Kevin Grady’s “Wednesday”
In the world of graphic design, there are designers—and then there are designers who stand head and shoulders above the rest. Kevin Grady is one of those rare creatives who seamlessly bridges the worlds of advertising and design. His LinkedIn profile reads like a “who’s who” of top agencies and studios, the kind of places any young designer would dream of working. His reputation precedes him: he’s known for his impeccable taste, inventive approach, and a creative mind that balances unexpected innovation with sophisticated elegance.
I had been a fan of Kevin’s work for years, so connecting with him on the West Coast, thanks to mutual friends, felt like a fortunate alignment. Whenever we met up for coffee, I had to resist falling into my inner Chris Farley persona, gushing over projects... "OMFG! when you created that image of Daft Punk in a David Bowie pose!..."
Beyond his full-time work, Kevin devotes considerable energy to side projects, including his magazine, Lemon, a vibrant platform celebrating creativity across art, music, fashion, and film. His latest edition, Wednesday, is an exquisitely illustrated exploration of dark culture, featuring previously unpublished musings and conversations with notable artists, writers, and photographers like Robert Eggers, Tricky, Alice Glass, and Richard Butler, among others. This striking zine is both dark and beautiful, capturing Kevin’s creative superpowers in one remarkable bound piece.
Happy Halloween and creep it real! I can’t wait to see what Kevin conjures up next. https://kevingrady.com/About-Kevin-Grady
Note: I have inserted a conversation Kevin and I had regarding the project after the images.
Here are some comments by Kevin that help illuminate the thinking, and process behind the project:
1. What inspired you to create Wednesday, and how did the idea for this magazine initially come about?
Wednesday was created to explore darkness as a catalyst for creativity in music, art, film, fashion, literature, and beyond. Darkness is having a moment in our pop cultural landscape, extending well beyond Goth: It’s on fashion runways, on our TVs with shows like “Wednesday” with Jenna Ortega. Horror films are extremely popular. Perhaps it’s because we’re living in such dire times, but it seems to provide a kind of release for a lot of people. So, we see Wednesday as taking lemons and making lemonade. And there’s a bit of gallows humor in the mix as well, as there always was with Edward Gorey and Charles Addams. When things seem bleak, sometimes all you can do is laugh! We chose the name Wednesday because it references a verse from an English nursery rhyme from 1838 called “Monday’s Child.” It says, “Wednesday’s child is full of woe.” This was also the inspiration for Charles Addams’ Wednesday character in his Addams Family cartoons, by the way.
2. How did you select the artists and celebrities featured in the book, and what criteria did you use to ensure they fit the theme of dark culture?
They mostly were pulled from my own interests and obsessions—artists I love and musicians who inspire me. I’ve been making dark electronic music for some time under the name Black Plastic, and had been using the Black Plastic Instagram to showcase people and things that are inspired by a similar aesthetic. So, when I decided to start the magazine I had a lot of subjects ready to pull from. We worked hard to make sure that they all would work together harmoniously and support each other. Although quite different, the paintings of Nicola Samori and Richard Butler feel quite nice in the context of each other, for example.
3. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced during the production and design of Wednesday?
The biggest challenges are twofold—trying to pull together a 300-page annual as a side project with very few people and trying to figure out how to pay for it all. We’re still trying to figure that out as we’re working on the second issue. We don’t have ads in the magazine, and it’s much harder than it used to be to get financial support for, of all things, a print magazine. But we love print, so here we are.
Our bigger vision is for Wednesday to be a brand, with the annual publication being the icing on the cake. We’re planning a podcast and want to make products. We also had successful events in San Francisco and Chicago and would like to do more of those. If we can create a community, we’ll be in a better position to fund it all.
4. Can you share any particularly unique or surprising stories that emerged during the interviews or contributions from the featured artists and celebrities?
Well, the Tricky photo shoot in Berlin ended in a bar and the drinks were flowing. He’s an intense and animated character even without the drinks, so it made for a night we’ll never forget. We’ll leave it at that!
And we spent a day in Salton Sea—which smells like rotten eggs—with Alice Glass for her photo shoot, which involved her dragging the “body” of her doppelganger into the desert to burn, representing her being reborn and emerging from the ashes. Again, not your typical way to spend a day.
5. The book is described as lavishly illustrated. How did you approach the visual design and layout to complement the dark themes of the content?
Since we reference Wednesday as “The Bible of Dark Culture,” we wanted the book itself to be hefty, like an actual bible. The texture of the paper and the blind embossing on the cover also invite a sensual interaction, something that feels appropriate for the subject matter. And our heavy use of black and red also helped support the dark themes. From a typographic standpoint, we prominently used the font Eksell Display by Letters from Sweden, which wouldn’t look out of place on the cover of a Stephen King novel.
6. Do you have a personal connection to dark culture? If so, how did this influence your work on the book?
I’ve never considered myself a Goth, but I am drawn to dark music, from classic acts like Bauhaus, Depeche Mode and The Cure to more recent artists like Mareux and Cold Cave. But the real root of my obsession comes from nostalgia. When I was a kid growing up in New England, my family would visit my relatives in Denver most summers. There were two amusement parks within walking distance from my grandparent’s house, and my relatives and I loved nothing more than to go on the haunted house ride (at Elitches). I was young enough that it truly terrified me, and there were points where I had to close my eyes. We’d also psyche ourselves up to watch Creature Features on Saturday nights, and we’d walk to a local corner store earlier in the day to buy enough candy to put us into a coma. We’d even make our own haunted house in the basement of my grandparents’ home. These are some of the fondest memories I have, so they definitely form the foundation for my connection to the dark side.
7. What kind of impact or response do you hope Wednesday will have on its readers, and how has the initial reception been so far?
The reception so far has been very encouraging. People really seem to appreciate the care we put into the curation, writing, and design, and the tangible aspect is seen as refreshing in a digital world. Our intention is to create a lifestyle magazine with a sophistication that you don’t always see with this sort of subject matter—kind of like what you’d get if Edgar Allan Poe guest-edited Kinfolk magazine. So far it seems to be working. We’re hoping that this grows into a community. We’re seeing steady growth on Instagram (@wednesday_mag) which we hope to build on, but it takes time. It’s also been nice to have many of our subjects show support for what we’re doing. David J from Bauhaus and Love and Rockets said that “passion bleeds from every page,” for example. Definitely nice to hear.
8. What future projects or similar concepts are you envisioning following the release of “Wednesday?"
As I’d mentioned, we want to create a brand: the annual magazine, a podcast, events, products such as scents and apparel, etc. Maybe even a record label. The concept lends itself to so many things and we already have a backlog of ideas. But first of all, we need to finish this second issue, which is well underway. We’ve got some amazing people in it, including Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead”), Boy Harsher, John Carpenter, Damien Jalet, Matt Hansel, and a bunch more. We can’t wait to share it.
