Matthew Dent (born in 1981 in Bangor,

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

) is a British graphic designer. His designs were selected for the new reverse sides of seven coins of the pound sterling, after a competition open to the public by the Royal Mint on 2 April 2008. Dent studied art at Coleg Menai and graduated in

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

from the University of Brighton. The competition was to re-design the reverses of all circulation British coins (except the two pound coin which had only been introduced eleven years earlier). His entry was selected as the best of 4,000 and he was given a one-off payment of £35,000. Dent's designs were inspired by heraldry. He divided the shield of the

Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, also referred to as the royal arms, are the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently Charles III. They are used by the Government of the United Kingdom and by other The Crown, Crown instit ...

among the pence coins, so that when they are placed together they show the entire shield. The full shield appears on his pound coin, which before the competition had no fixed design, instead changing every year to represent Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland. In 2011 he designed a commemorative fifty pence coin for the Royal Mint to celebrate 50 years of the World Wildlife Fund. It featured 50 small pictures of plants, animals and natural resources. In 2012 he designed a limited edition two pound coin featuring the face of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

made up from his book titles, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Dickens's birth.

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* * 1981 births Alumni of the University of Brighton British graphic designers Living people People from Bangor, Gwynedd British currency designers {{graphic-designer-stub