Personalised calendars make popular gifts at the end of the year and are generally appreciated by family members and friends. While many retail and online outlets will produce them for you using photos you supply, it’s actually very easy to print your own.
You don’t need special design skills or even a sophisticated printer – and you may have suitable software already. But there are some essentials if you want a professional-looking result.
1. Printer requirements: Your printer must be able to handle double-sided paper (although duplexing isn’t necessary as it’s easy to flip pages as you print them and feed them in again). A Photo Quality A4 inkjet is the best option, preferably with at least six ink colours. (Larger calendars can be made with an A3+ printer but many people have problems displaying them.)
2. Paper: The best paper to use is double-sided matte with a minimum weight of 170 gsm. Options include Epson’s Matte Paper Double-Sided, Innova Softex Dual Sided Inkjet and Smooth Cotton Dual Sided, Ilford Galerie Smooth Lustre Duo, Canson Infinity Rag Photographique Duo or Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Duo. Some are thicker than others and most of them are only available through specialist outlets – or online resellers.
3. Software: In this feature we’ll be using Microsoft Publisher for producing our calendar. However, there are plenty of other template-based applications available for purchase online. Simply search for ‘calendar software’ to check out what’s available. Users of Photoshop Elements 8 and later can create calendars within this application.
Step-by-Step Production
Step 1: Sort out the 12 images you plan to use. These may come from collections of family snapshots, photographs taken at a special occasion or those covering a trip. If the recipient has a particular hobby, you could choose shots picturing aspects of it.
Make sure all the images have the same orientation – either portrait or landscape (the latter is easier to fit into most templates). Decide whether you want a separate cover picture; this can be in a different format from the calendar itself.
Step-1-organise475Step 2: Open the software application and decide on a template. Publisher has a large selection of calendar templates, all of which can be adapted in a number of ways. Click on the Calendars folder (circled) to access them.
Step-2-template-1475Choose the template closest to your requirements. (We’ve selected A4 vertically orientated for this demonstration). Then select a colour scheme from the drop-down menu on the right hand column and check the One month per page button under Time Frame. To change the month that the calendar starts on, click Set Calendar Dates in the Calendar Options task pane. Click on OK to open the template. Don’t worry if the template covers most of the page and includes items you don’t want. These can be changed.
Step-2-template-2475Use Edit > Cut to remove all the items in the template you don’t want. Then drag and drop the remaining components into place as you want them. Note: in Publisher, a cross will appear when you’ve selected an entire design component, a pair of parallel lines lets you resize a component vertically or horizontally and a slanted arrow provides diagonal adjustment.
Feel free to change the font and the sizes and positions of the various elements in the template to suit your tastes and pictures. You can also change the background colours and textures, if required.
Step-2-template-3475Step 3: Add the first picture. Click on Insert > Picture > from File and select the first picture you want to use. It will pop up in the centre of your template and you can shift and resize it to suit your requirements.
Step-3-insert-image475Be sure to leave about two centimetres at the top of the page for the binding. At this stage you may need to resize the date matrix and month heading to make everything fit correctly. Simply click on the corners of the text and image boxes and drag them to where they look best.
Step-3-reposition475Step 4: On the lower edge of the workspace you’ll find icons that access the pages of the calendar, numbered 1 to 12. Click on the number 2 to open the page for February. Repeat the steps taken to create the January page, using the picture you’ve selected for February – and again for each of the remaining months.
You can check the alignment of the design elements in your calendar by clicking on View in the top toolbar and selecting Two-Page-Spread. Use the page numbers at the bottom of the workspace to move from one pair of pages to the next, making sure the pictures, heading and date matrices are at the same height on each page.
Step-4-page-check475Step 5: Print your calendar. This is where it can become tricky. For the calendar to provide an easy flow from month to month, the months must be paired as follows: January on one side of the paper with December on the back; February with November; March with October; April with September; May with August and June with July.
The best printing strategy is to print all the months on the same side of each sheet of paper first and then the remaining months afterwards, making sure each pair of months is correctly matched – and correctly orientated.
Step 6: Spiral coil binding works best for most calendars as it allows pages to be flipped over easily. You can have the pages bound by outlets like Office Works for a dollar or two per calendar.
Click here for some easy to use templates to create 2011 calendars that feature your own photos.
Promotional calendars are essential tools for all industry types. Beyond sharing dates and important reminders, they offer year-long advertising opportunities at an affordable price and day-to-day brand exposure. In addition, when you provide your audience with a branded promotional calendar, you provide them with a helpful tool they can use daily. Every time someone checks the date or jots down a reminder, they're reminded of your brand, putting it top of mind.
Because promotional calendars are so important for your business or organization, it's essential that you find the right calendar printing company for your goals and budget. To help ease the search, we compiled 10 key factors you need to consider before you settle on a printer. Read further to find out how you can determine which calendar printer is right for your needs.
Before you even begin looking for a calendar printing company, you need to determine and understand your needs for your promotional calendar.
What is the purpose of your promotional calendar? Is the goal for your calendar to increase brand exposure, promote a specific service, advertise several products or services, share tips and information related to your industry, or introduce your brand to a new audience? Are you planning to mail your promotional calendars, use them as giveaways, hand them out at an event, use them as fundraising materials, or gift them to your employees or stakeholders?
Based on the purpose of your promotional calendars, how many will you need, and are there any specific printing requirements required to meet your goals? For example, are you reaching a large audience and need 2000 calendars? Are they for each department within your company, and you only need 5, or are you gifting them to top customers and need about 250 calendars?
By determining your promotional calendar needs, you'll understand better what you need to find within a printing company. After answering the questions above, consider the following factors to determine which calendar printing company is right for you.
