rest of the world. Now, it's beginning to look like
every other foreign currency: rainbow colors, large and detailed faces, and
asymmetric denomination marks.

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nonrecursive
I thought the other reason for the variety of colors and sizes was that it
made it easier for visual impairments to handle money. It would indeed be
nice, though, if US currency became more usable while remaining unique.

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chancho
Curse the vending machine lobby. I want a perfectly square $50.

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scott_s
They'd be happy with a perfectly round $50 piece. It would cost less, too.

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az
I think we should add braille like some countries

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mhunter
Only if it is replaced with Comic Sans (sarcasm).

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koanarc
I whole-heartedly support this notion. Monopoly money should look as such.

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astrec
Why isn't it polymer?

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iamgabeaudick
Eww.

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ax0n
Is there a genuinely compelling reason to banish one font or another from our
currency? Really? Font Nerds are very high up on the list of geek subcultures
that I do not understand. Not quite as high up as furries, though.

