[BOUNTY CLOSED] Open Source (CC) Paper Wallet Kit for safe offline coin storage

[aantonop]

Licensing details, because questions were raised:

Everything I pay for under this bounty, will be released CC-BY-SA - Creative Commons, Attribution, Share-Alike

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Details:

- All entries will be stored in a public repository, called openpaperwallet
- Anything I create for this project will be CC-BY-SA with 'openpaperwallet' as the attribution
- Graphics - CC-BY-SA with original artist as the attribution, in metadata
- Graphics - Artists are encouraged to add a visible artistic signature on the face design
- Code - GPL/BSD/MIT or such -  original author attribution in header of code
- Web or Print Content - CC-BY-SA - attribution to author

Everyone contributing gets an acknowledgment in the AUTHORS file and Wiki on github.

I am open to suggestions, but towards greater openness and re-use

[1714976349]

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[acorn]

(edit: URL to template removed, see new template further down in thread)

Here's a prepared AI layout. Each note should be 7.5" by 2.5", with the right-side area designated for the rip off stubs.

If there are no complaints about this template, we can use this as the base layout for the note designs. Feel free to work from this copy and contribute improvements.

[Timbo925]

received payment from aantonop for my design for an other competition. I made some adjustments to to colors and used the template from acorn as a base.
All comments are welcome 

[75RTUGA]

...our work...

[acorn]

The template I posted doesn't include a space for firstbits or the full public key. Is this something we want to implement? If so, which? I can add it to the template today.

[acorn]

Okay, here's an updated template that includes an area for the firstbits on the note and on the stub. I've included some layers in the illustrator file just for reference as to what area is what. Designers (including me), please adjust note designs to fit into the template provided so that you have less work to do if this template ends up being the final revision. Make sure you do not move the position of the QR code or first bit boxes, since the resulting printed sheet will have the QRs in the wrong place.

aantonop: please take a look at the template, and make sure that your paper supplier will be able to make perforations along the lines where the blue guides overlap the black perforation marks in the template file.

And now, for the template...


Be aware that the area marked in red is prone to accidental tearing. Please do have your design fill the whole note but just make sure you don't put anything that's critical to your note design within that red marked area.

The entire note, stub included is 190.5mm wide and 63.5mm in height (which works out to a delicious ratio of 1:3). Ideally, your design is in 300+dpi. Feel free to bleed out a bit from the outer perforations since it'll get torn anyways.

Template file -> UPDATED, see post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=155847.msg1788645#msg1788645

[aantonop]

Okay, here's an updated template that includes an area for the firstbits on the note and on the stub.

This is incredible work acorn.

Any of the other designers have a chance to review this? Can you use it as your template?




BOUNTY AWARD

Pending final files and correct licensing for all artwork included, I think we have a winner.

Unless anyone objects, I intend to award the first place bounty to acrorn, for 5BTC. If you object, state your reasons. I will wait 24 hrs, then award.

Still two bounties left: 2.5BTC and 2.5BTC for second and third place designs. Currently Timbo and 75RTUGA are in the lead for those, pending changes to fit the template. Again, if you disagree, state it.

There will be more bounties on this...

[Woodcock36]

Will discuss this with a like-minded designer at my print shop in the morning. At the very least I would be happy to assist in the production process. 24 hours will update. This post is more a placeholder than anything else.

[eins78]

Have not seen this thread earlier, but i also recently started designing paper wallets, for another project (I sell them preloaded through a vending machine). while doing that, I had exactly the same idea (minus the bounty   ), so thanks for starting it.

I already like the 'winning' the design very much, but the more important achievement in my eyes is the proposal of a new standard format. Since I have experience with offset and printing in general, I will look at it in more detail later.

The nice thing about a standard sheet format is obviously:
- even more designs to choose from, because now people can make designs for this new format
- easier to fork bitadress.org and other tools to support it
- once a standard format is established and supported by common tools, it really could make sense to print 1000+ sheets in offset and really good quality.

