Looking for some calendar design inspiration? Then look no further as we reveal a host of inspirational designs.
Branching out into calendar design is a great way to bring in extra client work, promote your own portfolio, the company you work for, or maybe the product you produce. In this showcase of great calendar design we've tried to provide a good cross-section of examples, that offer unique and innovative calendar design approaches to one of the most traditional of products.
01. The Brain Calendar
A great example of trompe l'oeil, this brain scrambling calendar design is a brilliant execution of a simple idea. Placing the month and dates in opposing positions allows this calendar to stand in an either portrait or landscape manner. We love the simple use of colour too - too many colours would have spoiled this one.
02. Bird in a book
Created by Ukranian designer Anna Andreeva, this calendar in a book was initially crafted for children but we think almost anyone of any age would appreciate these gorgeous illustrations. See the full range of calendars in books over on her Behance page.
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03. Animal kingdom
We're a sucker for cute character designs and so we instantly fell in love with this calendar design, which comes with a different animal for each month including a tiger, koala, monkey and racoon.
04. Alphabet 2014
Student Sara Vrbinc was tasked with creating a calendar for 2014 using all the letters of an alphabet stretched over six sheets of paper. The calendar she created is divided into a grid of equivalent triangles. The user's task is to punch out one triangle per day; once the month runs out, the user can see a couple of letters in different colour combinations.
05. The seasons
This minimalist calendar design is a thing of beauty. Focusing on the seasons, Italian designer Andrea Incardona has included a beautiful array of seasonal based photographs to perfectly depict each month. We love her approach to effortless simplicity.
06. Unraveling calendar
This unraveling calendar design by Patrick Frey is genius! Much like pulling a thread from a sweater, you simply pull until the day just gone has been removed.
Ok, so it's not exactly the most practical of designs. The type is tiny and making notes on it would be impossible. But, let's face it, this calendar is all about the fun, quirky design.
07. Origami calendar
This cool sculpture calendar comes from graphic designer Kerr Hsing. Based in Denver, Colorado, Hsing designed this 2013 Origami calendar for According publishing.
Hsing created a new sculpture for each month, custom-designed graphics for each, illustrated folding instructions and 20 practise sheets. Animals include a snail, elephant, butterfly and bird.
08. Typography calendar
This one-page typography calendar was created by Athens-based graphic designer Cucu. The cool typography design features the first half of the year on the left-hand-side and the latter on the right.
Each month makes use of a different font and is accompanied by an appropriate quote for that time of year.
09. Designer calendar
Earlier this year, New York-based graphic designer and writer Jeannie Huang created this fantastic looking, printable calendar for readers of her blog to download for free.
Simply visit this blog post, download the design, cut along the provided trim marks and print off as many copies as you need.
10. Pantone calendar
This awesome-looking, designer-oriented 2013 Pantone calendar designed by Pentagram’s Eddie Opara and Brankica Harvey.
Published by Abrams, each month of the calendar - which comes in wall and engagement editions - features pixelated images identified by their Pantone Matching System (PMS) colours, each tagged with the specific colour-code.
11. Cat Calendar
Design studio, Studio Lin are known in the design world for their sleek, clean and crisp offerings. They've even managed to take the internet's favourite animal and transform them into this stunning calendar design.
Although the cats are dressed in an array of outfits, Studio Lin's style manages to make this one of the most classy calendars we've ever come across.
12. Maple Veneer Wall Calendar
Designer and illustrator Melanie Linder has a pretty fantastic year after getting married and falling pregnant. However, she thinks 2013 is going to be an even better year and that's where this calendar design comes in. The 'Best Year Ever' calendar is printed on 2-ply maple veneer and comes in three colours. We love the typography!
13. Dog Calendar
This calendar design is for all you dog-loving designers out there. Crafted by Gus and Abby, the 2013 Dog calendar features 12 dog illustrations. We love the oil paint effect on each drawing, as well as the minimal colour scheme. Perfect for framing and placing on your office desk and it's also suitable for slipping into your day planner.
14. Pocket Calendar
This perfect pocket-sized calendar comes from the folks at Ink Scissors Paper - a design collective who specialise in handmade bespoke packaging, calendars, rubber stamps and party supplies. It comes with a mini binder clip but is also available bound with a screw post instead.
Each month is a separate card, each 3in x 5in, printed on both sides of heavy paper stock in a beautiful matte finish. Fifteen point paper, rounded corners and full color on both sides. The front of each card includes the month and year in colour with the days of the month in black.
15. The sun, it shines
This full colour printed calendar design has each date, day and month around the sun – the perfect understated calendar. It may not be the most practical but it's certainly one of the most innovative and beautiful calendars we've come across here at Creative Bloq.
The calendar is printed on 270gsm uncoated paper and it's 420x594mm. Designed by Spring Once More, this is a definite must-have! See below for a closer look.
