The Euro icon, released on December 12, 1996, is the most recently designed symbol for a currency. The Euro character was the final selection out of ten other symbols presented to the general public. Its shape derives from the Greek epsilon (ε), and the “C” character, which references the cradle of European civilization . The two horizontal lines have been attributed to the stability of the European market. Before the symbol was created, the European Commision (EC) listed four criterion for the design:

It should be a highly recognisable symbol of Europe. It should have a visual link with existing well-known currency symbols. It should be aesthetically pleasing and easy to write by hand.

The EC showed an immense amount of pride in releasing this new symbol, although not all received it with such enthusiasm. British typographer James Souttar highlighted neglected considerations on the symbol’s day of release:

…What interested me most was that the designer(?s) has treated it as a logotype — to appear in one set style only. This seems to be in flagrant disregard of previous currency symbols, which are interpreted according to the font. It is also hard to discern which characteristics are essential, and which contingent, so that it might be adapted. As it is presently constructed, it would look truly abysmal fronting up a set of figures in any seriffed type. But the quirky finials mean that it will also look odd with sans — even monoline sans like Futura would be set off uncomfortably. And there is also no indication of how it could be modulated for weight — so it raises the spectre of incompatibility not only by style but also by density.

Souttar raised relevant and interesting points concerning the properties of the symbol. This controversy began to grow when the EC considered patenting the Euro sign. This would have made it the first-ever patented currency symbol. Fortunately, this never went through and was left as-is.

Many font designs have their own distinctive variations and interpretations of how the Euro fits into their character sets. Some font designers have chosen to not manipulate it and leave the original symbol untouched. It is such a widely used symbol that almost all fonts include it within their glyph sets.

The designer of the symbol remains a mystery to this day. The EC has not revealed its team of four designers behind the symbol for unknown reasons. Alain Billiet contentiously claims he created the symbol before the EC’s team version. No official conclusion has been reached as of yet.