US currency is ugly, and the new $5 bill, which entered circulation a few weeks ago, especially so. A purple “5” on a green bill? Fugly. The fun thing about visiting other countries is seeing currency and coinage that looks interesting. I never realized how bland US currency was until I did my postdoc in Canada, and after only a few months away had trouble telling US bills apart.

New British coins are out, and IMO they look awesome. Compare and contrast the artistic value with our new fiver.

Update: John Gruber at Daring Fireball writes

When I commented on the ugly new U.S. five dollar bill the other day, several readers wrote in to argue that the bill should not be criticized, because some of the changes which have made it uglier were made for the benefit of people with low vision. That’s bullshit. Accessibility is an important and worthy goal, but it is not at odds with good design. We should settle for nothing less than beautiful and accessible currency. This isn’t it.

Get Helvetica off our money