Hunky Dory Records: Brand Identity Case Study

The problem

Stuck in a groove.

Hunky Dory had the records and a rare extra: local beer on tap. The brand said none of it. The logo was dated, every website update meant waiting on an outside developer, and the shop was about to move into a new space that needed a full in-store experience.

The goal

Turn it up. Pour one, too.

Bring the brand into the modern vinyl revival without losing its mid-century roots. Give it the energy of the records on its shelves, and make the beer on tap impossible to miss.

The insight

The appeal of vinyl is the experience.

The system

Who are you?

Every piece comes back to that experience, starting with the logo: the moment you pull a record from its sleeve. It’s all in the sleeve. I stripped the old heritage back to an HD mark cut with record grooves and one line, Music · Beer · Vibes. Vintage record-label cues with a modern edge, built to work on merch, packaging and signage.

A round Hunky Dory sign shaped like a vinyl record, hanging from a brick building — **Logo.** Designed the mark: the moment the record slides out of the sleeve.

The guidelines. Wrote and designed the guide, so all four stores stay on brand.

A black Hunky Dory hoodie printed with a stack of music genres, with red letters that spell Hunky Dory — **Type.** A stack of genres, with red letters that spell Hunky Dory if you look twice.

A record sleeve with a nine-square grid of store photos and the letters D, O, R and Y — **Graphic language.** Built a nine-square grid of photos, colour and letterforms that works on any format.

How it got made

The full pressing.

Five kinds of work, one creative lead, from the shop floor to the beer can.

What I made for Hunky Dory, with the format and my part in each
Deliverable	Format / spec	My part
Retail	Store signage and shop-floor layout	Art directed
Web	One new website for all four stores	Designed and developed
Merchandise	Clothing, stickers, hats and glassware	Designed
Environment	Store mural	Art directed
Branded beer keepsakes	Beer cans and glassware	Concepted and art directed

Applications

The greatest hits.

Two-sided Hunky Dory flyer: the photo grid on the front, genres and store locations on the back — **Flyers and posters.** Designed and wrote both sides: the photo grid on the front, every genre and every store on the back.

A canvas tote printed with a record and the script line Everything is Hunky Dory — **Turn the swag on.** Designed hoodies, totes, pins, buttons and stickers under one line: Everything is Hunky Dory.

Rows of Drop the Needle and Dead Wax IPA beer cans in orange and black — **Beer cans.** Designed the cans, so the beer on tap is impossible to miss.

Hunky Dory stickers that riff on classic band logos, stuck to a guitar body — **Stickers and keepsakes.** Wrote and designed spoof band stickers, made to end up on guitar cases and laptops.

The Hunky Dory website on a laptop: Vinyl · Beer · Vibes over a photo of the store — **Because… the internet.** Designed and built a site the team updates themselves.

The detail

The logo isn’t just a mark. It’s the second before the needle drops: a record halfway out of its sleeve, the part of the ritual every collector knows.

The flagship

Come for the records. Stay for a pint.

Murals, signage and artwork guide you through the new space, with vintage posters and rare finds rewarding anyone who keeps digging.

The bar at Hunky Dory: taps under a neon sign reading This must be the place, framed by record shelves and a red David Bowie Hunky Dory poster — **This must be the place.** Records and local beer, served from the same counter. The bar is the heart of the flagship.

The Hunky Dory storefront: HUNKY and DORY painted on rainbow-striped panels either side of a window under the line vinyl records & local beer, with mint-green metal chairs out front — **The front door.** The identity starts on the sidewalk.

The Hunky Dory sales floor: record bins, a wall of face-out albums, a patterned sofa and a long wooden table under industrial ductwork — **Stay a while.** Bins, a listening table and a sofa, so the hunt never has to be rushed.

Customers browsing records while someone reads on a sofa by tall windows at dusk — **The lounge.** Lamps, plants and a front window full of new arrivals.

Old metal school lockers used as merch displays, stacked with Hunky Dory T-shirts, hats and totes — **Merch lockers.** Shirts, hats, totes and stickers, shelved in salvaged school lockers.

A framed red David Bowie Hunky Dory poster on a wall of records, next to the original album cover — **Where the name comes from.** The record the shop is named after gets a wall of its own.

A chalkboard sign on the sidewalk outside Hunky Dory at sunset, reading Vinyl Records & Local Beer, We buy records!!!, while a dog drinks from a water bowl beside it — **Out front.** The sidewalk sign does the inviting, in the same hand-drawn voice as the rest of the shop.

“Adam completely nailed our brand. He brought that mid-century vinyl feel into the present without losing our soul, and giving us a site we can actually update ourselves ahead of the shop move was a game changer. Couldn’t have asked for a better partner.”

Owner, Hunky Dory Records

What happened

Merch and beer both turned up.

The two things the store needed to sell beyond records both rose after launch, and the new website brought more traffic while making promotions easy to run in-house.

Why it holds together

Written, produced and performed by me.

I made the logo, the website, the campaigns, the copy, the spoof merch, the retail displays and the beer cans. Every piece answered to the same idea, so the store finally felt like one thing.

Next project · 03Pinetop Distillery

Let’s talkOpen to senior roles

Bring me
the problem.

Hiring a Senior Designer, Art Director, or hands-on Creative Director? If you need design strategy and the hands to carry it out, on brand down to the last file, I’d like to hear about it.

LocationRaleigh, NC · Remote or hybrid
Emailhello@adamhajnos.com
LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/adam-hajnos
RésuméView résumé