Last week I received this gorgeous Limited Edition A1 calendar designed by Mash Creative. The posters are printed 2 colour litho on 170gsm cyclus offset with a 60% cyan shiner to achieve an extra rich black. Each poster
is hand numbered and signed by the designer. Only 100 were printed and you can purchase one exclusively from Counter Objects.
can anyone give a little feedback on why exactly this calendar is so fantastic?
_why are the months staggered in that manner?
_why do they initially run horizontally (jan-feb) only to change direction and confuse by continuing vertically?
_why is the title in seconds, and what is the reason for the chopping of text and column slicing?
clearly it’s a self promotional device. but what does it communicate?
It doesn’t need to communicate anything. Like you mentioned it’s a promotional calendar. I’m just attracted to the aesthetics of it. Not really sure what was the thinking behind the design decisions but I also think you might be thinking a little to hard about this one. You either like it or you don’t. It’s pretty straightforward.
yes, aesthetically it could be argued to be pleasing. hoewever, that is merely surface. you’re no doubt aware of the modernist tenet of form following function and this piece clearly follows a modernist aesthetic. so either there is some thinking behind it, or it’s just a superficial borrowing of a style with none of the meaning.
the thing that is most worrying though, is precisely the notion of ‘not thinking too hard’. there is unfortunately all too much of that and far too little actual thinking going on. thinking is replaced by trying to be stylistically trendy which in turn renders the result empty and meaningless. i can’t agree with you that design does not need to communicate anything. that is the role of design, or rather good design. and even if it doesn’t want to communicate anything it does so merely by its existence.
i’ve looked around and all sources which show this calendar including the designers’ own site make no attempt to provide any background information. i’m genuinely interested in what’s behind this poster (apart from the wall) and how the design decisions were arrived at. my post here is an attempt to gain some info, or at least spark a discussion. until any information comes to light it gets the benefit of the doubt – i’ll assume the designer actually thought about what he/she was doing.
Again, I really think you’re thinking about this a little too much. I totally agree that function is just as important as form but I think this calendar addresses that through the straight forward calendar. But this is also a design piece so it has two purposes and I think it’s succeeds in that area as well. I also think it’s unfair to suggest that the designer has not put a lot of thought into the design. You honestly have no idea what went into creating this poster. Just because it’s a simple design doesn’t mean it was easy to create.
At first glance, it makes my eyes rattle in my head like two marbles in an empty jar. My eyes keep getting drawn to the “broken” sentence at the top. It took me a little over 2 minutes to move pass that. I know that is not a long time but when you’re reading or looking at something, that is a long time to focus on just one section. As Antonio says, “You either like it or you don’t”. I personally don’t like it. It’s just my honest opinion. Don’t hate me. 🙂
Personally, I think I like it. It’s bold. Regarding the title (I didn’t do the math, but I guess it states the number of seconds in a year): if it were written in a classic typeface, you could’ve easilly missed it. But when you struggle to read it, then it has caught you attention. (And I don’t think that it’s meant to take you a couple of minutes to process it, it’s just meant to make stop and try to figure out what it says) 🙂
The column splices appear to be reminiscent of the movement of an analog time counter; the chopping of words is unclear. The floating months make me about as angry as a cluttered un-“cleaned-up” computer desktop. Moderate applause for the mental delay sparked by the text at top.
Three cheers for Daos actually demanding some explanations and mining for the substance of design decisions.
A hint: if you ever tell someone “I think you’re thinking too hard”, you’re probably wrong. Great design rewards curiosity!
I think they’re taking the grid system and breaking it without actually breaking it. Remixing it, if you will. A way to combine the modernist need to follow rules with the postmodernist need to break them. Also, I like Emily’s suggestion that it looks like and analog clock (I guess that explains why it’s in seconds).
Calendar looks very interestingly, it would be see closer
Nice typography work!
i know its backdated but……..
there’s a difference of 20926seconds. im intrigued!
supposed to have 31536000 seconds in a year.
31556926 is just odd. that 26 seconds?
thumbs up to daos.
i like this calendar for its aesthetics but i don’t feel it’s functionality. my dashboard brings me to a calendar too, why would i need to turn to my wall for it, n squint to look at the finer print. hmms.
maybe i’m not good enough to appreciate it yet =)
It seems the page doesn’t display fully with a Motorola Photon 4G. Are other users getting the identical trouble ?