Cashing in.

There’s been a lot of talk on the blogs in recent days over Matthew Dent’s meteoric rise to fame through his D&AD Black Pencil award winning designs for the Royal Mint.

After a dismal performance by Graphic Design on the whole last year, it’s great to have a headline grabbing story like Dent’s to get people inspired by Graphic Design once more.

Personally, I felt as though based on last year’s performance, printed Graphic Design may have lost its way slightly and D&AD had started a massive shift to recognise digital and motion design- something which was perhaps lacking in previous years. However, faith has been restored this year, and Dent is at the forefront of that.

Not only is his idea beautifully iconic, it also has a simplicity that every Designer craves. The fact that he graduated just 6 years ago adds to the story- giving a new wave of inspiration to younger Designers like myself. For many years, D&AD has been synonymous with the likes of The Partners, Johnson Banks, Turner Duckworth, Apple and Pentagram who regularly produce great work, but often this world felt quite distant to me as a student just starting out at university. To see someone so young doing so well gives the younger generation renewed energy and motivation as we realise it really can be achieved. Not only is this a fantastic win for Dent, but for young designers across the world.