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A Currency Re-brand: Iconic and Consumer Generated |
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By Forest Young
Director of Brand Integration
British Currency by Matthew Dent
On Monday, I received a surprise package from London. Last week, my mother had visited Harrods while on business overseas and stumbled upon the April issue of the store's magazine called 'Design Icons.' She mailed it to Florida with the magazine wrapped in the store's signature dark olive bag. As I paged through the iconic designs from the twentieth century — the Swiss Army Knife, the Coca-Cola contour bottle, Wright's Fallingwater, I couldn't help but reflect on the new British currency. The magazine confirmed my initial sentiments — it is already iconic, and it is only a month old.
The coins arrange to form the Royal Shield of Arms.
The new currency was designed by 26-year old graphic designer Matthew Dent, the winner of a large-scale open competition. Dent's new 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins feature parts of the Royal Shield of Arms. The smaller parts can be arranged to approximate the larger shield in its entirety, giving the individual pence coins a sense of greater unity. The new pound coin depicts the whole shield. The royal mint describes the currency as "united coins for a United Kingdom." The arrival of this new, iconic design also speaks to larger trends within the worlds of design and branding.
Re-branding Currency
Like personal résumés and wedding invitations, there might be nothing more emotionally tumultuous for a designer than currency design. The stakes could not be higher for all three. If the designer is unsuccessful: she loses a job; the bride and groom's families are upset; a nation is outraged.
Constantine's coin circa A.D. 307 Constantine's new currency circa A.D. 315
The first remarkable 'currency re-brand' in history was Constantine's new coinage revealed in A.D. 315. Here, the emperor departed from the long tradition of coins that proceeded him, including his own coins from 8 years earlier. He abandoned the tight profile relief of the early Tetrarchs for an image of eternal youth. Constantine now wielded a cross instead of a scepter, cementing his legacy as the first Christian emperor of the Roman empire. The new currency served to substantiate Constantine's vision of a Christian empire — a new imperial brand.
For most of the recorded history since Constantine, currency appears to be burdened by the conventions of imperial portraiture, heroic patriotism, heraldic emblems, crests and coat of arms. The money serves to substantiate political power and subsequently, the designer is given very little room to operate. The designs are often predictable and underwhelming. It is not until the twentieth century that we observe a currency re-brand of similar magnitude. From 1964 to 1985, graphic designer Ootje Oxenaar redesigned the entire series of Dutch guilder notes on commission from the Nederlandsche Bank.
Dutch 50 Guilder Note by Ootje Oxenaar
His designs were a reaction against the blandness of bank notes from other countries which he noted were “very muddy in color." The Dutch guilder notes were indeed a radical departure from the past — they were colorful, incredibly detailed and expressive. Unfortunately, the Dutch guilder, like many other avant-garde currency designs are now obsolete.
The Design
Dent's design won over 4000 other submissions in the competition. Hailed as "the biggest change in coinage history since decimalization," Dent took inspiration from the Royal Shield of Arms and found a contemporary expression of traditional symbols. Upon first glance, the initial discordance caused by the dramatic cropping of the shield is an elegant one, and the moment of seeing the pence coins form the shield in its entirety is a revelation.
Abstraction left, bicycle right
Dent's design masterfully exemplifies the visual principle of gestalt: the unified whole is more than the sum of the parts.
Saks Fifth Avenue Identity System by Pentagram/Michael Bierut
Dent's design recalls Pentagram's Saks Fifth Avenue identity by Michael Bierut's team — a single cursive mark that can be divided into tiled sections and then re-combined in an endless number of variations. Similar to Dent, Bierut's team faced the challenge of acknowledging history and tradition while creating something contemporary and forward-looking. The simplicity of breaking apart the master mark and re-combining its parts almost always works, and yet it is a formidable thing to present to a client who often sees this approach as fracturing their precious logo.
Canadian Pavilion Identity and Animated Entrance by Rudolph de Harak
Rudolph de Harak's designs for the Canadian Pavilion at the Expo '67 in Montreal utilizes a similar approach of 'parts forming the whole'. The animated symbol for the pavilion entrance allows the viewer to enjoy an optical treat — to see the graphic elements as striking abstract elements and a momentary glimpse of the synergistic whole.
Consumer Generated
What makes Dent's currency design even more impressive is that it did not come from a seasoned veteran or from an official commission — it was an open competition and a 26 year-old newcomer won.
(left) Maya Lin Submission #1026 for the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Competition. (right) The realized memorial facing the Washington Monument.
Maya Lin was a 21 year-old student at Yale, when her pastel submission for the Vietnam Veterans memorial won amidst a storm of controversy. Lin's memorial is now considered to be a landmark of twentieth-century design and helped to usher in a wave of public competitions that accepted work from the laity as well as seasoned professionals. Maya Lin points out that if the competition had been organized by name instead of number (Lin was #1026) she never would have won.
From Superbowl ads to national currency, designs and concepts from 'the people' — or consumer-generated works, are becoming ubiquitous. Companies and non-profits are now asking themselves: 'why limit myself to 5 designers on fee when they can have 4000 designers for free?' From a branding perspective, anything to get consumers to have engaging and memorable interaction with a brand is a positive. Public competitions, such as the one held by the Royal Mint, allow consumers to channel their enthusiasm towards a product, place or government in a creative fashion. Matthew Dent proves that these competitions do have merit and will occasionally produce an icon of design.
Thank You Mr. Dent
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