25 Years of Democracy coin series
Client: The South African Mint
Period: 2019
Civic & public
01 — The sneak-peek
Putting democracy in the nation's pocket
To mark 25 years of democracy, BBA Liminal drove the creative direction of the South African Mint's commemorative and circulation coin series — opening the design of the country's legal tender to the public for the first time, commissioning nine artists, and rooting the typography in the graffiti of apartheid's prison cells.
02 — The liminal moment
Twenty-five years into democracy, a generation had grown up knowing nothing else — the Born Frees. The milestone raised a quiet question: who gets to say what democracy has meant, and whose hands shape its symbols. Coins are among the most widely held objects a country makes; legal tender carries national memory into every pocket.
The SA Mint, one of the world's leading mints, approached us to drive the creative direction and implementation of a coin series marking the milestone. The brief was a collection of commemorative and circulation coins. The deeper opportunity was participation: for the first time, the Mint would open the design of national coins to the public, letting citizens rather than the state alone decide what twenty-five years of freedom had brought South Africans together around.
Typographer: Garth Walker
03 — The transformation
We made it participatory. For the first time the Mint sought themes from the public. With two research partners we ran focus groups across Tshwane, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, asking Born Frees what has united the country since 1994, then widened it with an online campaign to reach every age.
We curated the artists. We selected nine artists from different backgrounds and styles — chosen for the detail and linework that would translate onto something the size of a coin — so the series spoke in many South African voices rather than one official hand.
We rooted celebration in struggle. The typography across the series draws on graffiti left by apartheid-era prisoners — Garth Walker's Constitutional Court typeface, salvaged from the Old Fort. The coins carry chapters of the Bill of Rights, a ballot box, and the long 1994 voting queue.
04 — The craft
Marketing meets mission — marking the milestones of South Africa's history
A democratic typeface salvaged from prison-cell letterforms; nine artists each holding a right or a freedom — Lady Skollie, Peter Mammes on freedom of religion, belief and opinion; Neo Mahlangu on education and children's rights; Maaike Bakker on environmental rights; Rasty Knayles on freedom of movement; Shaun Gaylard and others. Three collectible coins, five R2 circulation coins for five rights in the Bill of Rights, and an R5 coin showing a ballot box and the 1994 queue.
Shaun Gaylard
Lady Skollie
Peter Mammes
Neo Mahlangu
Maaike Bakker
Rasty Knayles
05 — The validation of purpose
The series did something a state mint had never done: it let the public shape the nation's coins. Democracy's symbols were chosen with citizens, not only for them — the struggle that produced the freedom carried in the very letterforms, the Bill of Rights placed literally into circulation. For the artists, it was a place in the national story.
"I am now cemented as a part of South African history forever."
— Lady Skollie, artist commissioned for the SA25 coin series
9 artists commissioned
4 metros engaged
SA Mint's first public-participation coin series
Brand & communications strategy
Typography
Exhibition curation
Copywriting
Campaign design
Brand identity design
Stakeholder strategy
Brand platform development
Positioning & narrative
