The customary design of banknotes in most countries is a portrait of a notable citizen(s) on the front or back sides. In England, all of the individuals featured are of historical significance:
On the reverse side of every English bank note is an image of Queen Elizabeth II. Elizabeth Fry is currently the only other woman to feature on any English bank note. In her lifetime she was significant as a social reformer and was recognised on the five pound note for her work improving jail conditions, particularly for women. On the ten pound note is Charles Darwin, famous for his work in the theory of evolution. On the twenty pound note is the face of Adam Smith, one of the fathers of modern economics, and the fifty pound note is shared by Matthew Boulton and James Watt, who were responsible for the progress of manufacturing steam engines.
When the time comes for a bank note to be replaced, and a new design to be phased in, suggestions from the general public are always considered, from Ainsely Harriot, to Robbie Williams, and even David Bowie. A new ten pound note (2017) will feature the face of Jane Austen, and the new five pound note will feature Winston Churchill (2016). Despite introducing a world famous female author, the only other female present will be phased out, leaving England's banknotes with only one woman, yet again. The lack of diversity in these designs has caused a huge number of petitions to be shared and signed across the country, with many gaining hundreds of thousands of signatures. Equality, even on banknotes, is important - they exist nationally and yet continue to disregard some of the most important achievements made in our society, causing damage to society that is so often overlooked.
When designing a banknote it is also important to consider the possibility of counterfeiting. Traditionally, anti-counterfeiting measures involved including fine detail with raised printing on bills which would allow non-experts to easily spot forgeries. In early paper money one creative means of deterring counterfeiters was to print the impression of a leaf in the bill. Since the patterns found in a leaf were unique and complex, they were nearly impossible to reproduce.
In response to advances in technology that made counterfeiting easier, he designs began to include new, more sophisticated anti-counterfeiting systems such as holograms, multi-coloured notes, embedded devices such as strips or security threads, microprinting, watermarks and inks that change colour depending on the angle of the light, and the use of design features such as the "EURion constellation" which disables modern photocopiers. Software programs such as Adobe Photoshop have been modified by their manufacturers to obstruct manipulation of scanned images of banknotes.
An example of microprinting
The pattern of dots that make up the EURion constellation