Graphic designer Richard Smith thinks it's time to rebrand the buck.

Smith is the brains behind the Dollar Redesign Project, a campaign to remake America's paper currency. "We want to rebrand the U.S. dollar, rebuild financial confidence and revive our failing economy," Smith explained.

For the second year in a row, Smith has run a contest to come up with a new look for U.S. currency.

Among the likenesses featured in this year's redesign contest are pop icon Elvis Presley, President Barack Obama and former GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Voting ended Sept. 30.

Click through these slides for a look at some of this year's entries.

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• Obama $1 bill wins redesign contest

Next: Move over, George Washington

John Dowling and Rob Duncan, the creative partners at United Kingdom design firm Dowling Duncan, are the winners of the Dollar Redesign Project's 2010 contest.

"Maybe I'm looking at it like I'm new to this country, but what Obama achieved is absolutely amazing," Duncan said. "What I think he's instilled in America is that if you really believe you can do something, and you work hard enough, and you want it badly enough, anything is achievable."

Dowling Duncan noted that not everyone has been so accepting of President Barack Obama usurping George Washington's coveted spot on the $1 bill. On the political site Free Republic, one person quipped, "Where's Chairman Mao, Hugo Chávez, Osama bin Laden and Jeremiah Wright?"

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Next: Inspiring words

American Mark Gartland began to admire and collect currencies while working in Europe and Asia. U.S. notes seemed drab by comparison, the Oakland, Calif., graphic designer said.

"I love the paper but not the monochromatic tone" of the U.S. bills, he said.

Gartland's ideas for redesigning the currency were developed as he helped his son with a history assignment for school. "The theme for my redesign is famous Americans and their inspirational quotes," Gartland said.

"I chose Sitting Bull for the dollar bill and put Sacagawea on the $50 bill because of her quote 'What I did, I did for my people.'"

Next: For the love of money

German-born designer Tobias Treppmann wants to encourage Americans to use money more responsibly. "When I thought about the world financial crisis and the role money plays in our lives, I was reminded of how much power money has over us and how much damage greed can do," he said.

Treppmann conceived a simple design for U.S. currency that he said "mirrors the concept of capitalism" while employing a "love metaphor," with fanciful hearts and butterfly shapes.

"The black heart is a warning and reminder to us to be careful in how we use money," Treppmann said. "The butterflylike shape is a metaphor for how money helped invent and reinvent the American dream."

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Next: Do it yourself

The principals of international design collective Clavin, Haryon, Moore and Schroeder believe they have come up with America's first do-it-yourself currency.

The currency, designed to be printed at home using a special paper, ink and cartridge, would feature embedded bar codes to allow consumers to track their spending habits. Additionally, the bills would enable "communities to create currencies that support and strengthen their local values, making the U.S. dollar the 'us' dollar," the collective's Heather Moore said.

"The freedom of the individual to control his or her own life within the context of a community is a core American value," Moore added. "Our design gives people freedom to produce, customize and track their money on an individual basis.

"We see U.S. citizens facing a weak economy, huge personal debt and a system run by those who broke it. We propose to give the dollar back to citizens to fix."

Next: Monopoly money

The representation of America's historic "figures, monuments and symbols" is what makes the U.S. currency unique for designer John Daniello. The currency signifies the "individual's desire to have more," he said.

Daniello, who is based in New York, looked to the board game Monopoly to find inspiration for his redesign.

"The challenge was figuring the colors that worked well enough," Daniello says. "Play money" was not the desired look, and neither was "America's euro."

"Changing the bills too much would prevent acceptance of them as a currency," he said.

The result is a "creative mixture of old and new" that Daniello hopes will remind future generations of "what made this country what it is today."

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Next: In the cards

"You wouldn't blame a car for the actions of a drunk driver," said Jon Stefaniak, the creative director at Dedo, a computer hardware and software company in Dallas. And you can't blame the dollar for Wall Street's malfeasance, he said.

Propaganda posters, with their "strong sense of nationalism," inspired the designer's vertical bank-note designs. The vibrant playing-card concept materialized during a round of solitaire on his cell phone.

"Playing cards have strikingly efficient usability," Stefaniak said. "They have easily recognizable numeric denominations, sized to fit in your hand, and a movable orientation.

"The complexity of the Bicycle and Hoyle cover designs remind me of our current greenback. I instantly correlated that ornate style with the works of Hydro74 (Joshua M. Smith) and attempted to emulate his clean, vector-based precision."

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Next: A touching moment

There's plenty to admire about the greenback: It's recognizable, functional and mesmerizing in action. But to Tim and Susan Milne, the husband-and-wife team behind Flashpoint/Artomatic studios in Richmond, Va., and London, cash is becoming obsolete in an increasingly digital age.

Paper money ought to convey a tactile experience, not just a visual one, said Tim Milne. "(You should) feel the dollar in your pocket, while it's still in your pocket," he said. "Our design is all about how people handle money and what it feels like in their hands."

The Milnes' notes would be made from a synthetic, embossed material. The graphics elements could be felt with the consumers' fingertips, creating "the illusion of value and depth to the actual currency," Milne said. And, similar to Australia's currency, the notes would vary in thickness -- the higher the denomination, the thicker the bill -- to help the visually impaired and possibly discourage "careless" spending.

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Next: Today's icons

German designer Raffael Hannemann would replace icons from America's past with the faces of today's entrepreneurial and cultural leaders.

"Choose your own idol," Hannemann said. "Stop looking backwards, and live in the future. There's no need not to follow your heart."

Hannemann's bill designs feature the visages of Steve Jobs, Michael Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg and others.

