You need to decide what images you want to use. This will help determine the size and shape of your calendar. All my images are vertical, however, that’s not a typical calendar format. Most calendars are horizontal, but if you’re making your own it can be any shape you want!
2nd Step: Choosing a Size
What size do you want your calendar to be? You can make a desktop, or a wall hung calendar. My calendar is a wall hung, but it’s on the smaller size at 5.5″ x 11.5″. Most calendars fall in the range of 12″ wide and 10″ to 13″ long. If you decide to print your images on the back of the previous month then when you open it up to hang it could be 26″ in length. I have also seen calendars even larger then this.
Noteworthy: The first time I made a calendar I guessed at a size, and then asked my printer how many he could fit on a sheet to see if I should adjust it to maximize the space. I later discovered most of my customers really liked the size I made them. They were bigger then a desktop calendar but small enough to fit in small spaces on the walls or shelf in their house.
3rd Step: Choosing Single or Double Sided Print
Do you want your calendar to be printed on the same page as your image or on the back? I intentionally made my calendars with the images and the dates all on one side so that the images could be repurposed once they were done being used as a calendar. This also factored into the size of my calendar. I knew I wasn’t going to make a standard wall hung calendar which lead me to completely design my own.
4th Step: Choosing Software to Design a Calendar
You can completely design your own calendar. You just need to know how to use the software to do so. There’s lots of software out there that can do this! I used photoshop and I drew it up from scratch with no guidelines, however there are many templates out there for you to use if you need them.
If you don’t have access to your own software then I would suggest using Canva. Its a fantastic free service, full of templates, and tutorials.
Designing the first month took me awhile to create. After deciding on the size of my calendar I had to make the grid for the dates. This took me the longest to draw up, but once the first month was made I could just copy and paste. I did have to pay extra attention to where I put the dates to make sure they were correct for each month.
5th Step: Choosing Cover Stock for Your Calendar
Before printing your calendar you need to decide on the paper you want to use. What kind of finish do you want? You can choose from matte, satin, lust, and glossy cover stock. You also need to decide on the weight of your cover. The larger the weight the thicker the paper will be. You can also print your calendar on different textured paper such as smooth, textured, linen, and more. Lastly, paper can come in different brightness of white.
A typical calendar would be printed on smooth textured, bright white, satin or glossy cover with the weight of 80 lb.
My calendar is printed on a smooth textured, bright white, satin finish, with the weight of 120 lb making the calendar stronger and less flimsy then a regular store bought calendar.
IMPORTANT: Know the size, finish, weight, texture, and brightness of the cover stock you want to print your calendar on before going to any print service.
Note: Cover stock is what paper is called in businesses that make and sell paper products.
6th Step: How Many Calendars Should You Make?
Before choosing a printer it’s important to know how many calendars you want to print. The more you order the less expensive each calendar will be. This is important to keep in mind when deciding on a print service. Typically the price of a calendar will decrease with every 50 prints you order at one time.
It’s also equally important to recognize calendars have a short shelf-life for selling. The window for selling them is only 3-5 month. So if you are looking to sell them you don’t want to have leftovers, but at the same time you want to order as much as you can sell to bring the price of printing them down.
7th Step: Choosing a Print Service
Once you know the design of your calendar, have an idea of the cover stock you want to use, and how many you want to print, then it’s time to shop for a print service!
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