A design that evokes the future of money

The Official Theme of Norway’s new bank notes was supposed to be the sea, but the winning design is so radical, you’d be forgiven for thinking the actual theme was sea change.Each bill depicts a particular landmark along Norway’s coast with the details boldly omitted. Large blocks of color are stacked together as in a blown-up jpeg, creating an atmosphere that’s just barely representational, both arctic and evocatively generic. The most startling aspect of these new bills is that they look genuinelynew.

The eye-catching proposal for the money, which is set to enter circulation in 2017, is from the New York- and Oslo-based design and architecture firm Snohetta. The designers linked the currency to the strength of currents, distorting each image in accordance with the Beaufort wind scale. The digital haze increases as the denomination does, so the smallest note, valued at 50 kroner, features something more or less recognizable as a factory above the aqua of a northern sea. The tiles of color are all squares, with the even dimensions denoting a lack of atmospheric disturbance.....Continue Reading

> via The Boston Globe