The new designs are revealed. As you can see in the image, the Shield of the Royal Arms has been given a contemporary treatment and its whole has been cleverly split among all six denominations from the 1p to the 50p, with the £1 coin displaying the heraldic element in its entirety. This is the first time that a single design has been used across a range of United Kingdom coins.

The winning designer is 26-year-old Matthew Dent, originally from Bangor who now lives and works in London as a graphic designer.

In stark comparison check the new 5USD bill with a purple number 5.

Taste is subjective and design can only be judged within a cultural context. But I think it's pretty obvious that the British design is fresh and still manages to be traditional. While the dollar looks like a poorly patched up old fabric.

I would not know how to update a US currency while maintaining consistency across the range. I think it would be best to completely redesign all the banknotes using traditional elements. However this is not a way to go as the US would not like to expire old banknotes as it's been done in many other countries. I have no idea about the economic implications such a drastic change would cause. Probably a lot of people would have to take their stashed cash to banks, which would create a huge surplus of now invisible dollars.