12 ms·

Future euro banknote design proposals

281 points by robin_reala 3mo ago

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/html/design-proposals.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/ht...

pestatije 3mo ago
[flagged]
- embedding-shape 3mo ago
  Yeah, I don't know why the cleaners of the parliament buildings aren't putting forward their own economic proposals either, clearly they have time to sit sometimes, might as well write proposals for new regulation.
klausa 3mo ago
A better link might be https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/html/all-design-proposals.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/ht..., which has all of the proposals on a single page for easier browsing.
- SiempreViernes 3mo ago
  Not sure if it is much better, the images are tiny on that version and the companion text explaining the designs seems to be missin (though that sort of text you can usually do without).
  - klausa 3mo ago
    The actual images are pretty big so you can just use your browser's native zooming capabilities. I found that much nicer than constantly clicking to show the reverse sides, but to each their own!
    - morjom 3mo ago
      The article one also misses on the size differences across notes. Not the biggest deal, but should be shown.
- kaizenb 3mo ago
  I wish I've seen this before clicking 2359 times :/ Thanks anyway at least now I can share the right experience with people so they won't suffer like me. Also I like birds. H looks nice.
  - fakedang 3mo ago
    Yeah, either H or B bird faces would work. Both are nice. I don't like the idea of using faces in the banknotes - when will North Macedonia get its turn and with whom? When will Ireland get its turn? Bulgaria? Birds are neutral and nice. Also for the back, much rather I'd have the EU map instead of clunky EU institutions, else people will just see that as more evidence of further EU intrusion.
- dang 3mo ago
  Thanks! changed from https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/html/design-proposals.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/ht... above. I've put the original URL in the toptext.
morjom 3mo ago
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, imo.
- tialaramex 3mo ago
  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.
  - morjom 3mo ago
    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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_banknotes
    - tialaramex 3mo ago
      Monochrome means "single colour". Typically shades of that colour are included, so if something was dark purple lines on a light purple background we might say that's monochrome. In some cases it's taken to mean that there's just black/ grey/ white, but here it makes sense to say that e.g. one note is green, another blue, but no individuals notes are a mix of green and blue, they're monochrome. Since you mentioned English isn't your first language, this use of the "to stick" verb where it's about adhering to something (metaphorically in your case) has a different past participle, "stuck". You wrote "sticked" which makes sense but isn't used for this meaning today. Nobody will misunderstand but it will sound wrong to them, we'd say e.g. "Perhaps if we'd stuck with Zig the game would be finished by now" or "Somebody stuck their chewing gum to the table". Most of these new designs are monochrome excepting that the European flag is itself blue because that's what colour the flag is. A few of them are more colourful, and I see what you mean about that adding to clutter. For their purpose they're successful because the big reason to use colour is that people with very poor sight (some of whom are legally blind but do retain some ability to determine colour) can tell a red note from a blue one, the small accents in a different colour won't affect that. If your sight is good enough to figure out it's a European flag, you don't need this cue, you can read the large numerals saying "100" nearby to determine it's a €100 note.
vrganj 3mo ago
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.
- klausa 3mo ago
  Yes, the motifs were selected ~1.5y ago: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...
  - vrganj 3mo ago
    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.
    - klausa 3mo ago
      I'm sure most countries will have their pet peeves with this; I've seen a bunch of Polish people being upset about the phrasing of Marie Curie's name already.
    - cisophrene 3mo ago
      > Germans got their one famous composer I think you just made J.S. Bach roll over in his grave. And don't forget: Brahms, Handel, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Richard Strauss, Wagner. The competition is not so one-sided.
    - holgerschurig 3mo ago
      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 :-)
thyristan 3mo ago
There were some clearly superior suggestions they left out: https://xcancel.com/The_Davos_Man/status/2080383908823081426 https://xcancel.com/The_Davos_Man/status/2080383908823081426 ;)
- crote 3mo ago
  You know, that actually isn't the worst idea! Putting tangible results of the EU on the Euro would constantly remember people that the EU isn't just some nameless and faceless bureaucrats doing busy-work in an office building in Brussels. The cookie notification is of course a bit silly, but a "Thanks to the EU you'll never lose another bottle cap" or a "This standardized USB-C charger is brought to you by the EU" would do wonders for its PR.
grim_io 3mo ago
Birds are clearly superior.
- hinata08 3mo ago
  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
  - tialaramex 3mo ago
    > These are a current necessities, but nothing to sanctuarize for the future. Although the ECB does not today "withdraw" notes in the sense that they cease to be valid for most purposes, it does deliberately destroy old notes and issue new ones with different images to replace them, so the original series must be getting pretty rare by now - not rare enough to be worth serious collectors paying money for it, but your ten year old may never have seen an actual old Euro €500 note even though in principle those still are valid money in the Eurozone.
    - bostik 3mo ago
      > deliberately destroy old notes and issue new ones with different images to replace them Big part of the reason for this appears to be security. Many years ago a high-ranking official from Finnish central bank told in an interview that bank notes need to be redesigned approximately once per decade. Reason is that it takes about that long for the materials and printing technology to get commoditised enough for criminal enterprises to be able to start manufacturing "high-grade" forgeries at any real scale. Every generation of bank notes employs a whole bunch of newly developed technologies and tricks that make the notes themselves distinctive, as well as incredibly difficult[ß] to forge. ß: Some of it is down to tightly locked down and guarded speciality supply chains. Some is due to advances in microprinting and ilk. If you had unlimited resources, you could arrange to have the necessary equipment, supplies, staff and materials to print your own forged money. It'd just be slow, low-yield and very expensive.
fodkodrasz 3mo ago
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/html/all-design-proposals.en.html 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'd prefer something along these lines. Design F has very strange coloring, the watercolor and sketch effect looks nice on screen, but I think more filled and more monochrome notes are more conventional and accepted, also some are bicolor. Not bad, but I'd not like it in everyday use probably. Design G is somehow not good looking, I cannot phrase it. Both the font, and also the backsides scenes are meh, even the modernist buildings are better on some other series. Design J : the creepy abstract cartoon people on the backside ruin it. Also somehow not aesthetically pleasing, but not catastrophic.
- frb 3mo ago
  > 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.
  - LukaD 3mo ago
    > 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. But if I wanted to create counterfeit euro bank notes I could just go with the old ones, no? Anyway, I think creating new designs just for fun is a good enough reason for me to create new notes.
    - rcxdude 3mo ago
      The old ones get pulled out of circulation and usually stop being accepted at most places, or at least get more scrutiny.
nottorp 3mo ago
Are they going to switch to plastic while they're at it? That's the only thing I'll miss if Romania ever switches to Euro. Cash you can launder. Literally.
- cmoski 3mo ago
  I assumed everywhere except the USA had converted to plastic... It's so much better.
- ahartmetz 3mo ago
  Paper cash is made from cotton fiber, it easily survives the washing machine.
  - nottorp 3mo ago
    Not in my experience... but then I haven't had "paper" cash since 200x (small x).
- netsharc 3mo ago
  Euroes are cotton fiber and washable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mCVOAXLg00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mCVOAXLg00
Devasta 3mo ago
They really shouldn't be people. Birds are fine, but I like the bridges, why are the moving away from those?
- tmtvl 3mo ago
  Perhaps because they don't want to have only Dutch landmarks on the notes?
nkmnz 3mo ago
The survey is completely useless. Just let me vote on pairs of designs which I like more, then aggregate the data. It's not that hard to program and a hundred times more accurate and useful.
fdegmecic 3mo ago
art from Milos Zlatanovic for Serbian notes is still unmatched.
- TitaRusell 3mo ago
  Yeah but would Croatia use notes designed by a Serb? Never underestimate the pettiness of man.
spaceman_2020 3mo ago
So many of these have some building as the backdrop, but all the buildings are modernist skyscrapers and uninspired office buildings Europe doesn't have a dearth of stunning architecture. Have they all been discarded in favor of ugly straightline modernist sloptitecture because they might be construed as offensive for some reason?
- ketzu 3mo ago
  > but all the buildings are modernist skyscrapers and uninspired office buildings Because they are the european institutions, eg the EU parliament building, EU comission, etc. They are mostly office buildings.
  - like_any_other 3mo ago
    That does not mean they were the only possible choice. Personally, I find having my continent represented by them an extreme insult.
    - watwut 3mo ago
      People really take offe se on everything these days.
    - Bewelge 3mo ago
      Can you elaborate what you mean? Are you against the idea of European cooperation in general? Or against the implementation? If there is to be European cooperation that goes beyond heads of states talking to each other, you're going to need some kind of space where they can do that. Using that building as a symbol seems like an obvious choice albeit not a very creative one. Really struggle to see how that choice can be "extremely insulting".
      - crote 3mo ago
        The average European does not view those buildings as symbols of European cooperation. They are just another generic office building some nameless and faceless bureaucrats work in. They lack the symbolism and recognizability of some US buildings like the White House, the Capitol, or the Pentagon - which are all inherently linked to the institutions they host. A movie showing an external shot of the White House establishes that we're going to be looking at the US President next. A movie showing an external shot of the European Parliament establishes... office drones working in the Business Factory?