For my project, the design has to be vastly different, because my paper wallets are supposed to work as a "propaganda tool". They have very clear instructions which make it much easier for newcomers to understand bitcoin, or at least make it less abstract when explaining. When I'll have some free time I will try to 'port' my wallet design to the proposed format, for now you can look at it in form of a preview PDF or a proof-of-concept fork of bitadress.org.
Both are uploaded here: http://bitcoin.ars.is

[aantonop]

eins78 welcome!

We have similar goals.

I am launching openpaperwallet.com, an open source site (and github repository) for coordinating a design, open and free graphics, instructions, software etc. All dedicated to the open paper wallet.

I will be "forking" that into a commercial bulk operation, my first print run is about 10,000 notes, of three designs, to bring the cost down and afford high quality offset, emboss, microperf die and good paper.

Once the software is tweaked, I will be able to add a new paper design with a github pull request from any designer.

The website itself will also be open source. I'm looking for CSS3/HTML5 designers to help me make a barebones multi-platform site that can be easily hosted on a variety of cloud and hosting providers.

If you want to help, please join the effort!

[eins78]

After reviewing the layout by acorn, I realized that it's vastly different in concept. It's more of a btc bank note, while I was more thinking in the direction if , well, a wallet. So it is just folded together, which makes it cheaper to print in any technique (just 1 side to print).
Also it does not need expensive stickers to cover the private key on the inside, since it just folded.

Not the critize the work done in this thread, there is space for multiple implementations for people with different needs and goals.

As I wrote, my personal main goal is to make the concept of Bitcoin as 'tangeable' as possible for newcomers (so even my testing process is different, I sit around with these in our hackspace explaining bitcoin. It also doubles as a work of art… )

I'm looking for some different designs, which will need to include a tear-off stub feature with a second set of keys.

I think with a little bit more there could be a 'sheet template' based on acorns, which would work for 'bank note'-style as well as 'folded paper'-style wallets. I feel we should use this moment in time to agree on some kind of sensible format which would work for the most possible use cases (mine and yours as well as the '3.0' version) and designs. What do you think?

(Just to be clear, I am writing here because I have the same goals as the OP, not as part of the bounty)

[Sukrim]

I'm not too sure about the firstbits thingie, having at least the full address on there might be useful for people not having smartphones to scan QR codes.

Also about QR codes, without a webcam or smartphone one actually has to do quite some work to actually get to the address/private key (take a picture with a digicam etc.) - having a (compressed) cleartext private key might be useful, also as a backup. While the current Bitcoin users might be more on the "techie" side, still a lot of people don't even get what QR codes are, think they are only links to web sites or some other stuff. Having human readable characters might take more space but create more trust and also have some benefits for "non-QR people".

[eins78]

I am launching openpaperwallet.com, an open source site (and github repository) for coordinating a design, open and free graphics, instructions, software etc. All dedicated to the open paper wallet.
If you want to help, please join the effort!

Very nice. *joining*

I will be "forking" that into a commercial bulk operation, my first print run is about 10,000 notes, of three designs, to bring the cost down and afford high quality offset, emboss, microperf die and good paper.

I have the same plans, in smaller series (if only to bring prices down for my vending machine). However, I am not sure yet If things like embossing wouldn't make the product to expensive (on the other hand, we do adress 2 slightly different 'markets'. For a secure offline storage even 10€ per wallet would be cheaper than a bank account, but at this price I would not use it to convert 3€ into BTC for newcomers…)

I am interested in the opinion of the general public/userbase: what would be a good 'target price' for a sheet of 3 or 4 wallets, printed in very good quality). Because the world of printing is so diverse, I like to approach these project from this side, because otherwise they are just too many options to choose from. Also I am just curious what kind of quality you can get for roughly the same price in the US vs. printing in Europe…

The website itself will also be open source. I'm looking for CSS3/HTML5 designers to help me make a barebones multi-platform site that can be easily hosted on a variety of cloud and hosting providers.

I can certainly start that, would have to do it for myself anyhow. Synergy!
But, what do you mean by multi-platform? Just that it 'runs' on different hosting providers? If yes: no problem, static HTML will do that we could use github for dev and hosting as long as there is no reason to change that.

