Coin designer Matt Dent celebrates surprise D&AD win

Graphic designer Matt Dent, who picked up a Yellow and a Black Pencil at this year’s D&AD Awards for his reverse designs for UK coins, says he ‘hadn’t expected to win anything’.

This is the first time a Black Pencil has been awarded in the Graphic Design category since Johnson Banks’ ‘Fruit & Veg’ stamps for the Royal Mail received the accolade in 2004.

Brighton University graduate Dent who is a director of London graphics and branding consultancy Three Fish in a Tree, says, ‘D&AD is the only awards scheme I entered the coins in. It’s quite expensive to enter, and I was doing it off my own back.’

He adds, ‘I can’t really put into words how I feel about winning. It means recognition from my peers, and there’s no better group to get recognition from. This win might lead to some changes.’

Dent adds that as well as working for Three Fish in a Tree, he will continue to work on self-initiated projects.

His designs were unveiled last April, following an open Royal Mint competition in 2005 that attracted around 4000 entries, and are now in circulation.

The collective design system unifies the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p pieces to form a jigsaw that can be assembled together to form the royal heraldic shield.. The £1 coin, which Dent says was not originally on the brief, features the shield as a whole.

The designs had to be approved by both the Queen and the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.

Four Black Pencils were awarded at the ceremony last week at London’s Roundhouse, which was co-hosted by D&AD president Garrick Hamm and actor Richard E Grant.

As well as Dent’s award, two Black Pencils went to advertising agency Droga5 NYC. The first was awarded in the Integrated category for the Million campaign for the New York City Department of Education, and the second was awarded in the Writing in Viral category for The Great Schlep, a film for the Jewish Council for Education & Research.

German consultancy Art & Com picked up the fourth Black Pencil in the Environmental Design category for its Kinetic Sculpture installation for BMW.

Yellow Pencil winners included Troika Design, which won in the Digital Installations category for its Cloud project for British Airways; Seymour Powell, which won in the Product Design category for its Quantum Saddle; and Turner Duckworth, which won in the Integrated Graphics section for its Coca-Cola identity. Design pioneer Michael Peters was recognised with the President’s Award, given every year for an outstanding contribution to creativity.

d&ad black pencil winners

• Matt Dent in the Graphic Design – Applied Print Graphics category for the new reverse UK coin designs for The Royal Mint
• Art & Com in the Environmental Design – Installations category for the Kinetic Sculpture for BMW
• Droga5 NYC in the Integrated category for the Million campaign for the New York City Department of Education
• Droga5 NYC in the Writing in Viral category for The Great Schlep, for the Jewish Council for Education & Research