The Process of designing a currency

Like any other complex project, a community currency’s design is crucial to its success. This chapter discusses how to match a currency’s design to its objectives, as well as the importance of integrating the needs and concerns of stakeholders into the design process itself.

Successful examples and inspiring stories from other currency projects can capture people’s imagination, the media’s attention and galvanise the energy and interest of many stakeholders for a new venture. However, and as much as these might serve as learning points to reach certain objectives, every currency in the world is unique.

This is not only because they bear different names, try to distinguish themselves in their communication and marketing material or use distinct software solutions, but because each currency is designed to meet specific needs in a specific context. This is true even if at first glance two currencies seem to be carbon copies in terms of their technical design elements.

People and the way they relate to each other, personally and economically, form the core of a community currency. From the beginning, the design process will need to take into account that the people involved in each currency will be different in their personalities, ambitions, needs and capabilities. These variations alone, multiplied by the many interactions that a successful currency project consists of, will ultimately lead to very distinct pathways, roll-out strategies and adaptations to whatever model might have served as the blueprint.

This lack of formula is not, however, a negative feature. Community currencies are all about providing adequate tools for people and organisations to realise their potential in ways that money as we know it cannot offer – therefore, their collective strength comes from their diversity.

As tempting as it is to draw up a simple linear guide to the stages of currency implementation, in reality no process is straightforward. Nevertheless, despite the lack of a transferable blueprint, every social initiative, currency or otherwise, should follow a logical progression from inception to implementation.