Legendary Pages
The irreverent, the new, the exciting. A spread from Nautical Quarterly. 1982
It was considered super cool to study graphic design in the 1980’s – pre Imac, pre any computer what so ever and if you were good, you found yourself studing at Swinburne Uni of Tech.
These were the heady days of Letraset and bromides and scalpels and Pantone books and paste ups and Swinburne Uni of Tech was the place to be.
Graphic design al la 1980’s.
Graphic design could possibly be said to reach its pinnacle roughly in the 1980s when in the US, new businesses sprouted up, hence, creating stiff market competitions. The trend rubbed off on companies globally, making graphic design field an important business partner. Design agency businesses were booming, design graduates were sought after and designers somehow, had their own ‘status’ in society
And it was at this bricks and mortar establishment (online lectures had not been invented) were two young men were to meet – both would become designers, build a design studio together and share a love of sailing. Dave Pizzey and Martin Delves. Of note, Martin recently create the wonderful design for the 2024 Tumlaren Interstate and Trans Tasman Challenge.
However, it was in the Swinburne library where, Dave, searching for inspiration, came across a shelf featuring copies of NAUTICAL QUARTERLY.
A magazine in a slip jacket, each edition a work of art. But what was exciting, what felt new and disruptive were the risks being taken – the photographic style, the irreverence of deep etched/cut on images, text laid out in punky new ways, fonts broke rules, so too column width.
“Holding it in your hands, you felt like you were on a road trip with Jack London – seeing the world for the first time,” said Dave.
NAUTICAL QUARTERLY was brain child of Norwegian designer B Martin Pedersen for whom “everything in life matters, whether it's sweeping a floor or designing a magazine. In fact, one of the most important lessons he learned about design was while sweeping sawdust off the floor as an apprenticing laborer for an old-world Norwegian carpenter in the 1950s. "I learned a work ethic," he recalls. "When the master carpenter touched a piece of wood, it became the most precious thing on earth."
Perhaps it was Pedersen’s early days spent with carpenters that greatly influenced his love of boat. Nothing could deter his love of exactness. While he learned to be a savvy communicator, he never gave up his obsessive pursuit of perfection. In 1978, while a partner at Jonson Pedersen Hinrichs & Shakery, he initiated and developedNautical Quarterly, a publication of such elegance it influenced an entire generation of editorial art directors.
The son of a fisherman, and an accomplished sailor himself, Pedersen was passionate about the magazine's subject matter. As a result, his design was as evocative as the bracing smell of creosote mixed with wood varnish and brine. Readers were treated to a memorable visual experience that captured the mystery of the marine environment at its most pristine. Nautical Quarterly got every award the industry had to give and put Pedersen on everyone's map.
"My God, what Marty does is so perfect, so clear," said designer Massimo Vignelli, a colleague for many years. "He is addicted to supreme beauty. But it's not out of ego or greed, it's out of love for our profession."
"Marty is a navigator," offers Margaret Richardson, a publishing executive at International Typeface Corporation, "a man of the sea. He has an innate sense of direction. He trusts his vision and somehow always manages to bring all his projects safely back to port."
NAUTICAL QUARTERLY is now a collectors item. They are flying about. Editions 1 to 40?? See if you can beat me to Ebay. Dave Pizzey has the entire collection.
Read the full article - The One Club