Dollar Rede$ign

An aspect of design which has always fascinated me is when a situation requires you to take something which already exists and totally revamp it - creating something that looks fresh and new, but still using the basic raw materials and purpose of the original.

I stumbled across this project being run on Flickr which challenges designers to revamp the iconic US Dollar bank notes.

The entries are fascinating to look at. It's interesting to imagine what kind of impact a drastic change to the oldest remaining physical representation of money might have on peoples' relationship with it.

Some designs are obviously more extreme than others. Lisa Tse's effort (actually it's her personal business card - I think) is seductive and sexy - http://richardsmith.posterous.com/delicious-dollars-could-currency-design-get-a

Some are ultra minimalistic:



I think among my favourites are the ones which use the classic green but add a splash of colour (this was a runner up in the competition):



Have a look at all of the submitted designs at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkcreatebelieve/ and the accompanying blog http://richardsmith.posterous.com/

See the overall winners of the competition at http://richardsmith.posterous.com/july-4th-special-announcement-dollar-redeign