New Euros, old system.

Two countries will introduce the Euro as currency on January 1, 2008, Cyprus and Malta. The fronts of the coins look the same as that of all other countries, while national symbols are displayed on the back.

This reminded me of the occasion when I got asked by the German news magazine Der Spiegel, back in 1999, to design my own version of the yet to be introduced new European coins. They also asked a few other designers whose solutions I cannot show as I have no data for them.

I noticed back then how little systematic thought had gone into designing the new coins. While there were and still are three different types of metal and several separate sizes and bevels, It would be pushing it to talk of a comprehensive design system. Much worse, however, is the fact that one still can only distinguish some of the coins by looking very closely – not a good idea for money that needs to be available at – dare I say it – the flick of a coin. One ought to be able to sort one’s change inside a pocket and count it even in the dark.

As you can see, the coins are all of slightly different sizes, albeit not different enough to distinguish by touch only. The 2-Euro piece has a diameter of 25.75 mm, the 50-Cent coin is hardly smaller at 24.25 mm, while, strangely, the 1 Euro is smaller than the one half its value, 23.25 mm. The 21.25 mm 5-Cent piece is also larger than the 10-Cent coin, which is worth more but only 19.75 mm in diameter. The different metals can only be told apart in good light.
The 20-Cent piece is the only one with a different bevel, but still hardly distinguishable from the 5-Cent piece of almost the same size. Embossed lines are to be found on the right and on the left or at an angle, but too thin and closely together as to offer any hints for probing fingers. The outline of Europe is more of a political statement than useful for identification.

The backs of the coins are look different from country to country. That offers some interesting choices but doesn’t help keep different nominations apart.

I first distinguished the groups: Ones, Twos and Fives.
The Ones, i. e. the 1-Euro coin, the 10 Cent and the 1 Cent piece, are simply round and each one approx. 20% smaller than each other. If my Euro were 23.25 mm – as is the present one – then my 10 Cent would be 18.50 mm in diameter (about the size of the present 2-Cent piece) and 1 Cent would be 16.50 mm – instead of 16.25 now.

The Twos, that is 2 Euro, 20 Cent and 2 Cent, are octagonal with very round corners, making them distinguishable in the hand. They are of the same diameter as the round coins, but appear a little larger and weigh heavier, while of the same thickness as the Ones.

The Fives are as round as the Ones, but a little thicker and with a hole in the middle, like some Scandinavian coins have been forever. There is no 5-Euro coin as yet, but the system allows for it because it makes sense. The hole in the coin can be felt with the fingers and also looks quite distinct.

Apart from these distinctions if shape and size, the nomination is also symbolized by horizontal lines, of which there are one, two and five (!) The three Euro coins are made from silverm the 50, 20, and 10 Cent pieces from “Nordic Gold” and the three smallest nominations are coined from copper, as they are now.

At first these coins may appear a little sparse and empty. The present design is another one of these compromise as with the design of the Euro banknotes. Nothing was to be recognized as a national symbol of any country. The map of Europe is really quite contradictory in these circumstances. It is incorrect gepgraphically, as Europe is not an island with clear contours. And it is politically touchy as the map includes countries that are not part of the European Union. And where does Europe end? There are big chunks of land missing in the north and the east, and the smaller Balearic islands have been sacrificed to small scale.
Clear figures and letters are not only less ambivalent, but also help when counting. And I could always incorporate Greek and Cyrillic letters if required.

I’ll show my proposals for the backs of the coins some other time. For now, here are two renderings from my 1999 proposal.

Dublin Type 2

The art of writing or carving elaborate signs is all but dying out. Self-adhesive plots on vinyl have replaced painting signs with drop-shadows in fantasy typefaces that didn’t come from the FontBook or any other “proper” source.

It may only be a matter of time until these handmade signs will have disappeared from buildings in Dublin as well. These are a few that I found on a recent trip.

Uncial type has been the style of Irish writing since before Gutenberg. It doesn’t, however, look very convincing today when applied to everything in order to achieve that “Irish” look. (By the way: This version of Quay Sans looks weird indeed.) Perhaps time for a workshop on Irish typographic identity?

Dublin Type 1

Nobody can design a “classic”; whether a typeface ever becomes a classic will be decided by how it gets used over time.
FF Meta has been around for almost 20 years now, and it’s still selling. While new generations of designers constantly rediscover what the previous generation discarded, after a certain time and enough exposure even a once fashionable face like Meta becomes a standard and gets considered for quite archane applications like the one on this facade in Dublin.

The large type on the house was obviously hand-painted years ago. When that type needed to be applied to the newer signs over the shop-fronts below, two different signpainters used two different solutions. One took Meta as his model and re-invented it for himself – that is Messrs Maguire on the green sign.

Somebody else seems to have copied the type for the purple sign from that first copy, adding his own touch.
The metal letters, however, must have come from digital data. It is a fairly faithful rendition of the original Meta. I’m never sure whether this sort of messing with my typeface should please me or annoy me. It certainly proves that Meta is not considered a precious, high-brow designer-typeface anymore. Having arrived on the front of pubs in Dublin, painted by hand, doesn’t quite make it a classic, but it certainly puts in out there.

Spiekermann speaks

If you can understand German, you may want to look at the interviews that my friend and colleague in Vienna, Markus Hanzer, filmed with me and my friend and colleague, Walter Bohatsch, when I was there recently for a lecture.

stadtgespraeche.com

Honorary Royal

This would happen to me of all people: I’m not exactly in favour of monarchy, but i still didn’t object when I was made an Honorary Designer for Industry in London last week. Only Honorary, as the title of a full RDI is reserved for holders of a British passport.

I shall have to scan the proper document, handset and printed letterpress as proper proof. In the meantime here is a photo of my place card from the dinner at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce.

For more information check this pdf:

RDInfo_2007.pdf

I did warn you that from now on I would publish anything...