The Bank of Jamaica’s (BOJ) central bank digital currency (CBDC) name, logo, tagline and image design competition is over, and Jamaica’s CBDC now has a name.

The winning appellation is JAMAICA DIGITAL EXCHANGE – JAM-DEX for short – with the tagline, ‘No cash, no problem!’

The winning logo utilises the very distinctive outline of Jamaica’s national fruit and national dish key ingredient, the ackee.

For winning both prizes in the name and tagline competition, Ashley Payne is the lucky recipient of a total $600,000 (J$350,000 for the name and J$250,000 for the tagline) in regular currency, plus a combined total of J$50,000 in CBDC.

Gerrard Harvey walked away with the prizes of J$350,000 in regular currency and J$25,000 in CBDC for conceptualising and designing the logo.

Both winners collected their prizes in a small ceremony at BOJ in August 2021.

No winners were found for the representative image category, so that design was completed in-house by BOJ’s graphic arts unit.

The task of combing through over 100 entries in each category fell to a small panel of judges led by Natalie Haynes, BOJ deputy governor in charge of banking, currency, and financial markets infrastructure.

Other members of the panel were then, BOJ Communications Director Tony Morrison; BOJ Senior Graphic Artist, Tashna Bulli; Project Director in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport (and former BOJ employee), Lenford Salmon; and the Head of Department, Visual Communication, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, Shauna Gaye Murray-Coke.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The BOJ said the judges agreed that they wanted a name that was easily and preferably instantly recognised internationally as uniquely Jamaican, that speaks to Brand Jamaica and the Jamaican vibe.

“There is hardly any word, term, or expression that is more quintessentially Jamaican than ‘Jamaica’ itself,” the judges said.

“The secondary consideration to complete the puzzle was that the name has to signify not just money, but digital money. The full name, Jamaica Digital Exchange, took care of that, and the finishing touch was the visual reinforcement of running dollar signs through the ‘D’ in ‘DEX.'”

THE TAGLINE

The tagline to go with the name had to match the Jamaican-recognition factor, as well as in some way speak to the digital currency and/or its use.

Said the judges: “‘No Problem’ is a phrase that instantly evokes Jamaica, and moreover, speaks to exactly the mood we want consumers and businesses to have when they are using Jam-Dex. ‘No cash, no problem’ simply but explicitly speaks to the ease and worry-free convenience of using Jam-Dex as a substitute for cash.”

THE LOGO

The Bank of Jamaica said that, as it was known for not using ordinary logos (for example a crocodile in watchdog mode as its official logo), “and so we had a proud tradition to maintain”.

Said the BOJ: “We sought something that matched the authentic ‘Jamaican-nes’ of the name and tagline while being simultaneously simple and distinctively bold as an easily recognisable visual element. In terms of not only the bold and distinctive elegant simplicity, but also the symmetry compatible with an interconnected digital world, we found the 2D visual representation of Jamaica’s proud national fruit as irresistible as a Sunday morning plate of ackee and saltfish.

“And, after all, speaking to the experience we want to create for users of Jam-Dex, one of the many ways to describe feeling good is to say, ‘I am in my ackee!’ or in Jamaican, ‘Mi inna mi ackee!'”