broken-kebab 3mo ago
Flip sides on all of them look like they are taken from a random free vector illustrations archive.
- TacticalCoder 3mo ago
  Yup terribly bad. I pick the birds: those with portraits of people are really badly fucked up and the faces do not integrate well at all with the notes. The current ones are much better looking than any of those.
timpera 3mo ago
I try to pay everything in cash as much as I can, so it's nice to see the banknotes get some love from the ECB (even though the absence of €1 and €2 banknotes still hurts…). I think it's a bit strange to feature people on these, plus it would be difficult to agree on who to feature between the 21 € states. The birds look cool! But it would have been nice to modernize the current architecture-based design rather than feature random EU office buildings.
- latexr 3mo ago
  > plus it would be difficult to agree on who to feature between the 21 € states. What do you mean? Clearly they did agree, which is why we have those design proposals. Those aren’t random people chosen by the designers, they were in the brief. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...
- rationalist 3mo ago
  Me too, #NormalizeCash Cash is freedom.
  - Cider9986 3mo ago
    Cash is king.
    - dzhiurgis 3mo ago
      That’s not meant to be interpreted literally tho I wonder how much of cash transactions are actually legitimate. It’s usually drugs, illicit services or untaxed income. While I don’t like tax just as much as next guy, the blatant dodging of is what me. Sure there are few legit privacy freaks and some genuinely unbanked. But blending those into single pot makes it much worse as they are already associated with fringes of society.
      - xorcist 3mo ago
        How could it possibly be interpreted literally? Instating a monarchy with cash as regent? How would that work in daily life?
shimonabi 3mo ago
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?
- vrganj 3mo ago
  As an Austrian, Bertha von Suttner is a big deal. First woman to win a Nobel Peace prize (and probably the reason that prize exists in the first place!), second woman to win a Nobel ever (after Curie). Your ignorance of her is not an indictment of "woke bureaucrats". Daft Punk honestly sounds cool, but we probably shouldn't be putting any living personalities on there. Feels kinda weird.
  - latexr 3mo ago
    > we probably shouldn't be putting any living personalities on there. Feels kinda weird. Weird and ill-advised. Living people who appear on bank notes tend to be monarchs and dictators. Imagine having someone on the euro notes that suddenly becomes overtly anti-EU. Not a good call to promote someone who’s against you. Remember when Star Trek mentioned Musk? That did not age well. https://www.cbr.com/star-trek-discovery-elon-musk-joke-star-trek-iv/ https://www.cbr.com/star-trek-discovery-elon-musk-joke-star-...
  - shimonabi 3mo ago
    I'd rather have Henry Kissinger on the note.
    - vrganj 3mo ago
      Yikes.
  - suddenlybananas 3mo ago
    Compared to all other figures from European history, she is kind of a random figure.
- 3mo ago
impure 3mo ago
What's with all the birds? Also I like A the best. It's very modern.
- latexr 3mo ago
  > What's with all the birds? From the brief: > “Rivers and birds” highlights the resilience and diversity of Europe’s natural ecosystems by showcasing different stages of rivers and various bird species, emphasising the importance of nature and environmental protection. The European institutions featured on the banknotes remind us of the fundamental values of the European project, which also embraces environmental protection. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...
h1fra 3mo ago
I love they don't explain what's in the banknote. Am I suppose to know everything? jeez
- latexr 3mo ago
  https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...
- sph 3mo ago
  They’re called birds. They fly and make weird noises.
- zo1 3mo ago
  One of the designs does! It lists the bird name and a few properties about them like their size and life-expectancy. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/html/all-design-proposals/DESIGN%20B.webp https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/ht... The weirdest thing is that all the notes say "The President". Wtf is that?
jck86 3mo ago
That's pretty terrible. I guess only design H looks like it could be real money. And what are the options they give? I guess historical people with weird abstract community settings or birds with office buildings. Is that all the EU represents? Whatever they go for I hope they do not open the can of worms that is historical people, or any people for that matter. It will start all kinds of tiresome discussions and people will draw on them making it difficult use defaced bills. If you really want historical people as a gesture of appreciation or celebration of their achievements then make that a limited edition.
robin_reala 3mo ago
Incidentally, there’s an open role at the ECB for “Traineeship in environmental sustainability in banknote production”, sounds like a fun job for the right person: https://talent.ecb.europa.eu/careers/JobDetail/Traineeship-in-environmental-sustainability-in-banknote-production/14528 https://talent.ecb.europa.eu/careers/JobDetail/Traineeship-i...
_bent 3mo ago
F looks incredible, H is also great. They are all pretty good, except for maybe A and E which I find dull. I prefer the birds and buildings, though of the finalists with people on them I find C rather striking. Hopefully whichever wins will look like the original design after being finalized for printing, it would be a shame if they had to dull the colors or rearrange the layout for security features etc
carlosjobim 3mo ago
Who is the smug lady?
- latexr 3mo ago
  That’s Beethoven. I know his hair is a bit long, but that’s a man. He does look a bit miffed, but can you blame him? Being deaf when you’re a composer must not have been pleasant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven If you don’t recognise someone else, they are named in the brief. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...
  - deleted 3mo ago
    [deleted]
- jck86 3mo ago
  Also was curious, it is Maria Callas. Opera singer. The angry one is Ludwig van Beethoven. I guess of the designs with people I only like designs E and F. There the expressions don't look too odd. Takes some getting used too though.
Cider9986 3mo ago
I and J are bad fits.
antonmks 3mo ago
Definitely birds all the way, with fashionable vertical design.
Cider9986 3mo ago
Should let companies advertise on banknotes.
minkeymaniac 3mo ago
B (with the bird) brings back 100 guilder vibes. https://europost.nl/winkel/bankbiljetten/nederland-ba/nederland-1977-100-gulden-snip-vogel-bankbiljet-unc/ https://europost.nl/winkel/bankbiljetten/nederland-ba/nederl...
derdi 3mo ago
I don't like having people on banknotes, for the simple reason that one day a French lobby group would decide that Napoleon is a great European who deserves to be on one. I think the buildings are ugly, and D does its best to obscure them. So that's my winner. F has very strong "Soviet children's book" vibes.
ChrisArchitect 3mo ago
Announcement release: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2026/html/ecb.pr260723~c2d43f9170.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2026/html/ecb.pr2607... I kept wondering what all the people and birds were, there's a table on this Motifs page: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...
opengrass 3mo ago
E
pil0u 3mo ago
I found it hard to vote just by saying "I like this design" for each one individually. Since we have a set of limited option, I'd rather compare and pick the ones I prefer in comparison of the others. I helped Claude build a simple web app (static, local, oss) to make you choose among pairs, to progressively determine your personal preference. It outputs your top 3, you can share the summary like this: Recto Verso Euro My top euro banknote designs: Design H Design D Design B → https://pil0u.github.io/recto-verso-euro/#r=HDBJIGECFA&c=68 It's very WIP, but I found this approach useful to fill the survey, so why not share
- pan69 3mo ago
  I scanned through it and settled on Design H as well, birds and buildings. One thing I started to notice while looking over the design that I had a strong preference for the number to be in the corners. The last two one are "portrait" which feels weird to me but might be more appealing to a younger generation.
  - pil0u 3mo ago
    I can get behind some comments here that the buildings are representative of the institution of Europe, not the people. I love the birds, and probably naturally settled to the one where the buildings are less visible ^^
  - graypegg 3mo ago
    In Canada, we have ONE bill with a vertical orientation. [0] The other notes (5$, 20$, 50$, 100$), though designed a bit earlier than then vertical 10$ note but definitely in the same style, are horizontal. There is also a discontinued, but still circulating, horizontal 10$ bill. I have zero reason to complain honestly. It's never impacted me negatively at all... but aestetically it feels weird when mixed together with other bills. If you're sorting money, you'll already know which ones are 10$ because they're that colour of purple... but the number won't be facing the right way. If you're making an ATM UI that lets people pick what mix of bills to withdrawl, RBC chose to show pictures of the bills for some reason, featuring the old horizontal 10$ bill (which it doesn't dispense) because clearly the actual 10$ bill wouldn't fit in the UI. [1] (I didn't expect this to be illustrated by a random youtube video, but it turns out the internet has everything.) Is that a problem? No. Is it juuust weird enough that family from overseas visting me will mention how weird it is every single time they use an ATM? Yes. If the euro switched to vertical all at once maybe that wouldn't be as weird, but the old horizontal bills are going to be circulating for a long time. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_ten-dollar_note https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_ten-dollar_note [1] https://youtu.be/sRxo_L9ODwo?si=pihBzi4XTaLoXngF&t=47 https://youtu.be/sRxo_L9ODwo?si=pihBzi4XTaLoXngF&t=47 (Warning, you have better things to do with your time than watch the slowest person ever withdraw two 10$ bills)
firefax 3mo ago
It's a shame due to Brexit there will be no Count Binface €10.
- ElFitz 3mo ago
  The Monnaie de Paris could still do a coin series with him, just to spite Farage.
  - firefax 3mo ago
    How much red tape is there to do this in the age of the Euro? A more realistic idea may be they could pledge the funds for moving the hand dryer in the men's toilet at the Crown and Treaty pub, which, as you probably have heard, is a in a terribly inconvenient location.
- mbmbn 3mo ago
  I do hope we get Charles Martel though.
- crote 3mo ago
