That surprises me, too. I’m sure they would have gotten some better designs that the ones they now use.
Actually, no. My all-time favourite banknote is the old Netherlands 50-guilder note–very pretty–and I never had the impression that the Netherlands were ugly.
It will look a lot nicer once I put my Wheres George stamp on it.
Splashes of grey, eh? Really going crazy with the colour schemes there. You’ll have to put sunglasses on before you open your wallet.
Damn that’s funny. I LOLed in the office, which is bad.
Yep, that it does. That it does.
I think the “5” on the back needs to be even bigger. Perhaps it could extend beyond the actual edges of the bill.
That big purple 5 is really out of place on the bill, but at least they’re livening up the colors a bit. Hopefully sometime within the next decade or so, more colors in some sort of coherent pattern will be introduced into the background to make it more interesting; this “pastel color wave” crap looks fugly.
What do you mean, “the next thing?” 
I’m rather resentful you didn’t choose to coordinate your colours with ours. We coordinated our coin sizes, so it seems only fair. That five should be blue, not purple.
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that exact 5 on Sesame Street. He’s done well for himself, hasn’t he?
Well, that’s kind of the point. It was made big and easy to read (which includes lots of negative space around it) for those with vision impairment.
(Y’know, like all those Baby Boomers who’re getting old. Wanna place bets on how far the mandatory ratio of handicapped:regular bathroom stalls is going to change in the next 30 years? The BB’s aging is going to impact all of us in more ways than this.)
You can make it Big and surround it with lots of negative space while still making it similar to the rest of the design. Look at Canadian banknotes, for example.
Finally, a bill that looks like real money.
That is pretty. Of course, it looks more like a cheque than a bill, and I feel like after I tear it out of a pad the next one will have a kitten or a duck on it.
My husband will never forgive them for moving the face to the side…it ruins dollar bill origami. You can’t fold a good bow tie without a face in the middle.
Since purple is my favorite color, I should be happy with the new bill, but the giant purple 5 is not in keeping with the rest of the bill. But since it will still spend the same, I’ll use 'em.
Thudlow Boink: you crack me up. 
This Federal Reserve has been graped by The Grapist!
I’d rather have money with flowers and birdies on it.
What bugs me most when they make a new bill is the sales clerks that will scan the one you hand over for all the watermarks, etc.
What a dolt! Nobody forges the new bills. The old ones are always easier to forge.
And then at some point they start scanning old bills for the new watermarks and make fools of themselves calling the manager over.
I think it would be cool if the designs on the bills lined up and made bigger patterns. Like, if you had 4 five dollar bills you could arrange them to look like a 20, 5 twenties (or twenty 5’s) would look like a 100, et cetera. It would be like Voltron for money.
As for not coordinating with the Canadian bills, they probably thought it would be overkill to have them be the same color. After all, they’re worth the same amount. Why have two blue 5 dollar bill designs when you can have one blue and one purple?
Tenebras
PS I love my dead gay President Lincoln!
Only in America would people claim you could “liven up” the money by adding grey to it.
You know, I really think it’s about time we bite the bullet and go to colorized denominations…Except there’s this history of the US dollar being green on the back and black on the front, yet they’re trying to keep with tradition, at the same time. This pastel/green crap? It looks awful. Just let go of the old green and black scheme, or freaking keep it. Canada has some cool notes. American money looks like confederate currency