On the role of Swiss banknotes

The new notes were supposed to be distributed in 2015. However, it took quite a while to produce and distribute the new series. Orell Füssli Security Printing Ltd was temporarily excused by "problems" with suppliers.

Colourful 50, 20 and 10 notes have now been circulating for some time. The ninth series is not only intended to be "flower-proof", it conveys "Switzerland" as a well-organized, multifaceted country.

The production of a new banknote series should "always appear more modern than the one it replaces. At the same time, however, it is expected that the design of new banknotes will be based on traditional and non-modern traditions and conventions," says Manuela Pfrunder, describing a feature of her long-term project.

Designer Manuela Pfrunder worked on the entire production process for 13 years until the Swiss banknotes were given the finishing touches. On Swiss Quality Day, she spoke about the redesign of banknote money and the guidelines that require advanced security printing.

Swiss virtues
Apart from logistical and security issues, it was difficult to design a neutral and yet unambiguous series. Manuela Pfrunder convinced the SNB with her de- signs, but she was faced with a paradox in terms of the content of the demands of the central bank:

"Replicas of passages shall be impossible. »

"Every note must be reproduced, generally in large numbers. On the other hand, the production should be so difficult that reproductions of passages are almost impossible", Manue-la Pfrunder gives an insight into her work. Despite this, at the age of 26 the young Lucerne native took on the challenge of "doing something new - without doing anything new", as the SNB management wrote to her in 2005 when she viewed her first drafts.

However, "design is a process", she introduced her work on Swiss Quality Day 2018. A lot of time passed before the Bank Council of the Swiss National Bank commissioned her to further develop her designs under capricious conditions. From the ideas competition for a banknote series on the theme of "cosmopolitan Switzerland", in which Manuela Pfrunder was initially awarded second prize on 23 November 2005, to the decision to take Pfrunder's particularly suitable, rather cartographic symbolism into account, it took several more months.

It was not until February 2007 that the designer and a team of three graphic designers and copywriters received the final order to devote themselves to the conception of the ninth series of notes.

No personalities
It seems that federal paper in particular is patient. However, the SNB assumes that, at the latest, a note that can otherwise withstand hot-washing programmes will have to be withdrawn from circulation after 15 years. Depending on the case, a note may only serve for three years (see also box below).

The current note mixture - how could it be otherwise - is known only to three people. That's why even the most investigative minds can't find out which security elements and details have been combined specifically for Swiss banknotes. Pfrunder's working group did, however, look into various possible applications, including the security features of the banknotes "in all their diversity and breadth".

In an interview with Management & Quality, the designer reveals: "For example, we used the background as a kind of instruction manual on how to read a security feature. Superficially, it is quintessential that the note structure cannot simply be copied from one place to another by a counterfeiter.

"Therefore, the background has a different line drawing in a microcosm at every point," as the designer describes a note characteristic almost philosophically. "We wove such de-tails onto the entire surface of the note," she explains.

In addition, the authenticity of each note can be verified by corresponding effects.

Other seemingly more difficult basic conditions also dominated her identity-creating work. "It was not people but works from Switzerland that were sought after. The SNB justifies this by saying that persons are always associated with a retrospective view of the past. Instead, the SNB wanted to convey a future-oriented image of Switzerland as a whole.

Global issues
"Time, light, wind, water, matter and language - these protagonists all represent major themes that are not limited to Switzerland alone, but span the entire world," says Manuela Pfrunder, explaining a concept behind the Swiss banknotes. Ultimately, this idea was to be carried out into the world note by note by means of a symbolic element such as the shimmering globe.

The sheets of paper that are delivered to Orell Füssli Security Printing Ltd are only given the appearance of a federally structured note in the security printing works. Cotton elements are processed first at LandQart, which has been part of the SNB since 2017. LandQart also produces special papers for passports.

The cotton particles are mixed with other fillers and dyes and a glue. Then water lines and thread and the "three-layer banknote substrate" (security features) are inserted into the note.

The special inks and varnishes used in the sheet music must be resistant to radiation and acids. For this reason, both the safety and the design aspects were important for the new series of sheet music. In the end, resources such as cotton scraps, the so-called combs, as well as typographic lines become highly desirable sheet music.

"Thus time has become money"
Actually, the value of each note lies in the eyes of the note payer. Nevertheless, the Swiss notes show clear characteristics. Pfrunder had the concept of a "world as a stage" in mind when he designed the notes (see, for example, the 20-note excerpt above).

For example, on the 10 note there is a time zone map, which puts time into a global context, and on the 50 note even worldwide wind conditions are illustrated.

On each note front floats a globe. It not only corresponds to a cartographic representation, but also serves further note tests. If you tilt a note from left to right, you can see a shimmering tail above it (one of the eight security features of the ninth series). In this way, the designer placed some symbolic elements in a global context in order to draw conclusions not only about Swiss history.

On the subject of time on the 10 note, the designer smiles slightly: "Time is money. By making time a figurative theme on the 10 note, time has now really become money."

Although the relevance of money is declining in all industrialized countries, Swiss banknotes remain a renowned means of payment and value. They are in high circulation in an international comparison, although factors such as inflation and macroeconomic developments (Swiss francs as an investment, lower cash holding costs, alternative investments and cryptocurrencies, etc.) play a role.

Despite the use of credit money or payment apps, Mr and Mrs Tout-le-monde don't want to do without cash. What value does Manuela Pfrunder, an entrepreneur since 2007, actually see in the notes she mints? "Whether there are a lot of notes in circulation or not, from a personal point of view, cash offers me independence and freedom. Newer means of payment are always tied to electricity and other technical peculiarities. I hold a banknote in my bare hands."