  The main benefit of Brexit is that the EU is now able to use English as a neutral universal language which is both commonly-known and doesn't favor any individual member state. Clearly the best choice would've been to extend this and put British buildings or British historical people on the next generation of Euro notes. It would favor no EU country, so clearly it is the most neutral option. /s
  - firefax 3mo ago
    >The main benefit of Brexit is that the EU is now able to use English as a neutral universal language which is both commonly-known and doesn't favor any individual member state. Ireland was a signatory to the Maastricht Treaty, but once again we are reminded of the need to equally consider smaller nations when discussing EUwide matters ;-) And I don't think Brexit had any benefits. They already don't use the Euro so they can do weird neoliberal wonk stuff to their heart's contents, and they have nukes so we'll be feeding them one way or another so why worry? (That's what we've taught the world by letting NK get them BTW.)
Epa095 3mo ago
Decent enough, but quite boring. The nicest notes I know about currently are the Norwegian ones https://www.norges-bank.no/tema/Sedler-og-mynter/gyldige-sedler-mynter/ https://www.norges-bank.no/tema/Sedler-og-mynter/gyldige-sed... But the Canadian ones are physically impressive, they don't really crumble, and seem immune to both liquid and tearing.
- dadoum 3mo ago
  I like the Swiss franc banknotes personally
trencedamp 3mo ago
I like B best
krick 3mo ago
Hope it's the birds. I suppose there's no way to vote or anything with the current level of technological advancement, and the final design will be chosen by professional choosers that are handsomely paid for their hard work?
- byroot 3mo ago
  There's a public survey: https://surveys.ecb.europa.eu/10b/neweuro/ https://surveys.ecb.europa.eu/10b/neweuro/
  - morningsam 3mo ago
    Thank you. I wish they had used a pairwise comparison system like the one built by pil0u [1] for this. If I hadn't looked at all of them in advance, I would've had to go back to "normalize" my previous answers after seeing one that I especially like/hate. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041625 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041625
- binaryturtle 3mo ago
  There's a survey link. Not sure it works as Cloudflare blocks me from accessing it. Oh the irony, having my opinion as EU citizen about an EU issue blocked by some silly US company. I want some birds too!
  - tchalla 3mo ago
    Share a screenshot of the block?
    - binaryturtle 3mo ago
      It's the typical Cloudflare error where it tells you "Your browser sucks", not sure what a screenshot would help. :)
      - tchalla 3mo ago
zokier 3mo ago
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 shapes and gradients. Ugly in same ways as C) H) Very inoffensive, very boring. Competing with B) in the most boring category. I) Bit too much going on. The river map thing on the back side should be distinct in each note J) The visual "sketchy" style just doesn't feel right here. Ultimately F is visually my favourite although like many others I do dislike the "famous people" theme. Design I could be very nice with some tweaks
- ahartmetz 3mo ago
  I like the ones you find boring (but not the corporate Memphis ones) - money is a serious matter, so it's IMO supposed to look serious and a little boring.
  - yeahforsureman 3mo ago
    +1 for boring!
  - freehorse 3mo ago
    I feel like banknotes is one of the few common-places that EU could convey some sort of "shared vision/purpose" that is largely missing in general. From this perspective "boring" as in buildings etc are not very good options as they do not convey anything positive, and make it look further "cold and distant" from people. While options like F show a vision which europe could aim towards. Of course then, on the other hand, the boring options are in this sense the most honest ones.
- mrweasel 3mo ago
  While I don't really particularly like any of the designs, the F option is absolutely wild and I feel it would really make the Euro notes standout in the world. I don't know that it would make for a good bank note design, but it is visibly distinct. The birds on J is incredibly beautiful, but that's somewhat offset by the building on the reverse.
hackitup7 3mo ago
Was hoping for some cookie banners
dotcoma 3mo ago
The ones with EU buildings look like banknotes of the DDR.
IceHegel 3mo ago
It's gonna be E. The birds are nice, but there's no way they do the birds. The other ones with people are too photorealistic or too cartoonish.
icase 3mo ago
[flagged]
Beijinger 3mo ago
I mean. Put famous Europeans on it. Socrates, Platon, Leonardo, Newton, Leibnitz, Einstein, Hitler....
Markoff 3mo ago
I would refrain from using people considering some of them may (become) controversial or are controversial depending on a country, there will never be agreement on someone who is not controversial at all and after all each country can use them on their coins if they feel the urge. The birds idea is good, I like: B - nice realistic D/I/J - don't like vertical design (though I like colorful birds in J) H - the most beautiful work of art, it would be my choice Btw. why not use more designs at same time? I like Hong Kong approach to currency design (multiple commercial banks issue the banknotes under government regulation, three authorized banks—HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, and Bank of China—design and print their own notes for daily use, while the government issues coins and the $10 note). And very controversial idea, but this would be more suitable for national currency and not for eurozone - use banknotes as ad space companies can purchase, but it would have to be very very very costly space for country's budget to benefit from this. Though I like the idea of paying Pepsi with Coca Cola banknote.
warrantisall 3mo ago
Chat Control and age verification belong there.
- cynicalsecurity 3mo ago
  We don't have it. Some US states have passed those laws already, weirdly enough.
phtrivier 3mo ago
I'm not trying to start a debate about relevance, but I can't recognize the faces on the 50 and 200 noted. An author and a "nature lover", I guess ?
- klez 3mo ago
  On the 50 is Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quixote). On the 200 is Bertha von Suttner, the first woman to win a Nobel peace prize. I admit I had to look her up.
  - phtrivier 3mo ago
    Oh, funny, I learned about her last week, in a biography of Alfred Nobel, but i only saw pictures of her young.
altern8 3mo ago
The only reason I can think of for this is a push to a cashless society. Specially the vertical banknotes, what is up with that?
- flexagoon 3mo ago
  > Specially the vertical banknotes, what is up with that? They look awesome. Design I is amazing
  - altern8 3mo ago
    Sure, but people hold them and look at them horizontally, elderly people will get super-confused.
    - cromka 3mo ago
      Yes, elderly people cannot fathom things that are not horizontal in nature...
- mahkeiro 3mo ago
  Switzerland has been using vertical bank notes for a while and they are amazing in a modern wallet where they are stored folded.
- arximboldi 3mo ago
  I rated the vertical ones the highest, I think it's genious. It automatically struck me as way more usable. You can see the denomination as you are handing it to someone. It's easier also hold a stack in your hand and count them by flipping the free end, without twisting your hand to read the numbers. Also we are more used to vertical layout in things than we hold in our hands (books, phones, etc.). Definitely a superior design, even if less usual.
rdm_blackhole 3mo ago
The worst part of this whole enterprise is not the designs per se (although the buildings look like soulless buildings from the former USSR but that is besides the point), it is that very few stores actually accept 100/200 euro notes. Even 50 euro notes can be seen as suspicious in certain shops. So my question is why bother with a redesign when you can't even use the notes in the first place?
eviks 3mo ago
Is size not part of "shared identity and values"? Also, if you like animals, why not use different kinds for easier differentiation rather than stick to birds users will not even know names for?
- shalom1112 3mo ago
  [dead]
- crote 3mo ago
  What do you mean? The various denominations intentionally have different sizes so that blind people can tell them apart by touch. Surely you're not suggesting that they should all be the same size?
  - eviks 3mo ago
    While I doubt the benefit of small differences to signal the absolute value (sure, you can feel that one is bigger, but that is it 10 vs 5 bigger or 50 vs 20 bigger?), especially compared to other more helpful direct signs like the raised print, I'm not suggesting eliminating that. But I'm suggesting varying the desin of both the absolutes (e.g., I'd prefer all of them to be smaller) and the variability (e.g, what about making the most used first 3 notes significantly different length for the easiest differentiation: 1/3, 2/3, 3/3) instead of just playing with some pics.
sakjur 3mo ago
I find the bridges to be rather brilliant, as they're distinctly European without being placeable (until Spijkenisse got feeling[1]). The least historical governmental buildings in Europe seems like an awful choice by contrast: They're tied to a physical location in western Europe that most of us have little to no connection to. They're boring (which is not a criticism of the buildings, they're functional which is their purpose, but I'd rather not see them on coinage). For a similar reason, the portraits are also just... fine. Greek, German, Polish-French, Spaniard, Italian, and Austrian. It's much more diverse than the buildings, but the Balkans, Nordics (including Latvia and Estonia), Benelux, and other smaller states remain unrepresented. Of course, changing anyone out would leave another unrepresented (though the obverse and reverse could both be used in harmony, why does the reverse have to be nondescript?). If we're going for people, one thing I really like about the Swedish bills is that the person on the lowest denomination is specifically chosen to have an icon for children: Currently Astrid Lindgren and previously Selma Lagerlöf made the 20 krona bill distinctly "for the children". The choice of Bertha von Suttner for the highest denomination is one that I agree with -- and also aligned with the Swedish bank notes where the equivalent is held by Dag Hammarskjöld. Both ECB and Riksbanken chose a person best known for their pursuit of peace and unity of humankind. Still, the beauty of the bridges is that they're European, not French or German. All that aside, I'd hope for F or J stylistically. There's too much vectorization happening on most of the others. It feels like the others won't stand the test of time. G and C already feels ten years out of date imo. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurobridges_Spijkenisse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurobridges_Spijkenisse
- izacus 3mo ago
  As I mentioned elsewhere, it's kinda strange they didn't learn the lesson from Euro coins and did multiple versions of each banknote to cover and represent every member state with at least one person.
  - hobofan 3mo ago
    With the amount of security mechanisms in a banknote that have to be tailed to each design, I would assume that making that many variants would be financially irresponsible.
ThouYS 3mo ago
