A New Design For $100

Officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the United States Secret Service unveiled a new design for the $100 note late last week. The new design is pack full of features to help prevent counterfeiters in there endless pursuit of printing. Some of the newest features include 3-D Security Ribbon and the Bell in the Inkwell. The blue 3-D Security Ribbon on the front of the new $100 note contains images of bells and 100s that move and change from one to the other as you tilt the note. The Bell in the Inkwell on the front of the note is another new security feature. The bell changes color from copper to green when the note is tilted, an effect that makes it seem to appear and disappear within the copper inkwell. The new design for the $100 note retains three effective security features from the previous design: the portrait watermark of Benjamin Franklin, the security thread, and the color-shifting numeral 100. To see a video that the Treasury made about the new $100, go to this link at YouTube.

The Treasury should have taken a look at some of the great work at the Dollar ReDesign Project when designing. The Treasury continues to disappoint with a cohesive design that is both safe and aesthetic. The Treasury continues to pop in feature after feature but the results continue to give us currency that disappoints. I have to believe that our great country, full of great designers can come up with a solution that both protects and inspires. The US is built on a principal of inspiring, a country like no other, where you can come as a body builder and become a governor. I look forward to the day where design is used to help with the security, a day where aesthetic inspire and keeps the currency safe too. Design can do this, a new design should do this.

The new design $100 note will be issued on February 10, 2011. Look for it at an ATM near you.