The Color of Money

The U.S. Treasury unveiled the redesigned $20 bill today, which incorporates more color among the added security features.

Rather then the ususal green and black bills of the present, the new bills are... green. Well the background is now green, too, as well as peach. And there's some blue and yellow, too.

I still think the new bills are too conservative in their approach to make them more user friendly and more difficult to counterfeit.

Take a look at the new Euro bills. Bold colors to immediately differentiate the bills. The colors on the new U.S. bills are so subtle that those who are color blind may not even notice.

The European bills also incorporate special features for the visually impaired. As our population ages, this becomes increasingly more important.

While I commend the U.S. Treasury's efforts, I think that they are too tied to the look of the past, which has existed since at least the mid 1800's. In fact the bills had hardly changed between 1914 and 1996, when they implemented the larger portraits. I think our paper currency still has a long way to go in terms of maximizing usabilty.