the bland glass and steel buildings made me think some of these were actually parody.
cynicalsecurity 3mo ago
Proposal E from Myrsini Vardopoulou is absolutely superior.
danielfalbo 3mo ago
While other countries are cashless
sensanaty 3mo ago
I really dislike the back of the notes on pretty much all of them. Generic crowds of people with ugly backdrops, just feels very uninspired especially when some of the front designs are so bold
- forinti 3mo ago
  I agree. There's one Da Vinci with the Vitruvian man on the back. The back should complement the front, right?
flyingshelf 3mo ago
Could be that they lack details at this point, but I rate them all from trash to less-trash. Switzerland has had some outstanding bills forever right in the center of Europe, but the EU comes out with this uninspired garbage.
- MrBuddyCasino 3mo ago
  I did not expect anything else. The proposal J with the birds has some charm, but doesn’t work as a whole.
elil17 3mo ago
A) Probably my favorite. Despite not loving the overall style, the portraits actually show emotion. Von Suttner's portrait in particular conveys a lot to me. B) Not a fan. Individual elements are well done but it doesn't feel cohesive to me. C) Fine/unobjectionable to me. D) I like these a lot. It feels like they really made the most of the choice of buildings by covering them up with geometric patterns and/or showing the insides. E) I really hate the backs of these. The back designs of all the others show how the spirit of each historical figure shows up in modern life. This utterly fails to do that for Da Vinci and Curie. F) These just don't look like banknotes to me, and I don't think the colors look good. G) Please no. H) Fronts look good! I) I'm not sure I like the technology/prey animals on the front. J) These don't feel like banknotes to me, but I think I might wind up liking them after getting used to them.
Towaway69 3mo ago
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?
- crote 3mo ago
  > Bland, boring & repetitive designs - what else can one expect from a technocracy. The first two generations of Euro bills, for example. Not bland, not especially boring, not repetitive.
antiford2049 3mo ago
looks cheap. i want my money to look fancy, not like a brochure from an airline.
shevy-java 3mo ago
I think buildings or areas may be more useful than people. But, if people are chosen then these should be as least controversial as possible. Compare it to the USA where the orange king wants to brand everything with his old man face. The insanity brand.
crote 3mo ago
I feel like the design guidelines were fundamentally flawed, and as a logical result none of the design proposals are better than what we already have. The whole "some person's face" thing doesn't work because most people won't be familiar with them. Heck, you'd be lucky if the average person is familiar with their names! The birds & buildings suffer from the same issue: never seen them, can't identify them, don't care about them. And because it references real-world things there's a very genuine risk of people being upset over being underrepresented, or the person or institution being depicted getting disgraced. What's left is the "vague depictions of people doing random things" theming, but that's neither European nor meaningful nor distinctive. You forget about it the second you stop looking at it. The previous two series - depicting bridge types and building styles - neatly bypassed this by being something everyone could relate to, while at the same time not referencing anything specific-enough that anyone could be upset about it. Especially the first series nailed this down perfectly. Given the mediocre design proposals we're now left with, I think Design J is the obvious best choice. It is not actively ugly, and the various bills are at least distinct enough that they are easy to tell apart. Design H isn't too bad, but the building side is just "generic glass blob in a distance" rather than anything one would remember and recognize.
- IlikeMadison 3mo ago
  >there's a very genuine risk of people being upset over being underrepresented Explain yourself. Who the hell could feel upset upon seeing Marie Curie, Beethoven, da Vinci or Maria Callas? They are all very recognizable, well known European figures with astounding achievements and highly respected by any true European worth its name. Are you suggesting we should erase them because of someone's feeling?
  - tomp 3mo ago
    I've never heard of Maria Callas before. Especially ridiculous because she was born in the US and Wikipedia describes her as American and Greek.
    - jchallis 3mo ago
mihaic 3mo ago
The people choosing these banknotes put their office buildings on the money. They also seemed to have a gender quota, and have put on the 200 euro someone who is unknown to most Europeans (Marie Curie and Maria Callas were popular on the other hand). Honestly, I enjoy plenty of benefits from the EU, but this non-representative style of decision-making makes me understand the EU-haters.
- zaik 3mo ago
  > unknown to most Europeans Good opportunity to learn!
  - mihaic 3mo ago
    Why Bertha von Suttner and not someone like Dag Hammarskjold for instance? Why not my grandmother? She brokered peace between all our neighbours. When you propose someone, the burden of proof is on you to say why that specific option should be chosen, instead of anything else possible.
CrLf 3mo ago
Faces on Euro banknotes are a terrible idea. Even internationally well-known personalities are associated with certain countries, and you do not put things that represent specific countries on banknotes used in different countries. The EU isn't a federation, and having a single currency doesn't make the eurozone any more so. The buildings aren't as bad, being european insitution headquarters. However, as they aren't necessarily widely recognizable, they come out a bit self serving.
- asdf88990 3mo ago
  You think people of some countries might protest Gutenberg, Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Maria Callas, Beethoven, or Marrie Currie? If such people exist, fuck em.
  - CrLf 3mo ago
    It's not a matter of protesting (nor is it a matter of nationalism). It's a matter of bureocrats remembering that there are more countries in the eurozone than banknotes, and even if that wasn't the case, their denominations can be read as hierarchy.
    - wvbdmp 3mo ago
      So shuffle them around. We already have a million coin designs. One side can remain constant, no problem.
    - deleted 3mo ago
      [deleted]
  - meeshmuesh 3mo ago
    It's not about protesting, it's about representation. They were born into what are now, Germany, Germany, Italy, USA, Germany, Polish. Why not any of the below ? Austria: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Belgium: Georges Lemaître Bulgaria: Saint Cyril Croatia: Nikola Tesla Cyprus: Zeno of Citium Czechia: Franz Kafka Denmark: Hans Christian Andersen Estonia: Jaan Kross Finland: Jean Sibelius France: Napoleon Bonaparte Greece: Aristotle Hungary: Franz Liszt Ireland: James Joyce Latvia: Mark Rothko Lithuania: Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis Luxembourg: Robert Schuman Malta: Jean de Valette Netherlands: Rembrandt van Rijn Portugal: Vasco da Gama Romania: Nadia Comăneci Slovakia: Andy Warhol Slovenia: Slavoj Žižek Spain: Pablo Picasso Sweden: Alfred Nobel Why was Callas chosen over Joyce ? why was Beethovan chosen over Mozart ?
imafish 3mo ago
What’s wrong with the existing bank notes? I like their design
itvision 3mo ago
A truly horrible design, lacking any finesse or style.
andai 3mo ago
It's funny, it's a mixed bag. Some of the designs are beautiful, and some seem to be inspired by that abstract communist psychological torture cell.
jurschreuder 3mo ago
They all look like something went wrong in the press alignment process
franknord23 3mo ago
I love that design D shows the individual bird's songs, though it isn't integrated in the design very well.
ktosobcy 3mo ago
Current (bridges connecting) is very nice IMHO. I would change the dimensions maybe (I hate that the bills are taller than wider). From the proposal I like birds way more - no issue with national associations and "birds cross borders beyond nations".
dfxm12 3mo ago
They should put something like a USB-C connector on the front. Maybe IGP products. A small reminder of what Europe can do make people's lives easier or better.
- flyingshelf 3mo ago
  IGP? They should put European cheese on it. Fresh notes would have to smell like their picture, by law. Dad, can I have a Gorgonzola 20? Best I can do is a Casu Marzu 5.
sajithdilshan 3mo ago
What is the exact reason for a redesign (and to spend public money on that topic)? Is it to introduce new anti-counterfeit measures? Also having people on a note is dumb when the note has to be designed for a continent. Europe is not US it’s a union, but still a collection of sovereign countries with national pride and centuries of history. Having the EU bureaucrat offices on the notes are cherry on top like could they be more narcissistic? One could think that they would steal some ideas from Swiss currency note. They could have put things that were invented or discovered in Europe that changed the course of humans forever and something to be proud of being European, instead they went with some birds
- Ylpertnodi 3mo ago
  > What is the exact reason for a redesign (and to spend public money on that topic)? Is it to introduce new anti-counterfeit measures? If you want to eliminate corruption, change the color [design] of your banknotes. "You give us one old one, we give you one new one. Hey! Where'd you get £€$50,000 on your income? But, no-one will do that.
  - sajithdilshan 3mo ago
    It’s not like the old notes becomes invalid, they would be in circulation for years to come giving enough time for black money to be converted to new notes
deleted 3mo ago
[deleted]
LtdJorge 3mo ago
E without a doubt
shmeeed 3mo ago
Since seemingly nobody has mentioned it yet, I feel compelled to speak out: With all the controversy in this thread about dead artists and scientists, bridges, birds, buildings, and institutions, I for one am just thankful we don't have to suffer some narcissist trying to put his own mug on one of those bills.
throwaway2037 3mo ago
As a point of comparison, how do people feel about the latest issue of Swiss bank notes? I always found Swiss bank note designs quite inspiring. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Swiss_franc#Ninth_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Swiss_franc#N...
YeGoblynQueenne 3mo ago
OK, is there any place where they name the people and the birds? I can recognise the following people: 5 Euro - La Callas 10 Euro - Beethoven 20 Euro - Marie Curie 50 Euro - Cervantes 100 Euro - Da Vinci 200 Euro - ??? I'm sure I know who the 200 Euro person is but I can't name her. I'm sad I can't recognise any of the birds with any certainty at all. Fortunately their names are listed in Design B. In fact, so are some of their characteristics like size, weight, wingspan etc, so maybe you can use the banknotes to play some kind of bird card game of sorts.
- YeGoblynQueenne 3mo ago
  Btw, I'd probably go for Design J; because it's upright and because birds.
LargoLasskhyfv 3mo ago
What happened to the €500?
- tgv 3mo ago
  A palatable version: it's mostly used for laundering/crime, so away with it. Cynical: do we put a man or a woman on it?

