Future euro banknote design proposals • Hacker News Board

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#191

Post by doublerabbit » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 10:04 AM UTC

tialaramex wrote: post #19

morjom wrote: 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.

You've never had to bartend with a seagull.

Next crows will be holding you at gun point for the crow looking notes.

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#192

Post by Towaway69 » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 10:09 AM UTC

Interestingly some of them have socialist/soviet design but are all bad in their own ways.

- Birds combined with concrete block builds

- dead old people (and grumpy looking in the case of beethoven) combined with concrete blocks

- busy and abstract designs that end up being meaningless

Bland, boring & repetitive designs - what else can one expect from a technocracy.

Where is inspiration and future when europe continues to look back to the glories past?

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#193

Post by latexr » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 10:13 AM UTC

latexr wrote: post #75

shimonabi wrote: post #49

I don't like the designs. I didn't even know who the person on the 200€ bill is until today and I have a suspicion she was chosen by some woke EU bureaucrat. I'm sure Europe had better persons in its history. If Maria Callas is suitable for currency, why not put Daft Punk on it?

> I didn't even know who the person on the 200€ bill is until today Considering she was a pretty big deal, it’s telling that your reaction to learning about someone important you had no knowledge of is to use bland unsubstantiated accusations to insult the person who made the pick instead of “interesting, I should’ve known, I wonder why I haven’t learned about her in school (or have since forgotten), let me deepen my…

The fact that this response was first upvoted, then downvoted after the person said they’d rather have Henry Kissinger¹ on the note², I think is quite telling of the kind of people HN is attracting these days.

Well, I guess every website must fall some day.

¹ Which is not only rage bait but also very dumb for a plethora of reasons, the least of which that he wasn’t European.

² And as a reminder, their complaint was calling someone a “woke bureaucrat” because the comment’s author was ignorant of a historical figure. I do wonder if they would have said the same if it had been a man.

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#194

Post by expedition32 » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 10:23 AM UTC

ncruces wrote: post #176

mytailorisrich wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still need to tread carefully as @ncruses said. So not Marie Curie but Maria Skłodowska-Curie.

Maria Skłodowska-Curie was very helpful, at trying to solve #2 and #5 countries (by population) in one stroke. Good that the big 5 EU countries were simple enough to cover. But why are a Greek-American, and an - unknown to the majority of Europeans - Austrian in there? How many counties more populous than Austria are unrepresented? Do all EU countries count, or just EZ? (Poland is not EZ, is represented, still compla…

Heroes fought and died fighting countries that are in the EU today. Obviously you can't have them on the banknotes.

As for the smaller countries- well let's face it do you think anyone in Europe gives a shit about Dutch or Estonian history and culture? Its France and Germany all the way down I'm afraid. At least we still have the veto.

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#195

Post by antiford2049 » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 10:24 AM UTC

looks cheap. i want my money to look fancy, not like a brochure from an airline.

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#196

Post by expedition32 » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 10:30 AM UTC

vrganj wrote: post #13

klausa wrote: 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.

Beethoven was born in the 18th century. Germany did not exist yet.

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#197

Post by timpera » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 10:32 AM UTC

freehorse wrote: post #185

RamblingCTO wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ATS return 5€, or did I miss something? Also: vending machines can take notes as well, so I really don't get the argument

Most ATMs I have used don't. Most of the time it is 20+ ime.

I'm in Paris and can confirm that most ATMs don't give €5 bills, but some do, and it's pretty nice to withdraw a stack of fresh, brand new €5 bills that are way more convenient than coins.

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#198

Post by timpera » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 10:35 AM UTC

vel0city wrote: post #130

krick wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why, though? I'd much prefer not to carry any coins at all, ever since I gave up and stopped fighting the Big Brother (I applaud everyone who still does, but it just didn't seem like my struggle was productive). I mean, to think of it, coins never were very nice to use, I just wasn't bothered by it, because the volume of cash on me was quite significant anyway. Now it's not and I just don't carry any coins at all. Pa…

Coins are far more durable and usually easier for machines to properly sense. If you're using vending machines to buy drinks it's nice just dropping a coin or two into a machine and getting a beverage. Notes can get worn and fail to read properly by machines taking bills in the field. When you need like 5 of the most widely circulated coins for a single drink it gets annoying though. I miss seeing machines that would…

Bills are imo way easier to manage and carry, especially when you don't have a wallet, which is why I prefer the US system, but I agree that durability is the main issue.

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#199

Post by abc123abc123 » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 10:44 AM UTC

lava_pidgeon wrote: post #134

abc123abc123 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you worry. This is a political process and politicians are basically big children, so no country will ever accept notes without someone famous from their country on the note. So al will be watered down to abstract art or animals in the end, so that the suggestion with the least amount of friction gets accepted. Like all decision in democracy, it is not about finding the best solution, it's about the solution wi…

" Like all decision in democracy, it is not about finding the best solution, it's about the solution with the least nr of votes against it. That is why democracy never works in the long term, because it is a long, drawn out, trip to the bottom. " Working democracies are the countries with most livable places on Earth..this includes many countries in Europe.

So livable that people are no longer having children? So livable, that people no longer see any hope or meaning in their lives and the future?

The highest incomes on the planet, are in monarchies like Liechtenstein and Monaco. Singapore, which cannot be called a democracy, is one of the safest countries on the planet.

Another interesting way to look at it is at the debt. The debt of most (all?) democracies is sky rocketing. That means the "livability" is an illusion paid for by borrowed money.

Re: Future euro banknote design proposals

#200

Post by mhitza » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC

zokier wrote: post #109

A) Front is nice, but I can't get over the shadow people in the backside B) The most boring of the options. The tiny text with the bird facts should not be there. C) Corporate hellscape. D) wtf are those hands doing here E) Again fronts look better than backs; fronts are very traditional bank-note to me. F) Most interesting option. Certainly feels different than any other bank note I recall. G) Ugh random vector shap…

H) is my favorite. Nicely detailed birds, less crowded designs.

Anything with a face, I'm tired of that trope of banknote design.