HEAVY VINYL COMIC BOOK SERIES DESIGN
Heavy Vinyl is a comic book series and original graphic novel written by Carly Usdin; illustrated by Nina Vakueva, Irene Flores, colored by Rebecca Nalty, Kieran Quigley, Walter Baiamonte, letters by Jim Campbell, published by BOOM! Studios.
Logo by Kelsey Dietrich & Marie Krupina, design by Marie Krupina.
The project began with a limited series set in New Jersey, 1998, centered around a local record store—which also happens to be a front for a teen girl vigilante fight club solving mysteries and blasting music. This setting immediately dictated the visual language, leading to vinyl records as a key design motif for both the logo and back cover.
DESIGN DIRECTION
For the single issue magazine design I played with the rectangular format of the back cover, transforming it into a turntable—one that feels personal, like it belongs in a teenage girl’s bedroom in the '80s, covered in stickers, filled with rebellion, and echoing the spirit of underground justice.
For the credits page, I leaned into the gritty, underground aesthetic of a secret fight club, designing it as a handwritten note taped to a painted brick wall—a raw, DIY approach that feels both urgent and authentic. Instead of traditional tape, I used a band-aid to reinforce the theme of combat, resilience, and the inevitable bruises that come with the fight.
This design process was all about merging music culture, teenage rebellion, and vigilante justice into a cohesive, immersive experience—one that not only reflects the story’s core themes but also feels like an artifact straight from that world.
