More Isn't Always Better

This post on currency design (I've been thinking a lot about design from a work standpoint of late) is pretty darn striking. U.S. Currency is not just boring, it's ineffective (how often do you leaf through your wallet wondering if you have a $10, for instance...and finally you realize you do have one, sandwiched between $1, $5, $20 bills...all which look largely identical?)

We've "solved" that problem, apparently, by the new $5 bill, featured below:

I mean...sure, if I have all my bills out, that purple WILL stick out. But the bill itself is essentially the same.

Compare that to the following British currency, which was designed by one guy who'd never done this before (he won an open competition):

More isn't always better. And competition is almost always the right way to do things.