Bright Bankroll: Loot that Lights Up in Your Wallet

How many times have you tried to pay your bar tab in a dark club, only to find that the lighting is too low to actually see the bills you’re pulling out of your wallet? Designers Jaesik Heo, Hojoon Lim and Dahaeng Lim think this is a big problem, so they’ve envisioned the future of paper currency: bills that glow. The actual method that makes the bills glow softly isn’t disclosed, but it’s clear from the pictures that this concept would make your wallet into a rave every single night.

The Luminous Paper Money idea is fun and could possibly help people avoid the embarrassing situation of underpaying or overpaying, but it might not be as cost-efficient as today’s non-illuminated notes. Adding any new type of material to paper notes would increase the cost of production, particularly if it’s material that will glow even without being exposed to sunlight first. Still, if we suspend disbelief and practicality for a while, we have to admit that it would be delightful to carry around a wallet full of glowing bills.

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See more in Industrial Design or under Technology. April, 2010.