![]() The US Educational Series banknotes of 1896 are commonly considered one of the most beautiful designs ever created for US currency. During the American Civil War, the back of the dollar bill was printed in green because the color was associated with stability and growth. This traditional color scheme of US banknotes, dominated by green and black, combined with the uniformity of banknote sizes, has been heavily criticized for not being accessible, especially for the visually impaired. These “greenbacks” started a tradition of printing US banknotes in green. Chase.ĭuring the American Civil War, the back of the dollar bill was printed in green because the color was associated with stability and growth. The first US dollar banknote resembled a formal certificate and featured a portrait of Salmon P. The dollar became the sole currency of the United States during the early 1860s, when the US Treasury issued banknotes to help finance the Civil War. An obvious remind worth mentioning: when working on accessibility, make sure that content can be perceived, navigated and interacted with regardless of the styles and interaction used to present it. By clearly supporting key content with the graphics, the ancient Chinese currency notes remained accessible yet appealing to the eye.įor us, accessibility means keeping content as easy to understand and interact with for people with disabilities as for those without (since it’s accessible by default). This pictorial presentation of the cash equivalent, as well as the written denomination code and legal description are surrounded by complex patterns, dragons and clouds, which both enhance visual appeal and protect against forgery. This way, people who could not read would still understand the banknotes. In particular, the Kwan note shown above depicts two strings each holding 10 coins that were in circulation back then. Takeaway: Accessibility MattersĮven with the limited design tools and resources that the ancient Chinese had 14 centuries ago, the designers of the first banknotes paid attention to accessibility - or, in other words, designed the notes to be coherent and accessible (readable) to as many people as possible. It was still many years before paper currency would appear in Europe and three centuries before it was commonly recognized. However, by the 15th century, China had almost given up paper money, due to the rapid inflation it caused. Marco Polo was impressed by the efficiency of the Chinese currency system. The Ming dynasty’s 200 Kwan note is nearly the size of a legal document. The note was manufactured from recycled gray mulberry bark paper. The oldest surviving paper notes were issued during the rule of the Ming Dynasty, between 13. The ancient Chinese, responsible not only for ingenious concepts but also for ingeniously describing them, named this practice fei–chien or “flying money”. The practice of using paper to transfer letters of credit over large distances appeared in China about 618 AD. The notion of using paper as money is probably as old as paper itself. This article is an attempt to formulate some of these lessons and, therefore, draw your attention to the inspirational nature of paper money. And as with any complex task, currency design holds some valuable lessons for us, web designers. In the dramatic history of our world, money became not just generic objects of payment, but also symbols of societies.Ĭombining utility and exclusivity, currency is one of the challenging objects to design. How do you maintain trust in a collection of pixels that represents a whole brand? Think of your project as a banknote.Īs digital technologies are implanted deeper in the world, making more and more aspects of life intangible, it’s hard to imagine the world without any kind of banknotes, or paper money. These principles may lead to more credible and more long–lasting designs, including web designs. There is a lot to learn from banknotes design: focus on accessibility, on what is easier, safer and more convenient for the users.
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