281 points by robin_reala 3mo ago

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/html/design-proposals.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/ht...

pestatije 3mo ago

[flagged]

embedding-shape 3mo ago
Yeah, I don't know why the cleaners of the parliament buildings aren't putting forward their own economic proposals either, clearly they have time to sit sometimes, might as well write proposals for new regulation.

klausa 3mo ago

A better link might be https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/html/all-design-proposals.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/ht..., which has all of the proposals on a single page for easier browsing.

SiempreViernes 3mo ago
Not sure if it is much better, the images are tiny on that version and the companion text explaining the designs seems to be missin (though that sort of text you can usually do without).
- klausa 3mo ago
  The actual images are pretty big so you can just use your browser's native zooming capabilities. I found that much nicer than constantly clicking to show the reverse sides, but to each their own!
  - morjom 3mo ago
    The article one also misses on the size differences across notes. Not the biggest deal, but should be shown.
kaizenb 3mo ago
I wish I've seen this before clicking 2359 times :/ Thanks anyway at least now I can share the right experience with people so they won't suffer like me. Also I like birds. H looks nice.
- fakedang 3mo ago
  Yeah, either H or B bird faces would work. Both are nice. I don't like the idea of using faces in the banknotes - when will North Macedonia get its turn and with whom? When will Ireland get its turn? Bulgaria? Birds are neutral and nice. Also for the back, much rather I'd have the EU map instead of clunky EU institutions, else people will just see that as more evidence of further EU intrusion.
dang 3mo ago
Thanks! changed from https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/html/design-proposals.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/ht... above. I've put the original URL in the toptext.

morjom 3mo ago

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, imo.

tialaramex 3mo ago
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.
- morjom 3mo ago
  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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_banknotes
  - tialaramex 3mo ago
    Monochrome means "single colour". Typically shades of that colour are included, so if something was dark purple lines on a light purple background we might say that's monochrome. In some cases it's taken to mean that there's just black/ grey/ white, but here it makes sense to say that e.g. one note is green, another blue, but no individuals notes are a mix of green and blue, they're monochrome. Since you mentioned English isn't your first language, this use of the "to stick" verb where it's about adhering to something (metaphorically in your case) has a different past participle, "stuck". You wrote "sticked" which makes sense but isn't used for this meaning today. Nobody will misunderstand but it will sound wrong to them, we'd say e.g. "Perhaps if we'd stuck with Zig the game would be finished by now" or "Somebody stuck their chewing gum to the table". Most of these new designs are monochrome excepting that the European flag is itself blue because that's what colour the flag is. A few of them are more colourful, and I see what you mean about that adding to clutter. For their purpose they're successful because the big reason to use colour is that people with very poor sight (some of whom are legally blind but do retain some ability to determine colour) can tell a red note from a blue one, the small accents in a different colour won't affect that. If your sight is good enough to figure out it's a European flag, you don't need this cue, you can read the large numerals saying "100" nearby to determine it's a €100 note.

vrganj 3mo ago

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.

klausa 3mo ago
Yes, the motifs were selected ~1.5y ago: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...
- vrganj 3mo ago
  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.
  - klausa 3mo ago
    I'm sure most countries will have their pet peeves with this; I've seen a bunch of Polish people being upset about the phrasing of Marie Curie's name already.
  - cisophrene 3mo ago
    > Germans got their one famous composer I think you just made J.S. Bach roll over in his grave. And don't forget: Brahms, Handel, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Richard Strauss, Wagner. The competition is not so one-sided.
  - holgerschurig 3mo ago
    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 :-)

thyristan 3mo ago

There were some clearly superior suggestions they left out: https://xcancel.com/The_Davos_Man/status/2080383908823081426 https://xcancel.com/The_Davos_Man/status/2080383908823081426 ;)

crote 3mo ago
You know, that actually isn't the worst idea! Putting tangible results of the EU on the Euro would constantly remember people that the EU isn't just some nameless and faceless bureaucrats doing busy-work in an office building in Brussels. The cookie notification is of course a bit silly, but a "Thanks to the EU you'll never lose another bottle cap" or a "This standardized USB-C charger is brought to you by the EU" would do wonders for its PR.

grim_io 3mo ago

Birds are clearly superior.

hinata08 3mo ago
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
- tialaramex 3mo ago
  > These are a current necessities, but nothing to sanctuarize for the future. Although the ECB does not today "withdraw" notes in the sense that they cease to be valid for most purposes, it does deliberately destroy old notes and issue new ones with different images to replace them, so the original series must be getting pretty rare by now - not rare enough to be worth serious collectors paying money for it, but your ten year old may never have seen an actual old Euro €500 note even though in principle those still are valid money in the Eurozone.
  - bostik 3mo ago
    > deliberately destroy old notes and issue new ones with different images to replace them Big part of the reason for this appears to be security. Many years ago a high-ranking official from Finnish central bank told in an interview that bank notes need to be redesigned approximately once per decade. Reason is that it takes about that long for the materials and printing technology to get commoditised enough for criminal enterprises to be able to start manufacturing "high-grade" forgeries at any real scale. Every generation of bank notes employs a whole bunch of newly developed technologies and tricks that make the notes themselves distinctive, as well as incredibly difficult[ß] to forge. ß: Some of it is down to tightly locked down and guarded speciality supply chains. Some is due to advances in microprinting and ilk. If you had unlimited resources, you could arrange to have the necessary equipment, supplies, staff and materials to print your own forged money. It'd just be slow, low-yield and very expensive.

fodkodrasz 3mo ago

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/html/all-design-proposals.en.html 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'd prefer something along these lines. Design F has very strange coloring, the watercolor and sketch effect looks nice on screen, but I think more filled and more monochrome notes are more conventional and accepted, also some are bicolor. Not bad, but I'd not like it in everyday use probably. Design G is somehow not good looking, I cannot phrase it. Both the font, and also the backsides scenes are meh, even the modernist buildings are better on some other series. Design J : the creepy abstract cartoon people on the backside ruin it. Also somehow not aesthetically pleasing, but not catastrophic.

frb 3mo ago
> 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.
- LukaD 3mo ago
  > 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. But if I wanted to create counterfeit euro bank notes I could just go with the old ones, no? Anyway, I think creating new designs just for fun is a good enough reason for me to create new notes.
  - rcxdude 3mo ago
    The old ones get pulled out of circulation and usually stop being accepted at most places, or at least get more scrutiny.

nottorp 3mo ago

Are they going to switch to plastic while they're at it? That's the only thing I'll miss if Romania ever switches to Euro. Cash you can launder. Literally.

cmoski 3mo ago
I assumed everywhere except the USA had converted to plastic... It's so much better.
ahartmetz 3mo ago
Paper cash is made from cotton fiber, it easily survives the washing machine.
- nottorp 3mo ago
  Not in my experience... but then I haven't had "paper" cash since 200x (small x).
netsharc 3mo ago
Euroes are cotton fiber and washable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mCVOAXLg00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mCVOAXLg00

Devasta 3mo ago

They really shouldn't be people. Birds are fine, but I like the bridges, why are the moving away from those?

tmtvl 3mo ago
Perhaps because they don't want to have only Dutch landmarks on the notes?

nkmnz 3mo ago

The survey is completely useless. Just let me vote on pairs of designs which I like more, then aggregate the data. It's not that hard to program and a hundred times more accurate and useful.

fdegmecic 3mo ago

art from Milos Zlatanovic for Serbian notes is still unmatched.

TitaRusell 3mo ago
Yeah but would Croatia use notes designed by a Serb? Never underestimate the pettiness of man.

spaceman_2020 3mo ago

So many of these have some building as the backdrop, but all the buildings are modernist skyscrapers and uninspired office buildings Europe doesn't have a dearth of stunning architecture. Have they all been discarded in favor of ugly straightline modernist sloptitecture because they might be construed as offensive for some reason?

ketzu 3mo ago
> but all the buildings are modernist skyscrapers and uninspired office buildings Because they are the european institutions, eg the EU parliament building, EU comission, etc. They are mostly office buildings.
- like_any_other 3mo ago
  That does not mean they were the only possible choice. Personally, I find having my continent represented by them an extreme insult.
  - watwut 3mo ago
    People really take offe se on everything these days.
  - Bewelge 3mo ago
    Can you elaborate what you mean? Are you against the idea of European cooperation in general? Or against the implementation? If there is to be European cooperation that goes beyond heads of states talking to each other, you're going to need some kind of space where they can do that. Using that building as a symbol seems like an obvious choice albeit not a very creative one. Really struggle to see how that choice can be "extremely insulting".
    - crote 3mo ago
      The average European does not view those buildings as symbols of European cooperation. They are just another generic office building some nameless and faceless bureaucrats work in. They lack the symbolism and recognizability of some US buildings like the White House, the Capitol, or the Pentagon - which are all inherently linked to the institutions they host. A movie showing an external shot of the White House establishes that we're going to be looking at the US President next. A movie showing an external shot of the European Parliament establishes... office drones working in the Business Factory?

broken-kebab 3mo ago

Flip sides on all of them look like they are taken from a random free vector illustrations archive.

