Designing a Calendar with Nigel French

Learn how to design a calendar that’s both functional and inspirational. This course begins by taking a historical look at the different types of calendars. Next, author Nigel French takes you through three different projects (a wall calendar, a circular calendar, and a compact one), using both Adobe InDesign and Illustrator.
Topics include:

Observing different styles of calendars
Installing and using the Calendar Wizard script for InDesign
Placing and fitting images
Adding text
Working with grids and tables
Creating the cover
Preparing calendars for print



Introduction

Welcome
Using the exercise files

1. An Overview of Calendar Design

Thinking about calendar design
Styles of calendar design
Online calendar printing services
Designer calendars

2. Designing a Wall Calendar

An overview of the wall calendar project
Installing the Calendar Wizard script
Calendar generation, pagination, and page rotation
Placing and fitting images
Adding transparency with paragraph and object styles
Editing the calendar table and cell styles
Creating the calendar cover
Preparing the calendar for print

3. Designing a Circular Calendar

An overview of the circular calendar project
Creating a circular grid
Threading text frames around a circular grid
Adding text to a circular grid
Creating the months around the circle
Creating a circular gradient
Refining the calendar text
Adding the year to the calendar

4. Designing a Compact Calendar

Making the calendar tables
Joining the months into a single table
Stripping out the unnecessary information
Editing the paragraph styles
Editing the table
Customizing the cell styles
Finishing touches