16. The South Illustrated 2013 Calendar
We love a bit of letterpress here at Creative Bloq and it doesn't get any better than this South Illustrated 2013 calendar designed exclusively for Garden & Gun for Stitch Design Co's sister company Sideshow Press. Each calendar page is hand pressed on their pony-sized 1926 letterpress, with each illustration for each month paired with a quote by a southern author.
The monthly cards are displayed on a wood veneer mounting plaque with a leather strap for hanging. Each calendar set comes packaged in a burlap bag sewn with a letterpress tag. Very nice!
17. Monthly Measure
With this calendar design from Sebastian Bergne, you'll never have to purchase a calendar again! Monthly Measure is both a monthly universal calendar and a ruler. The star is positioned on the serrated side of the ruler to show the day and date in the month. The date is easily changed by rolling the star along the ruler.
The dates are placed every centimetre so Monthly Measure can also be used as a 30cm metric ruler. The die-cast star has English day initials on one side and French on the other. The ruler is made of beech wood.
18. Zoo Calendar
Looking for something to fill that lonely space on your desk? Then look no further than this awesome Zoo calendar. Die cut from heavy board, this 2013 calendar turns adorable zoo animals into unique desk-top sculptures, each displaying two months.
With no glue or scissors needed, fitting together parts with the same mark makes assembling each animal as easy as pie. Animals include: gorilla, deer, porcupine, ostrich, alligator, and camel.
19. Typodarium 2013
This calendar is for any type-lover out there and we know there's a lot of you! Already a hit for 2012, the Typodarium calendar gives you fresh font inspiration every day of the week. As they say, "a fresh font a day... keeps Comic Sans away!"
The editors Raban Ruddigkeit and Lars Harmsen collected typographic curiosities and sound typefaces to offer you an instrument to give your daily life a wide font diversity.
20. Puzzle Calendar
This Puzzle Calendar is made out of colourful building blocks, that you can rearrange to change the look of your calendar each month, and use the icon blocks to note special days and events.
So, if you're bored at work or just need some inspirational zoning out time, the puzzle calendar is perfect for a creative new project each month.
21. Planet Calendar 2013
This calendar from Hungary designer Szani Mészáros was created for a university project, where a creative use of paper was required. Mészáros used different papers for each month, and also integrated a moon calendar.
22. Fluid Animals
We're big fans of Ben the Illustrator at Creative Bloq, and his 2013 calendar brings together twelve great artworks. The calendar is sized at A3 - 297x420mm - and is spiral bound and printed on high-quality 250gsm premium smooth paper with a board-backing.
23. Animal Matryoshka
Loopz are a couple - one art director, one illustrator - living and working in Hong Kong, and they specialise in cut calendars. The couple has created a set style, and has a number of products available via their Etsy store.
24. Move with spirals
Created by Polish designer Łukasz Drwal, this calendar was created for use in print and in a digital. The two fonts used in the project are Zag and Lato, and we're big fans of the clean design and strong use of geometric shapes in this example.
25. Geometric seasons series
Not everyone likes their calendars to feature a tennis player scratching their arse, or One Direction in various teen-friendly poses. This geometric calendar from Ukranian designer Oleg Dzogan uses limited colours and rendered geometric shapes to represent each month. It definitely falls into the minimalist category, but this abstract calendar is a great example of how calendar info can be presented in new ways.
26. Jumping Point calendar from MoMA
This is a classic calendar, and one that many designers will be familiar with from previous years. You simply punch out a counter each day on this calendar to reveal the colour underneath. As you remove more days, the better the calendar looks. Geart design and interactivity - who doesn't love a good Advent Calendar concept? - really make this example stand out. You can buy it here.
27. Idiom calendar
An engaging use of typgraphy, and a strong concept, are all that's required to create a calendar that will turn heads, and sit happily in any design space. This Idom calendar, available on Etsy, was designed by Serious Whims, who also have some other great typography related proucts avaialble online.
28. Letterpress calendar
We're back on Etsy for this calendar from 1canoe2. Twelve hand-drawn illustrations are letterpressed, and you are provided with a wooden stand to sit them in. In stark contrast to the geometry-based calendars we've featured, this - obviously - has a more handmade and organic feel, and you can even use your stump to showcase photos and the like once the year's out. Pages are approximately 3.5in x 5.5in tall.
29. Wild animal
They're the king and queen of Etsy calendars, and this is another Loopzeffort. We like the interesting choice to ditch month names in favour of numbers, which also works well with the contemporary font choice. You can buy these individual calendar sheets here.
30. European heroes
There are lots of things we love about this concept for a calendar byKareem Gouda. Focusing on classic European footballers, there's a striking use of typgraphy and retro distressing, with each month cleverly applying the colour scheme of the player's home nation. We're not sure about the copyright of the photos used, but as a piece of concept work we hope Kareem doesn't fall foul of a cease and desist request.
These are absolutely beautiful. I love the combination of the design and great paper stock. I'm by no means a professional designer but I created a couple of calendars. I recommend it to other designers it's a great exercise. All you need to start is a template with months and days because that parts boring, you can find plenty, my favorite is http://print-a-calendar.com/
ReplyDeleteThanks for this great post.