Efficiency and Banknote Design

The current US $1 Federal Reserve Note is the last example of 1920s banknote design. All other US notes have been updated since the 1990s.

Compared to the heavy ornamentation of the late 1800s, the 1928 series of notes were stripped down to only a border of lathe work or guilloche, which only really exists on the current $1 and $2 notes anymore.

This design aesthetic grew out of the efficiency movement of the 1910s and 1920s within the US government. There was even a US Bureau of Efficiency for a time. Efficiency in design meant a minimum of ornamentation and a standardization of design across denominations for the multiple forms of currency issued by the Treasury and Fed.

And, for a time, the Bureau of Efficiency sought to apply some logic to who would be portrayed on which denomination, but this advice was ignored. For example, it was argued that the lower denominations should have portraits of the most popular Presidents. The logic was that the portraits should be instantly recognizable on notes that had a lot of circulation. As the portrait is a security feature (a portrait has to match the denomination to prove legitimacy and a poorly done portrait is evidence of a counterfeit), it was important that users be able to verify the accuracy of the image quickly because the low denomination notes received little user attention. Thus, Woodrow Wilson was suggested for the $2 bill. This never happened.

In 2028, the design of the US $1 note will be 100 years old.