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Future euro banknote design proposals

ecb.europa.eu

21–30 of 338 posts

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#21
post #5

For me, across all of them only two felt actually decent for a bank note (B & E, I is okay, just not used to bank notes in that orientation, same for J, but that one should be more monochrome). Either they were too vibrant or the design was too busy/had unnecesary elements. I also feel like the notes that had buildings (like we have now) are just.. better. The initial run of 2002-2013 remains the best aesthetically,…

I prefer the Birds & Rivers theme because nobody is expecting a specific bird to meet some arbitrary ideal whereas if you put identifiable humans on a banknote people start to mistake their inevitable flaws for a desirable property. I feel this more strongly for statues, but it seems desirable for the Euro or any potential international currency too.

I'm partial for statues, and birds and rivers is a good theme. I feel like if they sticked to the semi-monochrome of the previous notes I'd be more favorable to them aswell. Monochrome might be the wrong word, ESL.

For reference, the two previous runs at the top of the page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_banknotes

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#23
post #11

Birds are clearly superior.

I don't like to have silhouettes instead of people on the back, and that buildings related to the current institutions are featured on so many designs

These are a current necessities, but nothing to sanctuarize for the future. The only thing that should remain stable in Europe are ideas, and the Swiss got it better on their notes

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#25

I wonder why do we need new notes... but I guess running some competition is not a tragedy. You can see all side-by-side here: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/ht... My takes: Designs A and B and I are not terrible, but I'm not impressed. Design C - the backside looks like the worst soulless corporate landing page graphics (Corporate Memphis style?). Design D and E, H are okayish. Possibly I'…

> I wonder why do we need new notes...

Every redesign introduces new (secret) watermarks, patterns that are hard to copy, so it's also a "tech" update. Eventually more and more of the details become public. By now the current banknotes are too well known and I guess the counterfeits are getting too close.

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#26
post #13
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the motifs were selected ~1.5y ago: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...

As an Austrian, it feels a bit annoying that the Germans got their one famous composer - they're kind of our thing! Why not Mozart, Strauss, Haydn, Schubert? It's also unfortunate that the nice peaceful bird motif was paired with the ugly modern buildings on the other side.

At least you can be sure that Germans won't "adopt" them, e.g. you can often read "the german architect Hundertwasser" or "the german author Kafka" :-/

On the other side: most classic composers are from times when there was no Germany. E.g. J. S. Bach is from Sachsen-Eisenach :-)

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#27
post #9
post #6

Why is it all either the same people or the same birds? Was that an explicit part of the brief artists were given? I feel like the selection of motifs is more interesting and where more of the creative process in defining a representation of Europe lies than just how to draw and layout those motifs.

Yes, the motifs were selected ~1.5y ago: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...

Offensively dull. One shudders to think about the endless bickering that went in to this.

May I propose 6 shades of off-white adorned with geometric shapes. €5 gets dots, €10 lines, €20 triangles and so on. €100 may have pentagrams instead of pentagons to keep Twitter on its toes.

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#29
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Austrian, it feels a bit annoying that the Germans got their one famous composer - they're kind of our thing! Why not Mozart, Strauss, Haydn, Schubert? It's also unfortunate that the nice peaceful bird motif was paired with the ugly modern buildings on the other side.

At least you can be sure that Germans won't "adopt" them, e.g. you can often read "the german architect Hundertwasser" or "the german author Kafka" :-/ On the other side: most classic composers are from times when there was no Germany. E.g. J. S. Bach is from Sachsen-Eisenach :-)

In a similar vein, who gets to claim Nicola Tesla?

Europe used to be much more of a mess than today's neatly drawn nation states, retroactively assigning origin is a silly endeavour.

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#30
post #13
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the motifs were selected ~1.5y ago: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...

As an Austrian, it feels a bit annoying that the Germans got their one famous composer - they're kind of our thing! Why not Mozart, Strauss, Haydn, Schubert? It's also unfortunate that the nice peaceful bird motif was paired with the ugly modern buildings on the other side.

Because he composed the anthem?
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