In the United States, anything is possible, Hannemann said. "Americans reinvent themselves, and the best technology comes from America."

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Next: A cultural juggernaut

For his currency redesign, music lover Fabiano Pinel of Brazil drew inspiration from his iPod.

"For me, the only thing more influential than the U.S. economy is American culture, especially the music," Pinel said. "Nothing is more American than the blues, jazz and rock 'n' roll."

Pinel wanted his bills to evoke concert tickets, a kind of currency that can buy passage into a magical world of musical legends, including deceased stars Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra.

Next: Moving into the 21st century

"The American dollar looks out of place in the 21st century," said Matus Benza, who lives and works in Bratislava, Slovakia. "Especially when we are talking about currency of a country that prides itself on innovation."

Benza's currency designs celebrate Americans who have made their marks in the arts, science or human rights, including Eleanor Roosevelt, the Wright brothers, John Steinbeck, Thomas Edison and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.

"I tried to include less obvious personalities who still made a big impact on the world," he said.

Benza's designs also pay homage to America's architectural landmarks, including the Washington Monument and the Statue of Liberty.

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Next: Your ad here

The notes designed by part-time college professor Lee Willett have some space reserved for advertisements.

"For many, this would be deemed heresy," said Willett, who lives in South Salem, N.Y. "But it could allow for nonprofit and public-service messaging. Imagine if another (Hurricane) Katrina disaster occurred. The government could print a special message in that area, with a URL where you could learn more about how to help. Or the space could be used for messaging to aid long-term benefits to society, like reducing carbon emissions or living a healthier lifestyle."

Or, the ad space could allow the federal government to raise a little cash to help offset the cost of providing services, Willett added.

"Our currency isn't the personal domain of the rich and powerful or the greedy and gluttonous," Willett said. "It's used by plumbers, cabbies, bartenders and even us graphic designers. It's not a symbol of greed but a cup of coffee, a lunch check or the rent payment."

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Next: A familiar feel

Neil Swanson would tweak, not overhaul, the look of the nation's currency.

"There is strength, and also familiarity, to the current design, and we sought to maintain some semblance of that by maintaining a similar feel," he said.

Swanson would bring the notes closer to the present by adding some of the 20th century's political leaders, including former President Ronald Reagan and former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

"We wanted to broaden the faces seen on our currency, to expand beyond just the presidency and make the bills representative of the men and women who have helped shape this nation," Swanson said.

Next: Word associations

How did rapper-actor-filmmaker Ice Cube wind up on Mark Pimentel's design for the dollar bill? Word association.

"Triumph, freedom, resiliency, strength, pioneers, spirit. I used those words to base my design on," Pimentel said.

"I drew my inspiration from the strong photographic history that we have in the U.S. and decided to show some of the most influential Americans during an important part in their history. Their history greatly influenced all of ours in America, and it is those moments I wanted to highlight."

Next: Pay as you go

Daniel Carr anticipates that his striking art deco notes would encourage Americans to spend more responsibly and possibly think twice before taking on debt.

"Think about taking back the power that corporate and private bankers have over us," he said. "Don't borrow money; don't pay interest."

Carr, of Colorado, embraced a unique methodology for creating his notes. "I sculpted the entire design digitally, as a 3-D relief surface, like a giant rectangular coin," he said.

Next: Rounded off

For Carlos Carrilo, putting a pop-art spin on the greenback was an opportunity to stretch creatively.

"I was thinking about merging the past and the future," the Las Vegas designer said. "I didn't want to veer too far away from the way the dollar looks. It has a rich heritage, and it's something we should embrace."

Carrilo's quirky shape features round and rectangular edges on either end of the notes; it's his way of both eschewing and embracing tradition. "The round shape was to give it new interest. We've had such a set format for so long that a new approach would generate a little excitement," Carrilo said.

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Next: Simply bold

"My redesign is inspired by recycled paper and (has) a simple and bold look," Denver website designer Jack Rugile said. "The paper would have a semirough texture, and the colors stay true to our flag."

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Next: Tea leaves

"My dollar redesign proposal is a window into our future -- a future led my three of today's most noted tea drinkers: Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh," said Vincent Kettering, a father of 16 who collects bottle caps and supervises municipal trash collection services in Paris, Texas.

"Each bill also includes one line from our new constitution, a simplified mantra that will be easy to understand," Kettering joked. "I also tried to estimate the value of each note in future terms, but it was hard, as I failed math and don't know how to use a calculator."

• Bing video: Palin calls for GOP unity

Next: The value of brands

Graphic-design student Mark Scott entered the redesign contest with a mission: "My rationale was to put iconic American brands, which every American citizen deals with every day, on to the very currency used to pay for these iconic brands."

Judging by the brands he chose to grace each note, the illustrator from Wales says he thinks that Americans identify themselves most closely with watching football, drinking Coca-Cola, shopping for deals, traveling and using technology from Apple.

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Next: Tradition and trust

"The U.S. dollar design is one of the most famous in the world," Italian designer Riccardo Cerrone said. "What I've created is a new and more modern graphic interpretation, mixed with the main aspects of American life," including government, the economy, history and entertainment.

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Next: From here to there

Transportation, "the backbone of this country," is the theme featured in the currency designs of Clair Tinajero, a Texas State University graduate student and freelance designer.

"The front of the bills represents a timeline, from covered wagons to airplanes. The back of the bills follow a similar thread (but) are based on modern equivalents of the front's mode of transportation."

Tinajero had two goals for her design efforts: "One, use the dollar bill to symbolize the ideals of American society and, two, try and make the use of cash easier or improved."

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Next: What do you think?