TacticalCoder 3mo ago
Yup terribly bad. I pick the birds: those with portraits of people are really badly fucked up and the faces do not integrate well at all with the notes. The current ones are much better looking than any of those.

timpera 3mo ago

I try to pay everything in cash as much as I can, so it's nice to see the banknotes get some love from the ECB (even though the absence of €1 and €2 banknotes still hurts…). I think it's a bit strange to feature people on these, plus it would be difficult to agree on who to feature between the 21 € states. The birds look cool! But it would have been nice to modernize the current architecture-based design rather than feature random EU office buildings.

latexr 3mo ago
> plus it would be difficult to agree on who to feature between the 21 € states. What do you mean? Clearly they did agree, which is why we have those design proposals. Those aren’t random people chosen by the designers, they were in the brief. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...
rationalist 3mo ago
Me too, #NormalizeCash Cash is freedom.
- Cider9986 3mo ago
  Cash is king.
  - dzhiurgis 3mo ago
    That’s not meant to be interpreted literally tho I wonder how much of cash transactions are actually legitimate. It’s usually drugs, illicit services or untaxed income. While I don’t like tax just as much as next guy, the blatant dodging of is what me. Sure there are few legit privacy freaks and some genuinely unbanked. But blending those into single pot makes it much worse as they are already associated with fringes of society.
    - xorcist 3mo ago
      How could it possibly be interpreted literally? Instating a monarchy with cash as regent? How would that work in daily life?

shimonabi 3mo ago

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?

vrganj 3mo ago
As an Austrian, Bertha von Suttner is a big deal. First woman to win a Nobel Peace prize (and probably the reason that prize exists in the first place!), second woman to win a Nobel ever (after Curie). Your ignorance of her is not an indictment of "woke bureaucrats". Daft Punk honestly sounds cool, but we probably shouldn't be putting any living personalities on there. Feels kinda weird.
- latexr 3mo ago
  > we probably shouldn't be putting any living personalities on there. Feels kinda weird. Weird and ill-advised. Living people who appear on bank notes tend to be monarchs and dictators. Imagine having someone on the euro notes that suddenly becomes overtly anti-EU. Not a good call to promote someone who’s against you. Remember when Star Trek mentioned Musk? That did not age well. https://www.cbr.com/star-trek-discovery-elon-musk-joke-star-trek-iv/ https://www.cbr.com/star-trek-discovery-elon-musk-joke-star-...
- shimonabi 3mo ago
  I'd rather have Henry Kissinger on the note.
  - vrganj 3mo ago
    Yikes.
- suddenlybananas 3mo ago
  Compared to all other figures from European history, she is kind of a random figure.
3mo ago

impure 3mo ago

What's with all the birds? Also I like A the best. It's very modern.

latexr 3mo ago
> What's with all the birds? From the brief: > “Rivers and birds” highlights the resilience and diversity of Europe’s natural ecosystems by showcasing different stages of rivers and various bird species, emphasising the importance of nature and environmental protection. The European institutions featured on the banknotes remind us of the fundamental values of the European project, which also embraces environmental protection. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...

h1fra 3mo ago

I love they don't explain what's in the banknote. Am I suppose to know everything? jeez

latexr 3mo ago
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...
sph 3mo ago
They’re called birds. They fly and make weird noises.
zo1 3mo ago
One of the designs does! It lists the bird name and a few properties about them like their size and life-expectancy. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/html/all-design-proposals/DESIGN%20B.webp https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/ht... The weirdest thing is that all the notes say "The President". Wtf is that?

jck86 3mo ago

That's pretty terrible. I guess only design H looks like it could be real money. And what are the options they give? I guess historical people with weird abstract community settings or birds with office buildings. Is that all the EU represents? Whatever they go for I hope they do not open the can of worms that is historical people, or any people for that matter. It will start all kinds of tiresome discussions and people will draw on them making it difficult use defaced bills. If you really want historical people as a gesture of appreciation or celebration of their achievements then make that a limited edition.

robin_reala 3mo ago

Incidentally, there’s an open role at the ECB for “Traineeship in environmental sustainability in banknote production”, sounds like a fun job for the right person: https://talent.ecb.europa.eu/careers/JobDetail/Traineeship-in-environmental-sustainability-in-banknote-production/14528 https://talent.ecb.europa.eu/careers/JobDetail/Traineeship-i...

_bent 3mo ago

F looks incredible, H is also great. They are all pretty good, except for maybe A and E which I find dull. I prefer the birds and buildings, though of the finalists with people on them I find C rather striking. Hopefully whichever wins will look like the original design after being finalized for printing, it would be a shame if they had to dull the colors or rearrange the layout for security features etc

carlosjobim 3mo ago

Who is the smug lady?

latexr 3mo ago
That’s Beethoven. I know his hair is a bit long, but that’s a man. He does look a bit miffed, but can you blame him? Being deaf when you’re a composer must not have been pleasant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven If you don’t recognise someone else, they are named in the brief. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
jck86 3mo ago
Also was curious, it is Maria Callas. Opera singer. The angry one is Ludwig van Beethoven. I guess of the designs with people I only like designs E and F. There the expressions don't look too odd. Takes some getting used too though.

Cider9986 3mo ago

I and J are bad fits.

antonmks 3mo ago

Definitely birds all the way, with fashionable vertical design.

Cider9986 3mo ago

Should let companies advertise on banknotes.

minkeymaniac 3mo ago

B (with the bird) brings back 100 guilder vibes. https://europost.nl/winkel/bankbiljetten/nederland-ba/nederland-1977-100-gulden-snip-vogel-bankbiljet-unc/ https://europost.nl/winkel/bankbiljetten/nederland-ba/nederl...

derdi 3mo ago

I don't like having people on banknotes, for the simple reason that one day a French lobby group would decide that Napoleon is a great European who deserves to be on one. I think the buildings are ugly, and D does its best to obscure them. So that's my winner. F has very strong "Soviet children's book" vibes.

ChrisArchitect 3mo ago

Announcement release: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2026/html/ecb.pr260723~c2d43f9170.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2026/html/ecb.pr2607... I kept wondering what all the people and birds were, there's a table on this Motifs page: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250131~611055a567.en.html https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr2501...

opengrass 3mo ago

pil0u 3mo ago

I found it hard to vote just by saying "I like this design" for each one individually. Since we have a set of limited option, I'd rather compare and pick the ones I prefer in comparison of the others. I helped Claude build a simple web app (static, local, oss) to make you choose among pairs, to progressively determine your personal preference. It outputs your top 3, you can share the summary like this: Recto Verso Euro My top euro banknote designs: Design H Design D Design B → https://pil0u.github.io/recto-verso-euro/#r=HDBJIGECFA&c=68 It's very WIP, but I found this approach useful to fill the survey, so why not share

pan69 3mo ago
I scanned through it and settled on Design H as well, birds and buildings. One thing I started to notice while looking over the design that I had a strong preference for the number to be in the corners. The last two one are "portrait" which feels weird to me but might be more appealing to a younger generation.
- pil0u 3mo ago
  I can get behind some comments here that the buildings are representative of the institution of Europe, not the people. I love the birds, and probably naturally settled to the one where the buildings are less visible ^^
- graypegg 3mo ago
  In Canada, we have ONE bill with a vertical orientation. [0] The other notes (5$, 20$, 50$, 100$), though designed a bit earlier than then vertical 10$ note but definitely in the same style, are horizontal. There is also a discontinued, but still circulating, horizontal 10$ bill. I have zero reason to complain honestly. It's never impacted me negatively at all... but aestetically it feels weird when mixed together with other bills. If you're sorting money, you'll already know which ones are 10$ because they're that colour of purple... but the number won't be facing the right way. If you're making an ATM UI that lets people pick what mix of bills to withdrawl, RBC chose to show pictures of the bills for some reason, featuring the old horizontal 10$ bill (which it doesn't dispense) because clearly the actual 10$ bill wouldn't fit in the UI. [1] (I didn't expect this to be illustrated by a random youtube video, but it turns out the internet has everything.) Is that a problem? No. Is it juuust weird enough that family from overseas visting me will mention how weird it is every single time they use an ATM? Yes. If the euro switched to vertical all at once maybe that wouldn't be as weird, but the old horizontal bills are going to be circulating for a long time. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_ten-dollar_note https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_ten-dollar_note [1] https://youtu.be/sRxo_L9ODwo?si=pihBzi4XTaLoXngF&t=47 https://youtu.be/sRxo_L9ODwo?si=pihBzi4XTaLoXngF&t=47 (Warning, you have better things to do with your time than watch the slowest person ever withdraw two 10$ bills)

firefax 3mo ago

It's a shame due to Brexit there will be no Count Binface €10.

ElFitz 3mo ago
The Monnaie de Paris could still do a coin series with him, just to spite Farage.
- firefax 3mo ago
  How much red tape is there to do this in the age of the Euro? A more realistic idea may be they could pledge the funds for moving the hand dryer in the men's toilet at the Crown and Treaty pub, which, as you probably have heard, is a in a terribly inconvenient location.
mbmbn 3mo ago
I do hope we get Charles Martel though.
crote 3mo ago
The main benefit of Brexit is that the EU is now able to use English as a neutral universal language which is both commonly-known and doesn't favor any individual member state. Clearly the best choice would've been to extend this and put British buildings or British historical people on the next generation of Euro notes. It would favor no EU country, so clearly it is the most neutral option. /s
- firefax 3mo ago
  >The main benefit of Brexit is that the EU is now able to use English as a neutral universal language which is both commonly-known and doesn't favor any individual member state. Ireland was a signatory to the Maastricht Treaty, but once again we are reminded of the need to equally consider smaller nations when discussing EUwide matters ;-) And I don't think Brexit had any benefits. They already don't use the Euro so they can do weird neoliberal wonk stuff to their heart's contents, and they have nukes so we'll be feeding them one way or another so why worry? (That's what we've taught the world by letting NK get them BTW.)

