In the holiday season, most people are looking for a unique gift that they can send to their friends, relatives, and business associates. Though people are using their smartphones extensively, they can get drained quickly. So most people still use a calendar for planning their schedule, making a note of important dates. While there are many calendars available they are not unique. However, with advances in printing and design technology, anyone with computer skills, willing to spend some money can use their own art to make a unique calendar. Here are some tips below.
Choosing Artwork
The first step in making the calendar is choosing the artwork which will be featured. If you have made some art and craft items or drawings, and wish to feature them you can take photos of these items. Alternately you can use artistic photographs of landscapes, flowers, plants, trees or any other item which you like. Another option is to create the artwork on the computer, manually sketching it, or using graphics software. The artwork can be on any topic of your choice. For each month, a separate artwork should be created, which could be linked to events or festivals or weather conditions in the month.
Quantity
The next step in making calendars is deciding how many calendars will be required. This depends to a large extent on how the calendars will be used. Some people wish to give the calendar to only their friends or relatives. They will require only a few dozen or fewer calendars. In this case, it will be better to order the calendars online, at one of the many printing websites. In other cases, especially business owners and professionals may want 100 or more calendars for distributing to clients for branding, marketing purposes, so it is advisable to contact a professional printer since they offer better rates.
Design Finalization
After the artwork for each month is ready, it should be saved as a graphics file. The calendar supplier will usually have software that has a template for the calendar. The calendar can be designed in different formats depending on the user’s preference. In most cases, for each month, the calendar has a separate page. In a few compact calendars, all the days are listed on a single page. The next step involves integrating the artwork with the calendar template. The graphics should be incorporated with the template of the month for which it was designed. The template can be customized, changing the color, font, and other options. Consider allowing customization for your customers so that they can include routine dates like birthdays, dog grooming schedules, summer getaways, and more.
Placing Orders
After the design is finalized, it is advisable to review it to ensure that there are no mistakes. In case less than thirty calendars are required, the order can be placed directly with the supplier, after specifying other details like the paper quality, coating, binding. For more than a hundred calendar copies, it is advisable to ask the calendar printer to provide a sample copy, to check whether it meets the requirement. This will help in checking the calendar to ensure that it as planned or make changes if required. After this, the printer can be asked to print the remaining calendars in the order.
Patty is an artist who does commissions on various local galleries. She is also does some commissioned fan arts and also sell some of her works for charity.