[eins78]

I'm not too sure about the firstbits thingie, having at least the full address on there might be useful for people not having smartphones to scan QR codes.

I have not realized this is not already case. You are right, having the full address (and key!) is a must (at least in my use case).
QR-codes = machine-readable, latin letters = human-readable.  I would never print anything as just a QR code, most humans can read and type letters, but nobody can read QR codes.
And at least here in Europe, not a single person who bought the wallets had a QR code scanner on their phone.

On that note, I still like the 'firstbits' idea since they are just a few letters. You could shout it across the street if necessary. And blockchain.info supports them, so even less typing.

[aantonop]

I'm not too sure about the firstbits thingie, having at least the full address on there might be useful for people not having smartphones to scan QR codes.

I have not realized this is not already case. You are right, having the full address (and key!) is a must (at least in my use case).
QR-codes = machine-readable, latin letters = human-readable.  I would never print anything as just a QR code, most humans can read and type letters, but nobody can read QR codes.
And at least here in Europe, not a single person who bought the wallets had a QR code scanner on their phone.

On that note, I still like the 'firstbits' idea since they are just a few letters. You could shout it across the street if necessary. And blockchain.info supports them, so even less typing.

I would prefer to have both. The firstbits are meant to be larger, to easily distinguish different notes, when loading. When my app asks for note  134j5g2j6g256jg25624563456, and I have a stack of 100, I sure would like to be lookingat a big font for that.

However, I still would print the full key under the QRs, for recovery without scanning. The current design, I believe allows for both, but having a discussion between designers is exactly what I was hoping for.

[aantonop]

After reviewing the layout by acorn, I realized that it's vastly different in concept. It's more of a btc bank note, while I was more thinking in the direction if , well, a wallet. So it is just folded together, which makes it cheaper to print in any technique (just 1 side to print).
Also it does not need expensive stickers to cover the private key on the inside, since it just folded.

Not necessarily...

The note is meant to have an OPTIONAL stub. You can print or not print it. Some designs will have it, others will not. The layout accomodates several different designs:

- Bill for folding (your style), print the left and mid-right boxes, leave the stub empty.
- Bill with backup, same as above, but stub with secondary keys for keeping in another location
- Wide-bill, print either the left QR and the two on the stub, or the left QR and only one of the stub QRs for a full-width note. No cut lines in that case

Basically, you have two widths to choose from (wide, or narrow), and four QR/key areas. You can mix/match any of those to print any variety of bills including your design. The cutlines and stub layout are optional and can be ignored in software for certain bill designs.

In any case, let's figure out how to make it work for several uses and markets (at least at the template, software-generator level), which will benefit everyone.

By the way, the scratch-off stickers cost less than  1 cent each, once you get to a $50 order size. Totally worth it in my mind. I'm ordering 10,000. As I said, doing this in a bulk order makes sense to get reasonable prices.

[Timbo925]

I'll update the other design to the new template in the morning. Here is something new.
Much cleaner and easy to make new color schemes so you can print different colors for the amount of btc you put on them.

[Rampion]

Thank you OP, amazing initiative. Because of this and the dev's public debates is why we love bitcointalk, apart from bear/bulls endless wars on speculation subforums, and of cours Avalon group buys

[aantonop]

I'll update the other design to the new template in the morning. Here is something new.
Much cleaner and easy to make new color schemes so you can print different colors for the amount of btc you put on them.

Very nice work. Love the color schemes.

This template with multiple designs is coming along nicely. I have a feeling the April launch will include more than the 3 designs I was hoping for...

I bet once it's out there and usable, we can have all kinds of designs: modern, clean, fancy, alternative, weird, bank-like, web2.0 like.

So far, most look like "money". I would like to see some even more radical designs, I'm sure they will come.

We will have a nice little "dropdown" choice full of designs... yay!

[acorn]

I will update the template shortly to include full public keys.

aantonop, Will the full private key be needed as well? Just thinking about how to space things out to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Not sure if you intend to have the private key on there with some sort of scratchoff sticker as well or what.