Epa095 3mo ago

Decent enough, but quite boring. The nicest notes I know about currently are the Norwegian ones https://www.norges-bank.no/tema/Sedler-og-mynter/gyldige-sedler-mynter/ https://www.norges-bank.no/tema/Sedler-og-mynter/gyldige-sed... But the Canadian ones are physically impressive, they don't really crumble, and seem immune to both liquid and tearing.

dadoum 3mo ago
I like the Swiss franc banknotes personally

trencedamp 3mo ago

I like B best

krick 3mo ago

Hope it's the birds. I suppose there's no way to vote or anything with the current level of technological advancement, and the final design will be chosen by professional choosers that are handsomely paid for their hard work?

byroot 3mo ago
There's a public survey: https://surveys.ecb.europa.eu/10b/neweuro/ https://surveys.ecb.europa.eu/10b/neweuro/
- morningsam 3mo ago
  Thank you. I wish they had used a pairwise comparison system like the one built by pil0u [1] for this. If I hadn't looked at all of them in advance, I would've had to go back to "normalize" my previous answers after seeing one that I especially like/hate. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041625 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041625
binaryturtle 3mo ago
There's a survey link. Not sure it works as Cloudflare blocks me from accessing it. Oh the irony, having my opinion as EU citizen about an EU issue blocked by some silly US company. I want some birds too!
- tchalla 3mo ago
  Share a screenshot of the block?
  - binaryturtle 3mo ago
    It's the typical Cloudflare error where it tells you "Your browser sucks", not sure what a screenshot would help. :)
    - tchalla 3mo ago

zokier 3mo ago

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 shapes and gradients. Ugly in same ways as C) H) Very inoffensive, very boring. Competing with B) in the most boring category. I) Bit too much going on. The river map thing on the back side should be distinct in each note J) The visual "sketchy" style just doesn't feel right here. Ultimately F is visually my favourite although like many others I do dislike the "famous people" theme. Design I could be very nice with some tweaks

ahartmetz 3mo ago
I like the ones you find boring (but not the corporate Memphis ones) - money is a serious matter, so it's IMO supposed to look serious and a little boring.
- yeahforsureman 3mo ago
  +1 for boring!
- freehorse 3mo ago
  I feel like banknotes is one of the few common-places that EU could convey some sort of "shared vision/purpose" that is largely missing in general. From this perspective "boring" as in buildings etc are not very good options as they do not convey anything positive, and make it look further "cold and distant" from people. While options like F show a vision which europe could aim towards. Of course then, on the other hand, the boring options are in this sense the most honest ones.
mrweasel 3mo ago
While I don't really particularly like any of the designs, the F option is absolutely wild and I feel it would really make the Euro notes standout in the world. I don't know that it would make for a good bank note design, but it is visibly distinct. The birds on J is incredibly beautiful, but that's somewhat offset by the building on the reverse.

hackitup7 3mo ago

Was hoping for some cookie banners

dotcoma 3mo ago

The ones with EU buildings look like banknotes of the DDR.

IceHegel 3mo ago

It's gonna be E. The birds are nice, but there's no way they do the birds. The other ones with people are too photorealistic or too cartoonish.

icase 3mo ago

[flagged]

Beijinger 3mo ago

I mean. Put famous Europeans on it. Socrates, Platon, Leonardo, Newton, Leibnitz, Einstein, Hitler....

Markoff 3mo ago

I would refrain from using people considering some of them may (become) controversial or are controversial depending on a country, there will never be agreement on someone who is not controversial at all and after all each country can use them on their coins if they feel the urge. The birds idea is good, I like: B - nice realistic D/I/J - don't like vertical design (though I like colorful birds in J) H - the most beautiful work of art, it would be my choice Btw. why not use more designs at same time? I like Hong Kong approach to currency design (multiple commercial banks issue the banknotes under government regulation, three authorized banks—HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, and Bank of China—design and print their own notes for daily use, while the government issues coins and the $10 note). And very controversial idea, but this would be more suitable for national currency and not for eurozone - use banknotes as ad space companies can purchase, but it would have to be very very very costly space for country's budget to benefit from this. Though I like the idea of paying Pepsi with Coca Cola banknote.

warrantisall 3mo ago

Chat Control and age verification belong there.

cynicalsecurity 3mo ago
We don't have it. Some US states have passed those laws already, weirdly enough.

phtrivier 3mo ago

I'm not trying to start a debate about relevance, but I can't recognize the faces on the 50 and 200 noted. An author and a "nature lover", I guess ?

klez 3mo ago
On the 50 is Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quixote). On the 200 is Bertha von Suttner, the first woman to win a Nobel peace prize. I admit I had to look her up.
- phtrivier 3mo ago
  Oh, funny, I learned about her last week, in a biography of Alfred Nobel, but i only saw pictures of her young.

altern8 3mo ago

The only reason I can think of for this is a push to a cashless society. Specially the vertical banknotes, what is up with that?

flexagoon 3mo ago
> Specially the vertical banknotes, what is up with that? They look awesome. Design I is amazing
- altern8 3mo ago
  Sure, but people hold them and look at them horizontally, elderly people will get super-confused.
  - cromka 3mo ago
    Yes, elderly people cannot fathom things that are not horizontal in nature...
mahkeiro 3mo ago
Switzerland has been using vertical bank notes for a while and they are amazing in a modern wallet where they are stored folded.
arximboldi 3mo ago
I rated the vertical ones the highest, I think it's genious. It automatically struck me as way more usable. You can see the denomination as you are handing it to someone. It's easier also hold a stack in your hand and count them by flipping the free end, without twisting your hand to read the numbers. Also we are more used to vertical layout in things than we hold in our hands (books, phones, etc.). Definitely a superior design, even if less usual.

rdm_blackhole 3mo ago

The worst part of this whole enterprise is not the designs per se (although the buildings look like soulless buildings from the former USSR but that is besides the point), it is that very few stores actually accept 100/200 euro notes. Even 50 euro notes can be seen as suspicious in certain shops. So my question is why bother with a redesign when you can't even use the notes in the first place?

eviks 3mo ago

Is size not part of "shared identity and values"? Also, if you like animals, why not use different kinds for easier differentiation rather than stick to birds users will not even know names for?

shalom1112 3mo ago
[dead]
crote 3mo ago
What do you mean? The various denominations intentionally have different sizes so that blind people can tell them apart by touch. Surely you're not suggesting that they should all be the same size?
- eviks 3mo ago
  While I doubt the benefit of small differences to signal the absolute value (sure, you can feel that one is bigger, but that is it 10 vs 5 bigger or 50 vs 20 bigger?), especially compared to other more helpful direct signs like the raised print, I'm not suggesting eliminating that. But I'm suggesting varying the desin of both the absolutes (e.g., I'd prefer all of them to be smaller) and the variability (e.g, what about making the most used first 3 notes significantly different length for the easiest differentiation: 1/3, 2/3, 3/3) instead of just playing with some pics.

sakjur 3mo ago

I find the bridges to be rather brilliant, as they're distinctly European without being placeable (until Spijkenisse got feeling[1]). The least historical governmental buildings in Europe seems like an awful choice by contrast: They're tied to a physical location in western Europe that most of us have little to no connection to. They're boring (which is not a criticism of the buildings, they're functional which is their purpose, but I'd rather not see them on coinage). For a similar reason, the portraits are also just... fine. Greek, German, Polish-French, Spaniard, Italian, and Austrian. It's much more diverse than the buildings, but the Balkans, Nordics (including Latvia and Estonia), Benelux, and other smaller states remain unrepresented. Of course, changing anyone out would leave another unrepresented (though the obverse and reverse could both be used in harmony, why does the reverse have to be nondescript?). If we're going for people, one thing I really like about the Swedish bills is that the person on the lowest denomination is specifically chosen to have an icon for children: Currently Astrid Lindgren and previously Selma Lagerlöf made the 20 krona bill distinctly "for the children". The choice of Bertha von Suttner for the highest denomination is one that I agree with -- and also aligned with the Swedish bank notes where the equivalent is held by Dag Hammarskjöld. Both ECB and Riksbanken chose a person best known for their pursuit of peace and unity of humankind. Still, the beauty of the bridges is that they're European, not French or German. All that aside, I'd hope for F or J stylistically. There's too much vectorization happening on most of the others. It feels like the others won't stand the test of time. G and C already feels ten years out of date imo. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurobridges_Spijkenisse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurobridges_Spijkenisse

izacus 3mo ago
As I mentioned elsewhere, it's kinda strange they didn't learn the lesson from Euro coins and did multiple versions of each banknote to cover and represent every member state with at least one person.
- hobofan 3mo ago
  With the amount of security mechanisms in a banknote that have to be tailed to each design, I would assume that making that many variants would be financially irresponsible.

