THE DESIGN OF CURRENCY.

Cash illusion
Nigel Holmes’ radical redesign of U.S. banknotes makes our money look like more than it is.
And instead of presidents, we have people who robbed banks.

Coin mania
There are millions of coin collectors in the U.S., and consequently several cable T.V. shows that just sell coins. This is a 2018 Proof Silver American Eagle that uses the classic 1916 “Walking Liberty” design by Adolf Weinman.

Infographic coins
Mac Funamizu explored the idea of coins being designed to be more informational and represent their relative value.

More bang for your buck
Another rethink of US currency by Nigel Holmes.

Euro architecture
The buildings on Euro notes are generic so that they are not specific to any country in the European Union. There are seven fictional bridges used on various notes. Robin Stam had the idea of creating real versions, and a housing development in Spijkenisse, which is near Rotterdam, offered to build all of them.

Big money
High-denomination U.S. notes have not been printed since 1947. The low number still in existence are owned by collectors and museums.

This valuable item appeared in a previous post about Eight by Eight magazine. I adapted it from the polymer £5 note. (Australia had the first plastic money back in 1988.) The largest U.K. note is £100, issued in Scotland and Northern Ireland only.

Hyperinflation
During November 2008, inflation in Zimbabwe is estimated to have hit 80 billion percent. By 2009, all printing of currency was stopped.

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME IN PRINT.

Time for another issue of Eight by Eight magazine, full of great content for the football (soccer) fan. Design and illustration of peerless quality is expected now, and here it comes. Below, some spreads from the issue. Subscribe here: https://shop.8by8mag.com/collections/subscribe

Below is a very big bar chart about the best supported teams in Europe that I put together for this issue. (A thank you to the super-talented Grace Lee for design improvements.)

Professor Grimwade, from the University of Eight by Eight, doing his teaching thing. Pay attention, no cheating!

CREATIVE VISUAL SOLUTIONS BY ADONIS DURADO.

We’re very fortunate that our Knight Fellow for this academic year is Adonis Durado, whose design and infographics work at the Times of Oman, and several other publications, is widely admired. He currently has a terrific exhibition in our gallery called “Visual Conceit.” Here’s some examples from the show, along with his comments. The selection here has an infographic bias that does not reflect the balance of the show, and of course that’s because it’s on this particular blog.

Adonis is talking about his work on Wednesday in our auditorium (poster shown above). This is a terrific opportunity for our students to learn from a world-class designer.

SOME OF HIS INFOGRAPHICS…

Mega-debt “My conceit here is to use the bars in the chart as body text columns, giving the page an organic or architectonic quality. It’s possible to read the article and the graphic at the same time. This is arguably the biggest bar chart ever published in a newspaper.”

Boxing matchup “This preview presents, at actual scale, the height difference between the two boxers, which is shown as a white strip that runs across the spread. Height difference matters because a taller boxer has longer limbs, giving him a reach advantage.”

Olympic records “An infographic about the record-breaking history of the Olympic long jump and high jump. To add fun and interactivity, I invited readers to cut up the page and transform it into a measuring tape, then see for themselves if they can jump like a pro.” (Click on the image to see a detail.)

World Cup insights “A series of infographics that were published in the back of our World Cup supplement. In this section, called “Parting Shot,” we tried visualizing content that is considered non-serious or off-beat.”

The Oscars “A series of infographics published daily leading up to the Academy Awards ceremony. I employed a variety of conceits for each category page. For example, in “The Best Picture,” I asked myself: Would it be possible to make the graph’s color legend the most dominant element of a page? The legend is a discreet element in all graphics, but not in this case.”

Soccer discipline “Another World Cup graphic. I began the design by considering if it’s possible to visualize a dataset that can occupy the entire issue of the magazine. These are all the red card and yellow cards issued during the tournament.”

The first spread (rotated).

… AND SOME OF HIS PAGE DESIGNS

Danish banking “This page started with the conceit of “type attack,” where the headline serves as the dominant element of a page (or the text becomes art in itself). I ended up deconstructing the body text as well, and came up with a treatment that mimics the concept of intertextuality. Notice that the lead paragraph contains keywords that link to pieces of related information.”

Gallery space “My solution to a challenge that I set myself: Is it possible to design a page where the white space is an illustration in itself, and is an element that will help visualize a story?”

India by train “Perhaps here I was just too tired of the regular Q&A format. This playful treatment defies convention, and I even let the headline and the intro merge into each other.”

The poster for the gallery show.