Better Spending Your Money With Scrip

Behavioural economics is a fascinating topic of academia and it is widely accepted that people are much more easy on themselves for spending digital money than cash. If you could hand-feel, experience and spend digital money in the same sense as cash, would you spend it more wisely?

This is the focus behind 'Scrip', a new digital money concept from the very same studio that also designed Fitbit. In a similar way that technology companies and services are trying to always make transactions easier, such as Paypal, San Francisco (USA) based studio New Deal Design have the take on the situation in the opposite end of the spectrum and are aiming to make every purchase a weighty decision (literally). To even consider such a concept will require a massive amount of consumer persuasion, and if anything, a technologically advanced and awesome bit of kit; enter the Scrip device.

A team led by Gadi Amit, the designer is aiming to bring back physical actions that are ultimately disappearing from consumer behaviour and everyday lifestyles as financial transactions become increasingly cashless. As Amit explains, "Scrip is a device that brings physicality back to money by replicating the positives of a cash transaction, such as the flipping and selecting of notes, and the weight of a hefty wallet. Scrip is a modern replacement for cash."

A tactile surface that consists of tiny diamond-shaped sections that individually rise and fall during use, it is proposed that users transfer money onto the device, and make swiping movements that mimic the transfer of cash to pay for items. In addition to this, consumers would be able to withdrawal funds from banks, exchange currency in foreign countries and pass money directly between individuals. Innovative.

"...The societal transition from gold bars, to coins, to notes, to now a touch of a credit card, or the brush of a finger, has left our financial exchanges without value," New Deal Design explains further, "...as we increasingly spend through contactless and automatic methods, we are left with little time to think about what we are spending, and derive any sense of pleasure or pain from the transaction."

SATORI & SCOUT certainly agree that Scrip could help consumers better manage their spending and money overall. "Creating a device that evokes not only the nostalgia of a cash exchange, but also eliminates the poor spending habits that are caused by digital transaction...", SATORI & SCOUT really cannot agree more with New Deal Design. The device will ultimately act like a braille display, and for a £9.00 bill to pay, the consumer would need to swipe once across a '5' and four times across a '1'. With the monies then automatically deducted from an online wallet, while the transaction is still largely technological, the physical action of the entire payment process (and the ability to set yourself warnings and understand your spending habits) will (or at least should) make you spend wiser. Discover more about the creative studio at NewDealDesign.com

Photography credit : New Deal Design