In 1999, the United States Mint began the 50 State Quarters Program. It seemed like a good idea at the time, since it does get a little boring when those useless coins in your pocket aren't even interesting to look at, since the last time any of them were changed was 1976. Five new quarters every year for ten years? Cool! The only mistake they made was allowing the states to appoint committees to design their quarters.
Out of the 35 quarters that have been released so far or will be released later this year, the vast majority are horrendously ugly. The committees that assembled the garbage currently gracing the back of United States currency with its very dubious presence obviously have yet to learn the fundamental principle of any kind of design: KEEP IT SIMPLE! The biggest mistake you can make is trying to cram too much in, especially when your medium is a metal disc 2.4 centimeters in diameter.
Artists know this, and the quarters that were designed by actual artists stand out a mile from their committee-congealed brethren. Just find a quarter from Rhode Island and one from Arkansas, and see how easy it is to tell the difference.
The problem with currency designed by committee is that no one can agree on what should or should not be included, and everyone wants something different. So in Illinois, for instance, we end up with a map of the state containing Lincoln, with the Chicagoskyline squeezed incongruously in on the side and a farm on the other, surrounded by 21 stars and the two slogans "21st Century/State" and "Land of Lincoln." Good God. Lincoln alone would have made a more pleasing composition, or better yet the skyline alone, since Lincoln can already be found on two different pieces of currency and there is something to be said for variety.
But no, obviously some people wanted Lincoln, some wanted Chicago, some wanted a farm, and for unknown reasons some of them thought a map of the state would be nice, even though every one of the eleven quarters featuring a map of the state would look better without it and the image of Lincoln stepping out of the map plain and simple doesn’t work. As with most other quarters, the result is an incomprehensible hodgepodge of motifs that leaves us with a vague feeling of apathy rather than any sense of the state’s actual character.
It’s almost a certainty that a quarter designed by a single artist would not please everyone, but the committee-designed monstrosities intended to do just that invariably turn into an overly complicated and unattractive design that no one can be proud of.
# posted by Ben @ 11:18 AM
