Bizarre New Design Ruins Our 'Humble Penny'

The newly designed penny continues the long tradition of ugly-looking US currency, writes William Bostwick. The front of the 2010 cent looks generally the same, but the back now has a Union shield in place of the Lincoln Memorial. That's only "the most emotionally and socially charged building in the country," Bostwick complains at Fast Company.

"Gone is the wonderful level of detail (remember when you first discovered the tiny Lincoln statue in between the columns?)," he writes. The new design "is simplistic and fake-looking. The penny is valueless enough as it is, and a one-dimensional design like this only makes matters worse. With the humble penny now a mess, I'm hoarding my $1 bills." (More penny stories.)