Cultural currency

This is a picture of me in the Managua airport with a newly redesigned cordoba.

It has a little plastic circle and you can see right through it!

There's something about traveling that always makes me reassess our own greenbacks. And they always seem a little fusty and boring (sup, dead white guys?) compared to some of the flashier bills circulating.

New York designer Richard Smith thinks so too and has launched a campaign to get things started.

Here are a couple of my favorite submissions he's received:
From Slate: America’s ability to churn out enduring cultural icons makes a popular theme for new dollar designs. Kristofer Layon, a professor at the University of Minnesota, asked his students to design a new dollar. Many of them incorporated classically American cultural figures, such as Barbie, Superman, or, in this bill designed by Christina DiMeo, Billie Holiday.
Many designers built their dollar brands around themes, as Michelle Haft did in embodying different aspects of the economy of seven different bills, including the work force, industrial production, the Federal Reserve, and personal income. While cynics might scoff at a shopping cart on a U.S. dollar, the bright colors present an optimistic view of the economy that is rare these days.

Pick your favorite at the Dollar ReDe$ign Project.