Behind the scenes: Meet the artist bringing Sub10 Club to life

From freezing winter swims to bright, bold designs, discover the inspiration behind this year’s Sub10 Club badges and the creative talent helping bring the campaign to life.

Every Sub10 Club badge represents a challenge met, a milestone reached and another step in a swimmer’s cold-water journey. But behind each design is a creative process, a personal passion and a team working together to celebrate the open-water swimming community.

For this year’s Sub10 Club, running from 1 November to 31 March, we’re introducing the artist behind the badges: Paige Critchley, a freelance artist and graphic designer whose love of swimming and the outdoors runs through everything she creates.

Meet Paige Critchley

Paige creates hand-drawn graphics and prints for outdoor lifestyle brands and companies around the world, including NOWCA. Her work is heavily influenced by her connection with the sea, having grown up on the Isle of Wight and now living in Dorset.

An open-water swimmer and surfer, Paige also competes with her local masters team, Poole Swimming Club. Swimming isn’t simply an interest that inspires her artwork; it’s a big part of her life.

She also loves painting and has completed numerous commissioned pieces. One of her favourites captures Paige and a friend swimming at Sandbanks, with the iconic Old Harry Rocks in the background.

For Paige, swimming is about much more than getting in the water. It’s about the friendships, shared experiences and feel-good factor that come with being part of a swimming community.

“It’s exciting as well as a real privilege to think that my art is encouraging people to get involved,” she says.

It’s a sentiment that sits at the heart of Sub10 Club: celebrating the people who take on the challenge and helping more swimmers discover the rewards of getting in the water.

Inspired by the cold

So, where did the inspiration for this year’s Sub10 Club designs come from?

Paige took on a challenge of her own last winter, swimming in the sea throughout the colder months wearing just her swimming costume, without boots or gloves.

And she’s planning to do it all again this year!

“It’s such an adrenaline rush to get into freezing water and a great start to the day,” she explains.

That experience has found its way into this year’s badge designs. Expect bright, punchy colours, icy details and shades of blue that capture the unmistakable chill of those winter mornings.

The designs bring a burst of colour to the colder months, reflecting the energy, determination and excitement that come with embracing winter swimming.

And while every swimmer has their own reason for taking on the Sub10 challenge, those early-morning dips and chilly-water achievements are something the community can share.

The creative work behind every badge

Designing the Sub10 Club badges is a task Paige looks forward to each year.

“It’s always a fun task to design the Sub10 badges,” she says. “I am lucky to be given the task to design these badges each year as they resonate with me and my love for swimming.”

That personal connection helps make the designs feel at home in the NOWCA community. They’re created by someone who understands the appeal of getting outdoors, the anticipation of entering cold water and the satisfaction of achieving a swimming goal.

But bringing a campaign like Sub10 Club to life takes more than a great design. It’s about combining creative ideas with a shared understanding of what motivates swimmers, then turning that into something the community can work towards and celebrate.

Paige’s artwork is an important part of that process, helping give the campaign its own visual identity while celebrating the people taking part.

She also believes strongly in the benefits of swimming for both physical and mental wellbeing, and wants to encourage more people to experience them for themselves.

“It’s great to know that NOWCA is working hard to encourage this activity and the badges I have created are a part of this.”

Ready to take on Sub10 Club?

The Sub10 Club returns on 1 November, giving swimmers until 31 March to get involved and embrace the colder months.

Whether you’re already a regular winter swimmer or looking for a new challenge, Sub10 Club is an opportunity to make time for the water, build consistency and celebrate your progress along the way.

And when you earn your next badge, you’ll know there’s a little more behind it than meets the eye: an artist inspired by her own cold-water adventures, a shared passion for swimming and a team working together to celebrate every milestone.