SIMBA Surf had been leading the conversation around surf safety ever since they launched their first product, the Sentinel 1 helmet, in 2020.
However, as the brand grew and the company prepared to launch a new generation of surf helmets, the team realised their identity hadn’t kept up with their ambition.
Ahead of a new product launch, the team tore up the old playbook. Working alongside London-based brand and design studio Planning Unit, SIMBA Surf rebranded as HYDA Helmets, introducing a considered visual system and a purpose-built ecommerce experience alongside the new name.
“The investment team had decided the brand needed a little bit of new life,” says Greg Keeling, VP of market development. “So much attention had gone into the product and the new line – and into getting it out into the world – but very little into the brand that held it all together.”
Planning Unit’s brand for HYDA
Along with launching HYDA into its next chapter, the new identity had to respond to a cultural shift in the world of surfing. For decades, helmets had been a hard sell in surf culture. Older, more conservative surfers saw them as unnecessary, a break from tradition. But a new wave of younger surfers – raised on bike and skate culture – view helmets as tools to improve their craft by pushing their limits.
SIMBA Surf’s earlier positioning had leaned on safety messaging, but as Keeling explains, the team deliberately shifted the focus. The goal wasn’t to talk about protection, but progression, giving surfers the confidence to charge harder.
“We wanted to celebrate the technology and design behind the helmets – to give them real shelf presence – while keeping the brand authentic; something made by surfers, for surfers,” says Keeling.
Even in rebuilding the brand for a modern audience, Planning Unit didn’t abandon its visual history. The logo of SIMBA Surf held a trident within it, a motif which the team carried forward to the ‘Y’ in the wordmark.
The trident within SIMBA Surf’s logo was reimagined by Planning Unit for HYDA
The trident is linked to ancient gods of the sea, representing dominance over the ocean. In modern surf culture, it has come to symbolise strength, courage and protection.
The wordmark was custom-drawn for legibility, unity and balance while adding a subtle emphasis to the trident. This combines with a “shelter-shaped ‘A’ that represents HYDA’s desire to always protect and care for those who use its products,” says Planning Unit co-founder Nick Hard.
The letterforms were intentionally crafted to be simple. “We didn’t want the identity to feel overcomplicated – it had to be confident, instantly recognisable, and legible even in motion and in water,” adds Hard.
The typographic palette is strengthened by the addition of Söhne Halbfett and Söhne Buch, chosen for their clean, no-nonsense construction and strong legibility in high-visibility settings. Elsewhere, Mikro from Letters from Sweden brings a technical flavour.
To expand the visual system, the team drew the trident out of the logo and evolved it into an ownable brand mark. It now forms wave-like patterns that move fluidly across both static and motion assets, and extends into product design – appearing on HYDA’s latest helmet line, Coanda.
Alongside building a coherent visual system, the team wanted the product itself to be desirable, supported by packaging that elevates it from pure utility to a design object in its own right.
“We looked at what everyone else was doing in terms of packaging and decided to do the opposite. Most boxes were white or plain cardboard – we went completely black, added patterns, and cut window openings so the colour of the helmets pops through,” says Planning Unit co-founder Jeff Knowles.
“One of the helmets is a bright neon yellow, so when it sits inside the black box, that flash of colour becomes part of the design.”
Planning Unit’s packaging for HYDA
Each design decision – across product, packaging, identity and website – grew out of a fast, collaborative rhythm between HYDA and Planning Unit. The process stayed light on hierarchy and heavy on exchange, allowing ideas to build momentum as they passed between teams.
“I’ve worked with big agencies where you go through four layers before you ever sit down with a designer. For me, that’s yesterday’s model,” says Keeling.
“You get pitched by one team, handed off to ideators in the next, and then to designers in round four or five. It’s miserable; you lose the original vision.
“What we created with these guys was the opposite – a forum where ideas were shared openly, and whenever something clicked, we all knew instantly, ‘That’s it,’ and ran with it.”
That agile, shared process has resulted in a brand that has resonated immediately.
“It was a total slam dunk – the investors loved it, the athletes started wearing it, and influencers came on board fast,” says Keeling. “Even high-end partners reached out after seeing the site and the product. That kind of reaction doesn’t happen without a brand that is doing its job.”
The HYDA wordmark, seen alongside the mark for Coanda, the latest helmet line
The trident motif, as seen on the helmets
HYDA’s product line, seen on the website
The “shelter-shaped ‘A’” appears through the brand’s typography