5 calendar designs that we would make time for

It’s that time of the year – a time of excitement, fresh starts, and more or less sustainable New Year’s resolutions. And what’s better than a creative calendar design to get ready for things to come when the clock hits midnight on December 31st?

Custom calendar designs can be a great way to get everyone excited about the new year – from clients to customers, employees, and loved ones. Get inspired by five creatives who took calendar design to the next level with MOO Postcards.

Studio Sara: shiny new beginnings

Based in Toronto, Sara is an advertising designer by day and a freelance creative by night. On Studio Sara, she shares her passion projects and inspirations on an impeccable, aesthetical masterpiece of a feed. With a keen eye for colour and typography, Sara creates purposeful compositions that deliver a clear, powerful message.

For her calendar cards, she indulged in her love for typography and let her branding shine through in a subtle yet impactful way. “I wanted to create a desk calendar incorporating my personal branding and wanted to keep the design clean and simple. Typography is my favourite aspect of design, so I’m always looking for ways to use type in fun and interesting ways.”

Sara used our Super Postcards with a Gold Foil finish to bring her calendar design idea to life and add a festive touch, celebrating new beginnings. Thanks to Printfinity, she could easily create a different design for each month, adding a discrete little Easter egg for her birthday. “I love how these cards are so reflective of my style, and I love seeing it on my shelf every day. My favourite part is that the November card has a little cake in place of the 28th because that’s my birthday.”

Gweneroo: a taste of tomorrow

Another unique calendar design from Canada! Gwen is the artist behind Gweneroo and describes herself as an illustrator, mountain-hiker, and people person. As passionate about food as she is about drawing, she often combines the two in deliciously colourful artworks that radiate positivity, serenity, and a love for good things. “In general, my work aims to capture moments of peace or joy. It could be an illustration of a moment of calm in a bath of Earl Grey tea, a nap on a giant chocolate croissant, or cute, playful animals, but in general, I want my art to make people think of joyful moments in their own lives.”

With hope and joy at the core of her practice, Gwen aims to pave the way for a better tomorrow. “The world is full of suffering, which we need to actively work to fix and improve. I feel that to some extent keeping beautiful, happy, hopeful things in mind can help us remember WHY we need to keep fighting for the betterment of ourselves, our communities, and the Earth.”

When she came up with her calendar design idea, Gwen used MOO’s Original Postcards with a shine-free matte finish to let her illustrations speak for themselves. “[I] was absolutely BLOWN away by the quality! The instant I opened the box, I couldn’t believe how professional they looked and the vibrance of the colours.” With a series of illustrations depicting moments of “happiness and deliciousness”, her beautiful calendar design set the tone for a year of self-care and joy – and her community’s reaction showed this was much needed. “My favourite thing […] is how much these illustrations have seemed to connect with people. Art is so powerful! As for the physical aspect of the calendar cards, my favourite thing would have to be the vibrant colours! Being such a visual person, colour fidelity and clarity is so important, and MOO definitely went above and beyond my expectations!”

Rebecca B Creates: day after day

Based in Houston, Texas with her husband and two bulldogs, Rebecca Brown is the creative mind behind illustration studio and online shop Rebecca B. Creates. She specializes in wellness brands and eco-friendly products, with clients such as Mind Body Green and Birch Benders.

Her calendar project all started with her love for coffee. “Like most millennials, I love an extravagant coffee drink, but I often can’t justify coffee shop prices. That’s when I started creating and illustrating some of my favourite coffee drink recipes. My friends on Instagram also seemed excited about these recipes, so I decided to sell a calendar featuring these illustrations.”

Passionate about sustainability, Rebecca came up with the idea of a reusable calendar to avoid waste. “I hated the thought of it in the trash at the end of the year. I had the idea of repurposing the calendar as a postcard. On the back of each month, you’ll find a postcard. Just cut along the dotted line to remove the month portion of the card.“ Upcycling is as simple as that.

Rebecca used MOO’s Medium Postcards with our Original paper stock – thick enough to use as a postcard, but thin enough to fit into the dimensions of the wood stand. She paired it with a matte finish on the paper to match the look and feel of the pine wood stand and natural elements of the illustrations. Her favourite part of printing with MOO? “I love that MOO allows you to update different designs on the back of each Postcard. As a small business owner, it can be a challenge to find companies with small minimum order quantities. But with MOO, I was able to upload a different design on each card, allowing me to assemble my own calendars.”

Long Live Simple: silver linings

Carley Lee is the owner and creative director at Long Live Simple, a North Carolina-based design agency focused on simplifying branding and website design for creative business owners. From beauty salons to real estate companies, the Long Live Simple team is dedicated to helping brands tell their stories in a unique, memorable way.

For the studio’s holiday calendar postcards, Carley wanted to inspire clients with a versatile product that could be used as a yearly calendar display or an office keepsake. She used PANTONE’s 2021 colour combo – Ultimate Gray and Illuminating – to really capture the essence of the year with a message of strength and hope. To add the final touch to the custom calendar design, she highlighted this idea of resilience with a Silver Foil finish – for a literal silver lining. “The colours combined with the added Silver Foil effect by MOO really help the design stand out and leave a memorable impression.”

And she didn’t stop there. As a branding expert, Carley knew the power of consistency. She created a delightful experience from A to Z with matching StickerBooks as seals, Rectangular Stickers for the recipient address, and silver Envelopes. Her objective? “To achieve a luxurious calendar effect that would appeal to our studio design clientele.” Nailed it.

YEUNGLOVE: a year in colour

Here at MOO, we’ve been fans of Janine brand’s YEUNGLOVE since her lovely backing card designs first popped up on our feed. Based in Toronto, the idea for YEUNGLOVE had been brewing in the designer’s head for some time before hatching in the summer of 2020. She describes it as a fun, explorative space where she offers a collection of handmade and printed products starring “all things fun, sad and cute”. Imagine our delight when we discovered her collection of calendar postcards.

Her creative calendar designs reflect the different months with adorable, colourful illustrations. “I created small illustrations relating to thematic elements drawn from the characteristics of each month — from April showers and May flowers to apple-picking in September! Each month also features a different background colour for distinctiveness. All the months and cards come together to form a bright and colourful set!”

Janine picked our Medium Postcards in the Original paper stock to bring her designs to life. “I chose this option because the size complements its use as a small casual calendar set, which allows for the easy-switching and display of cards! At this size, these can also be easily framed!”. By choosing an uncoated back, she also made sure her calendar cards could be annotated. “Having the back as an uncoated finish allows for the writing of important dates with enough room for any pointless doodles! I designed the back of these cards with this in mind. You can flip over the front to reveal a mini blank calendar with enough space to note down all your events!”

Create your unique calendar designs with MOO Postcards. With Printfinity, you can print a different design on each card at no extra cost. Good times.