Web Hosting News

Season’s greetings and a Happy New Year to you all from Inspiration Bit. Hope you are having wonderful festive celebrations despite all the chaos in the world and the economic meltdown. Let the new 2009 year bring you all more pleasant surprises, a series of memorable serendipities and victorious achievements. Let it be peace in the world and less sufferings. Let us all have more patience, hope and perseverance to get us through the rough times, and let us always remember how lucky we are to have what we have, without taking things for granted and helping the less fortunate ones in any ways we can.

We’ve had an unusual amount of snow in Vancouver this winter, so much so that snowfall caused a power outage and the last night’s Christmas Eve dinner we spent in dark with candles. My daughter was running around with her flashlight, it was fun, but we were all relieved when the electricity came back in two hours—it was getting cold rather quickly in our house.

It’s hard to believe that another year flew by as quickly as it came and now it’s time for new resolutions for some, new commitments for others and new calendars for everyone. I’m always on a look out for interesting beautiful calendars to decorate my walls, desk or shelves.

A calendar, with its months, weeks and numbers is a perfect medium for showcasing a beautiful typography and elegant grids. I’ve come across some stunning typographic calendars on the Web and so tempted to buy at least one of them.

Calendar “Literally”

Four companies—RegentArt, Front:Design, LiniaGrafic and GMUND—got together to attract people’s attention to the old art of letterpress when every wooden or metal letter’s impression becomes a work of art.

Pentagram 2009 Typographic calendar

This calendar comes in two versions: super-sized 23″ x 33 version for wall and the 12″ x 18″ version for desk use. Each month is featuring a favourite typeface that’s been nominated by one of the 12 graphic design partners (Michael Bierut and Michael Gericke, just to name a few).

Typodarium 2009 – Typographic tear-off Calendar

This one is my favourite. We used to have such tear-off calendars when I was growing up. And I remember sometimes fighting with my two brothers who gets to tear off the page with the new day and read the text on the back. This calendar is showcasing 365 different typefaces from fifty foundries and designers from all over the world. If only they had the shopping cart in English.

Some Type Of Wonderful

Wonderful type pieces by each of the 12 artists are decorating every month of this beautifully designed, limited edition A3 wall calendar. I just wish they had some more calendar thumbnails on the site to whet our appetite.

Cats Let Nothing Darken Their Roar 2009

Bold typography and quirky phrases make this calendar, designed by Noa Bembibre, a fun addition to any typophile’s collection.

How Very Fortunate 2009 Calendar

“Six designers, three Asian restaurants, twelve crumpled fortunes, twenty-four crossed fingers and one letterpress” resulted in one beautiful limited edition calendar.

Hand-crafted calendars on Etsy

If you haven’t heard of Etsy, an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade, you’re missing out on one of a kind pieces made by crafters from all over the world. Check out some of the exquisitely designed letterpress calendars on Etsy.

2009 Letterpress Accordion Fold Mini Calendar

At $15 USD this lovingly crafted calendar is a steal. “Each month features a different old-fashioned natural cut printed in a soft sage green ink, while the month blocks are printed in gray.”

Ink+Wit 2009 Letterpress Calendar, printing by Pistachio Press

Only 300 limited edition calendars, each one is hand printed on a Vandercook printing press. You can either purchase a gift set that includes letterpress cards from Etsy, or just a calendar from ink+wit web site.

OrangeBeautiful 2009 Calendar

Stunning typography and lots of it. Printed entirely by hand on GOCCO printers in Chicago.

Paperedtogether 2009 letterpress calendar

Scrumptiously beautiful calendar from Paperedtogether. I love the texture, can almost feel the paper and the pressed in figures just by looking at the photos.

2009 letterpress and silkscreen calendar by Ilee

This desk calendar comes with delicate designs. Highlights of the 2009 calendar include ancient floral Persian motifs in celebration of Persian New Year in March and non-toxic glow in the dark ink for the month of June.

2009 letterpress artists calendar POSEIDON

Poseidon was chosen for a GD USA 2008 American Graphic Design award. Judging by the numbers on the site, there is only one calendar left in stock.

Perpetual Calendars

Even though I like buying new calendars every year, but nothing can beat perpetual calendars that can be passed on from one generation to another. Here are some ingenious ones I found online.

Small Perpetual Calendar Gideon Dagan

This is a new desktop version of Gideon Dagan’s original Perpetual Calendar that was designed for MoMA in 1998. The magnetic balls are moved manually to mark the date and month. This would be a fun way to teach kids about days and months.

Nava Max 365 Perpetual Calendar

This timeless classic was designed by Massimo Vignelli in 1980. I do prefer to see the months and weekdays as well.

Formosa Wall Calendar

If you have $250 to spare, you may be interested in this classic perpetual calendar that can be found in museum collections worldwide. It was designed by Italian designer Enzo Mari in 1967 for Danese Milano, Italy.

Acrylic Perpetual Calendar

Another perpetual calendar from MOMA store. It comes with two acrylic blocks that slide past each other to indicate the day and month.

Flickr Calendar inspiration

If you need some more calendar inspiration, check out Flickr. I’ve found someone posting pages from a vintage book’s calendar collection. I wish they mentioned the title of that book, there are some amazing calendar designs and interesting typography.

And I really liked this cleverly creative barometer inspired calendar from a student’s work for her type class.

Or perhaps you might be interested in making a perpetual calendar yourself, much like QueenVanna or Michael Karshis.

Which calendar did you like the most? Did you buy a new calendar for 2009?

I’m putting a post together where I’ll be sharing with you my new sources of inspiration that I’ve discovered in 2008 and I would love to include your sources of inspiration from 2008 and credit you with a link. So if you’re interested, please send me a note or message me on Twitter.

Have a wonderful new year and happy holidays!