A mark you can read from the water

Most identities are judged on a screen. Ninth Wave’s would be judged forty metres away, by a beginner on a board, looking for their instructor in a line-up of thirty surfers.

Testing on the beach

We printed six candidate marks on rash vests and flags and asked the instructors to wear them for a week. Then we stood on the beach with the students and asked them to point.

Thin strokes disappeared. Two colours blurred into one. The mark that survived was a single heavy stroke in white on navy, which is what the school now uses.

Working back to small sizes

Once the large version worked, we drew it again for the places it would be small: a stitched patch, a favicon, the corner of a receipt. The stroke gets slightly heavier as it gets smaller, so it keeps the same weight to the eye.