ThouYS 3mo ago

the bland glass and steel buildings made me think some of these were actually parody.

cynicalsecurity 3mo ago

Proposal E from Myrsini Vardopoulou is absolutely superior.

danielfalbo 3mo ago

While other countries are cashless

sensanaty 3mo ago

I really dislike the back of the notes on pretty much all of them. Generic crowds of people with ugly backdrops, just feels very uninspired especially when some of the front designs are so bold

forinti 3mo ago
I agree. There's one Da Vinci with the Vitruvian man on the back. The back should complement the front, right?

flyingshelf 3mo ago

Could be that they lack details at this point, but I rate them all from trash to less-trash. Switzerland has had some outstanding bills forever right in the center of Europe, but the EU comes out with this uninspired garbage.

MrBuddyCasino 3mo ago
I did not expect anything else. The proposal J with the birds has some charm, but doesn’t work as a whole.

elil17 3mo ago

A) Probably my favorite. Despite not loving the overall style, the portraits actually show emotion. Von Suttner's portrait in particular conveys a lot to me. B) Not a fan. Individual elements are well done but it doesn't feel cohesive to me. C) Fine/unobjectionable to me. D) I like these a lot. It feels like they really made the most of the choice of buildings by covering them up with geometric patterns and/or showing the insides. E) I really hate the backs of these. The back designs of all the others show how the spirit of each historical figure shows up in modern life. This utterly fails to do that for Da Vinci and Curie. F) These just don't look like banknotes to me, and I don't think the colors look good. G) Please no. H) Fronts look good! I) I'm not sure I like the technology/prey animals on the front. J) These don't feel like banknotes to me, but I think I might wind up liking them after getting used to them.

Towaway69 3mo ago

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?

crote 3mo ago
> Bland, boring & repetitive designs - what else can one expect from a technocracy. The first two generations of Euro bills, for example. Not bland, not especially boring, not repetitive.

antiford2049 3mo ago

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

shevy-java 3mo ago

I think buildings or areas may be more useful than people. But, if people are chosen then these should be as least controversial as possible. Compare it to the USA where the orange king wants to brand everything with his old man face. The insanity brand.

crote 3mo ago

I feel like the design guidelines were fundamentally flawed, and as a logical result none of the design proposals are better than what we already have. The whole "some person's face" thing doesn't work because most people won't be familiar with them. Heck, you'd be lucky if the average person is familiar with their names! The birds & buildings suffer from the same issue: never seen them, can't identify them, don't care about them. And because it references real-world things there's a very genuine risk of people being upset over being underrepresented, or the person or institution being depicted getting disgraced. What's left is the "vague depictions of people doing random things" theming, but that's neither European nor meaningful nor distinctive. You forget about it the second you stop looking at it. The previous two series - depicting bridge types and building styles - neatly bypassed this by being something everyone could relate to, while at the same time not referencing anything specific-enough that anyone could be upset about it. Especially the first series nailed this down perfectly. Given the mediocre design proposals we're now left with, I think Design J is the obvious best choice. It is not actively ugly, and the various bills are at least distinct enough that they are easy to tell apart. Design H isn't too bad, but the building side is just "generic glass blob in a distance" rather than anything one would remember and recognize.

IlikeMadison 3mo ago
>there's a very genuine risk of people being upset over being underrepresented Explain yourself. Who the hell could feel upset upon seeing Marie Curie, Beethoven, da Vinci or Maria Callas? They are all very recognizable, well known European figures with astounding achievements and highly respected by any true European worth its name. Are you suggesting we should erase them because of someone's feeling?
- tomp 3mo ago
  I've never heard of Maria Callas before. Especially ridiculous because she was born in the US and Wikipedia describes her as American and Greek.
  - jchallis 3mo ago

mihaic 3mo ago

The people choosing these banknotes put their office buildings on the money. They also seemed to have a gender quota, and have put on the 200 euro someone who is unknown to most Europeans (Marie Curie and Maria Callas were popular on the other hand). Honestly, I enjoy plenty of benefits from the EU, but this non-representative style of decision-making makes me understand the EU-haters.

zaik 3mo ago
> unknown to most Europeans Good opportunity to learn!
- mihaic 3mo ago
  Why Bertha von Suttner and not someone like Dag Hammarskjold for instance? Why not my grandmother? She brokered peace between all our neighbours. When you propose someone, the burden of proof is on you to say why that specific option should be chosen, instead of anything else possible.

CrLf 3mo ago

Faces on Euro banknotes are a terrible idea. Even internationally well-known personalities are associated with certain countries, and you do not put things that represent specific countries on banknotes used in different countries. The EU isn't a federation, and having a single currency doesn't make the eurozone any more so. The buildings aren't as bad, being european insitution headquarters. However, as they aren't necessarily widely recognizable, they come out a bit self serving.

asdf88990 3mo ago
You think people of some countries might protest Gutenberg, Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Maria Callas, Beethoven, or Marrie Currie? If such people exist, fuck em.
- CrLf 3mo ago
  It's not a matter of protesting (nor is it a matter of nationalism). It's a matter of bureocrats remembering that there are more countries in the eurozone than banknotes, and even if that wasn't the case, their denominations can be read as hierarchy.
  - wvbdmp 3mo ago
    So shuffle them around. We already have a million coin designs. One side can remain constant, no problem.
  - deleted 3mo ago
    [deleted]
- meeshmuesh 3mo ago
  It's not about protesting, it's about representation. They were born into what are now, Germany, Germany, Italy, USA, Germany, Polish. Why not any of the below ? Austria: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Belgium: Georges Lemaître Bulgaria: Saint Cyril Croatia: Nikola Tesla Cyprus: Zeno of Citium Czechia: Franz Kafka Denmark: Hans Christian Andersen Estonia: Jaan Kross Finland: Jean Sibelius France: Napoleon Bonaparte Greece: Aristotle Hungary: Franz Liszt Ireland: James Joyce Latvia: Mark Rothko Lithuania: Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis Luxembourg: Robert Schuman Malta: Jean de Valette Netherlands: Rembrandt van Rijn Portugal: Vasco da Gama Romania: Nadia Comăneci Slovakia: Andy Warhol Slovenia: Slavoj Žižek Spain: Pablo Picasso Sweden: Alfred Nobel Why was Callas chosen over Joyce ? why was Beethovan chosen over Mozart ?

imafish 3mo ago

What’s wrong with the existing bank notes? I like their design

itvision 3mo ago

A truly horrible design, lacking any finesse or style.

andai 3mo ago

It's funny, it's a mixed bag. Some of the designs are beautiful, and some seem to be inspired by that abstract communist psychological torture cell.

jurschreuder 3mo ago

They all look like something went wrong in the press alignment process

franknord23 3mo ago

I love that design D shows the individual bird's songs, though it isn't integrated in the design very well.

ktosobcy 3mo ago

Current (bridges connecting) is very nice IMHO. I would change the dimensions maybe (I hate that the bills are taller than wider). From the proposal I like birds way more - no issue with national associations and "birds cross borders beyond nations".

dfxm12 3mo ago

They should put something like a USB-C connector on the front. Maybe IGP products. A small reminder of what Europe can do make people's lives easier or better.

flyingshelf 3mo ago
IGP? They should put European cheese on it. Fresh notes would have to smell like their picture, by law. Dad, can I have a Gorgonzola 20? Best I can do is a Casu Marzu 5.

sajithdilshan 3mo ago

What is the exact reason for a redesign (and to spend public money on that topic)? Is it to introduce new anti-counterfeit measures? Also having people on a note is dumb when the note has to be designed for a continent. Europe is not US it’s a union, but still a collection of sovereign countries with national pride and centuries of history. Having the EU bureaucrat offices on the notes are cherry on top like could they be more narcissistic? One could think that they would steal some ideas from Swiss currency note. They could have put things that were invented or discovered in Europe that changed the course of humans forever and something to be proud of being European, instead they went with some birds

Ylpertnodi 3mo ago
> What is the exact reason for a redesign (and to spend public money on that topic)? Is it to introduce new anti-counterfeit measures? If you want to eliminate corruption, change the color [design] of your banknotes. "You give us one old one, we give you one new one. Hey! Where'd you get £€$50,000 on your income? But, no-one will do that.
- sajithdilshan 3mo ago
  It’s not like the old notes becomes invalid, they would be in circulation for years to come giving enough time for black money to be converted to new notes

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LtdJorge 3mo ago

E without a doubt

shmeeed 3mo ago

Since seemingly nobody has mentioned it yet, I feel compelled to speak out: With all the controversy in this thread about dead artists and scientists, bridges, birds, buildings, and institutions, I for one am just thankful we don't have to suffer some narcissist trying to put his own mug on one of those bills.

throwaway2037 3mo ago

As a point of comparison, how do people feel about the latest issue of Swiss bank notes? I always found Swiss bank note designs quite inspiring. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Swiss_franc#Ninth_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Swiss_franc#N...

YeGoblynQueenne 3mo ago

OK, is there any place where they name the people and the birds? I can recognise the following people: 5 Euro - La Callas 10 Euro - Beethoven 20 Euro - Marie Curie 50 Euro - Cervantes 100 Euro - Da Vinci 200 Euro - ??? I'm sure I know who the 200 Euro person is but I can't name her. I'm sad I can't recognise any of the birds with any certainty at all. Fortunately their names are listed in Design B. In fact, so are some of their characteristics like size, weight, wingspan etc, so maybe you can use the banknotes to play some kind of bird card game of sorts.

YeGoblynQueenne 3mo ago
Btw, I'd probably go for Design J; because it's upright and because birds.

LargoLasskhyfv 3mo ago

What happened to the €500?

tgv 3mo ago
A palatable version: it's mostly used for laundering/crime, so away with it. Cynical: do we put a man or a woman on it?