Australia, Brazil, USA put on notice as Great Britain signals ambition to become “great power in international surfing!”

Age of Empire.

The 2024 Olympic Games, which will be hosted in Paris, are less than a year away, now, and excitement should be bubbling for you and yours. Of course the standard track and field, swimming, equestrian dressage events always thrill, our surfing will be making a return, being held all the way across the world in French Polynesia and, more specifically, Teahupo’o.

The Place of Broken Skulls.

Most of the teams are already set, two men and two women from each qualifying country, via the World Surf League though who might win gold, silver and bronze is still entirely up in the air.

The only certainty is that the sitting WSL champion, Brazil’s Filipe Toledo, will bow out early if there is any size. Other than that, Brazil’s other male surfer Joao Chianca, the USA’s Griffin Colapinto or John John Florence, Australia’s Ethan Ewing or Jack Robinson are all odds on favorites.

Except not so fast.

In a bold move, GB Surfing, the “non-governmental organisation dedicated to developing exceptional British surfing talent,” has redesigned its logo to “create a new brand identity aligned with its ambition to become a great power in international surfing.”

Age of empire.

GB Surfing turned to FORM Brands Studio in order to find the perfect look/feel. “We surf ourselves,” co-founder and creative director Alex Andlaw told Creative Boom. “So we loved the idea of getting the perfect wave carved into the logo. We looked at the shapes of breaks, cutbacks and tunnels of waves to find inspiration: every line, curl and curve was carefully considered to create the final design.”

The results are striking. Simple yet identifiable. British red and blue featured. Eye catching and “atmospheric.”

Not leaving the impression of having been done by a bored and angry four-year-old like the World Surf League’s logo.

Yikes.

Will the GB Surfing redesign be enough to bring a medal home to Scotland?

The smart money says “Filipe Toledo will be scared.”