The colors were implemented due to lawsuits because visually impaired people could not differentiate money. Many other countries have money that is different in size. Still, to this day, blind people have to rely on others to identify the bills for them and trust that cashiers won't cheat them. The colors do not make sense though. Blind people can't tell the difference between yellow and blue. I added the $100 to the image, but had to flip it since the orange was on the other side:
I've seen this before... BEP has a sense of humor after hearing everyone call it "Monopoly money" when they first made the switch to the big head style design?
When I was young in the early 40's, I use to do my paper & book buying from "Bob the blind guy " I am sure he was completely blind as he had a seeing eye dog named "Peggy". I witnessed him being able to distinguish the difference between one's-five's and ten dollar bills. I'm not sure how he could tell the difference unless bills in those days had a specific feel to them. Dave
I understand what you are saying about being blind...but you aren't completely correct. You have to remember there are many levels if "legal blindness" which doesn't mean completely blind. Those people benefit.
I think you've got a few details crossed.... There was a lawsuit filed on behalf of blind users of currency, but the ruling in that suit didn't come down until 2008, well after several denominations of colorized notes were already in circulation. None of the currency designs now in circulation were affected by that ruling; it applies to the *next* round of designs, currently targeted for 2020 or so. Those designs will have to be distinguishable by touch. Many countries (mostly in Europe) do traditionally use a different size for each currency denomination, but the sizes are only different by a few millimeters from one denomination to the next--too similar to accurately distinguish by feel. The BEP studied a number of different ways of making denominations identifiable by touch, and found that varying the sizes was actually not too helpful (though quite a lot of the blind folks in the study group *thought* it was a great idea, until they tried it). Instead, the BEP has settled on a "raised tactile feature", sort of like Braille but probably consisting of larger raised blocks rather than small raised dots. They're still studying ways to make such a feature durable (some other countries have already tried similar ideas, but they tend to wear out quickly in circulation), and trying to figure out just how much they're going to need to modify the existing production equipment to allow for it. They're currently aiming to begin production of the first redesigned denomination (probably the $10) in 2019, with a release date in 2020.
