US Poor Design

The Difference Between the US and Switzerland

The Difference Between the US and Japan

I'm just asking...
I know the US is full of brilliant designers. So why do we have some of the ugliest bank notes on the planet? When I first got to Switzerland, a shopkeeper had to pry the 10 out of my hand... it was that sexy.

When I travel outside the US (a lot, lately), I keep finding a culture of design. A culture of aesthetics and style that seems natural in that country, but rarer (and often forced) in the US. Here in the US, we have Designers, Artists, Architects, etc.... and then the rest of us.. But in the places I've been visiting, those lines are often blurred. Outside the US, the appreciation for--and ability to create--beauty is not just something "left to the professionals." This design sensitivity/sensibility doesn't touch everything, but it seems far more pervasive than it does here. And I say this having spent most of my adult life in southern California, where you can't swing a cat without hitting a design school grad. It's not our US designers that have gone missing... it's a culture of design we seem to lack.

A few more, small examples:

The restaurant/cafe decor in much of western Europe looks like it was ripped out of a MOMA installation.

In much of western Europe, the graffiti is f'n amazing.
It feels like thousands of urban artists were set free to construct beautiful murals everywhere.

In Barcelona, all the women are gorgeous.
(And I mean that in a I'm-not-gay-but-wow-these-women-are-fabulous kind of way.) They have a sense of style that's casual, natural, and beautiful. The men aren't bad either, but geez... and these are real olive-oil-consuming women here. This isn't about fitting the classic definition of "attractive model type". Even the much older women have that, "I love my body and yes, as a matter of fact I AM hot" look.

The architecture outside the US has so much more history. Real history. There's a joke (kind of) in Steve Martin's LA Story movie where he's showing someone around the city and enters a neighborhood where he proudly claims, "Some of these buildings are more than TWENTY years old!"

And it's not just the visual style that we lack. I swear that New Zealand must have chosen (along with an anthem, bird, and flower) a National Audio Ambience. And it's currently ambient/electronica. In the US, you expect the airport to play elevator/grocery-store music (Barry Manilow covers, anyone?). In Wellington's airport, you get Portishead, Banco de Gaia, Delerium. In restaurants, shops, and train stations. Nearly everywhere you go, you feel like you just stepped into the W, or some ultra-cool lounge.

These things matter.
Aesthetics matter.
Beautiful things WORK better.

We all know it intuitively, and the designers in the US know it explictly. Which brings me back to... money. What's up with ours? It's dull, non-memorable (pop quiz for Americans: who is on the $5 dollar bill? The $10? The $20? What building is on the back?) and as inspiring as a parking ticket.

And US dollars get an F on usability! The distinctions between one note and another are too subtle, and there's no way to use them if you're blind.

What Switzerland bank notes have that US dollars do not:

1) Dramatically different, beautifully saturated colors.
You don't need to read the number... the color is a vibrant, clear cue.

2) Different sizes for the different values.
The size-to-value mapping is perfect--the higher the value, the bigger the size.

3) Rich, visually-stimulating, interesting designs.
US dollars demonstrate a sense of history, but say zip/zero/nothing about our culture. But these Swiss notes (along with money from so many other countries) gives you a sense of what's special about the country that goes beyond its history and leadership.

4) Tactile cues for the vision-impaired
Each denomination of Swiss note carries a distinct tactile symbol--circle, square, triangle, etc.-- that you can feel. With US dollars, if you can't read the printing, you're screwed.

Between the strikingly different color and design, plus meaningful differences in size, these notes are way more user-friendly than US dollars. With US dollars, the information is largely on a single-channel--you have to read the print. But with Swiss (and so many other) notes, you get several chances to "get it" as the info comes in over multiple channels (all that's missing is a unique sound or smell for each denomination ; )

And one more thing about what our bank notes say about our culture... with US bank notes, the emphasis is all on the Big Guys. Founding Fathers. Key (male?) figures from the past. People In Control.
And on the back, you get historical/political buildings that nobody but a history buff gives a crap about.

But take a look at the New Zealand five:

It celebrates two wonderful things about New Zealand. Sir Edmund Hillary is a citizen of the country. A citizen who did something deeply inspiring--the first Everest summit. And on the back side of Hillary, there's a penguin. Seeing penguins play, fight, socialize, and flirt is a once-in-a-lifetime experience (go to Oamaru, trust me), and New Zealand is one of the best places in the world to see wild penguins. [For a look at the other New Zealand dollars, see this wikipedia entry]

There's a lot more about the design of money in this fascinating money design critique by Canadian (and design/creative goddess) Marian Bantjes on Under Consideration's speakup blog. That post has a ton of links to sites about money design, and there was also a good discussion on Cash Usability at Signal vs. Noise last year.

And finally, those manhole covers. That comes from a much earlier post I did on The Difference Between Japan and US.

If you're interested in design and beauty, you can find more external resource links on my earlier Code Like A Girl post.

It's clear that design--and designers--in the US do not suck. I'm guessing that half of you reading this blog are US designers, and damn good ones. So it's not the designers that have gone missing. Why oh why don't we have a culture that recognizes, celebrates, and appreciates design the way so many other countries do? Did we have it and lose it, or was it always like this... Designers out there (I comment on design, but I'm not one), can you help the rest of us learn to place greater value on design and aesthetics?

There's reason for hope, though... younger generations are tuned for design (I've talked on this before... visit a skateboard shop to see some what some of the top graphic designers are doing).