Currency Sign - Design

Design

Older currency signs have evolved slowly, often from previous currencies. The dollar and peso signs originated from the mark employed to denote the Spanish real de a ocho, whereas the pound and lira signs evolved from an L standing for libra, a Roman pound of silver. Newly invented currencies and currencies adopting new signs have symbolism closer to their adopter. The added center bar in the euro sign is meant to symbolize stability. The new Indian rupee symbol, is a stylized combination of Latin and Devanagari letters.

There are also other considerations, such as the perception of the business community and how the sign is rendered on computers. For a new symbol to be used, software to render it needs to be promulgated and keyboards need to be altered or shortcuts added to type the icon. The EU was criticized for not considering how the euro sign would need to be customized to work in different fonts. The original design was also exceptionally wide. These two factors have led to most typefaces employing customized, font-specific versions, usually with reduced width.