Four Nations Cognitive Research – An International Collaboration to Produce Actionable Banknote Design Guidelines

By Jane Raymond and Daniel Dodgson (University of Birmingham); Lewis Mundy-Gill and Ronan McClintock (Bank of England); Kristen Wilson, John Mascioli and Douglas Crane (Federal Reserve Board); Matthew Tsikrikas, Amanda Evans and Vanessa Lussini (Reserve Bank of Australia); Matthew Malarek and Badr Omrane (Bank of Canada).

The Four Nations group was founded in 1978 and consists of five central bank members – the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Bank of Canada, Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank of England and Banco de México.

The group is a forum in which its members share information and experiences on banknote development, issuance and distribution, counterfeit deterrence, and relevant technical studies.

Introduction

Banknotes are designed to provide a safe, secure, and accessible payment system for the public, making it critical that their needs are properly identified and met. As with most consumer products, this is best achieved by adopting a user-experience perspective.