Your promotional calendar should reflect the quality and professionalism of your brand. So, look for a calendar printing company that promotes and is known for its quality while not overpricing its services. When looking for a printer, ask for samples of their paper and product configurations so you can see and feel firsthand the quality in which your calendar could be printed.
In looking at the quality stage of finding your calendar printer, it’s crucial to find not only one who will provide you with free samples to show you their quality but also one who is experienced in calendar printing. For example, a company specializing in business cards may outsource or not print calendars often, resulting in them not prioritizing your needs and providing you with a lower-quality product.
Some calendar printing companies may only provide small orders. For example, some companies focus on consumer needs, offering only one calendar while ignoring bulk printing discounts. If you only need one calendar, then this is great. However, suppose you need 5, 50, 500, or even 2000 custom calendars. In that case, you need to look for a printing company offering short-run and bulk calendar printing services.
By doing so, you are able to order smaller quantities at an affordable price and take advantage of bulk printing discounts if you need to order a large batch of promotional calendars.
Look for a calendar printing company that offers several paper and finish configurations for your promotional calendar so that you can order a product that meets your goals and budget while also not lacking in quality.
For example, you should be given several options of paper in different finishes and thicknesses for your calendar's inside pages and cover. In addition, you should be provided the option to add a coating to the inside and/or exterior. For example, you could add a UV coating for added protection, a soft touch coating for a smooth, velvety feel, or a matte, satin, or gloss aqueous coating.
In addition to several paper and finishing options, your printer should offer additional customization capabilities to meet your exact goals. For example, ask the company if they offer special features like metallic ink printing in gold and silver as well as spot coating to make certain design elements appear shinier than others. Depending on your calendar's purpose, these capabilities can help you create a promotional calendar that stands out.
Also, customization capabilities should extend even further, including personalizing each calendar to be customized for each recipient using Variable Data Printing. This customization service lets you print unique per-calendar content such as names, images, and more.
Designing a promotional calendar can take time and effort, even for seasoned designers. You need to account for the correct months, dates, and holidays and ensure you have the accurate page count, page layout, bleed, and margin space required for printing. Because of this, look for a calendar printing company that offers free calendar design templates for your needs, including an annotated PDF that has the correct month details, packaged and customizable InDesign templates set up with the proper printing requirements, and even an online calendar designer where all you have to do is upload your images.
In addition to calendar templates, look for a printer who offers graphic design help. This is important if you aren’t familiar with designing multi-page materials, as they can help you set up your art file, brainstorm ideas with you, or completely take the reins after discussing your vision and goals.
Making a custom calendar takes time, and because they have multiple pages full of month details, promotional messaging, branding, and imagery, they involve much proofreading to ensure there aren’t any missing company events, typos, low-resolution images, incorrect linked QR codes, and more. Because of this, it’s essential that you not only review your promotional calendar design after making it, but you also review it one last time before they are printed to ensure you don’t need to waste money on having to reprint them.
This is why it’s essential to look for a printer who will provide you with a free calendar proof so that you can review and approve it before they move it to production. Professional calendar printers will even offer free file checking to inform you of any low-resolution images, incorrect color modes, and more so that if by chance there is any error, you can fix your design and resubmit it to be reproofed. Digital proofs of your art files should remain free no matter how many times you need to resubmit your files.
Turnaround time refers to the time it takes to print your promotional calendars, also known as printing time. It does not include the shipping or mailing time. Turnaround time begins after your proof is approved, and you should find a calendar printer to accommodate your deadline.
When looking for a printer, look for one that promotes fast speeds and one that offers several turnaround options to choose from. You'll typically be able to view the different turnaround time options associated with your quantity on your printer's calendar product page. If you don't see a timeframe that meets your deadline, then give them a call. Depending on your needs, a professional calendar printing company might be able to speed up the printing time.
When looking for a calendar printing company, you want to look for affordable and competitive prices in relation to the quality of their work. While you may steer towards the cheapest provider, this could result in a less-than-professional final product, resulting in your calendars not generating a high ROI.
Analyze their price point against their quality as well as against other printers. Then, evaluate their bulk calendar printing discounts against their short run. This is important because the price per calendar should decrease as you increase the quantity. For example, 50 custom calendars may cost around $6 per calendar, while 500 calendars could cost about $3 per calendar.
We all check out the reviews before making a purchase online so that we can buy with confidence. The same goes for buying promotional calendars. When looking for a calendar printing company, looking at each printer's reviews is essential. By reading what previous customers have to say, you'll be able to get an understanding of what you can expect when ordering from each company.
Suppose you're handing out your calendars at an event or gifting them to your employees. In that case, you probably don't need to prioritize finding a printer that offers mailing services. However, suppose you're looking to send out your promotional calendars to your audience through a direct mail campaign. In that case, finding a calendar printing and mailing company is essential. Doing so can save a lot of time and money, as they can mail your calendars directly to your audience after they are printed. A professional print and direct mail company will not only send them using a mailing list you already have but can also help you build a new targeted mailing list so you can reach a new audience and increase your customer base.
Additionally, a printer offering mailing services can mail your calendars without an envelope or print custom envelopes, use ink jetting to address them, and insert them into the envelopes for you before they mail them.
See What People Say About Our Calendar Printing Services
TrustpilotSelecting the right printing company for your promotional calendars is essential to your brand's visibility and reputation. With so many factors to consider, from quality, customization, and design help to free file checking, turnaround time, and direct mail services, ensuring you're partnering with a reliable and experienced calendar printing company is critical.
At Conquest Graphics, we have over 100 years of calendar printing experience. We offer high-quality and affordable services, free samples, design help, fast speeds, easy ordering, materials and customization capabilities to meet your needs, direct mail services, a helpful customer service team here to help you every step of the way, and so much more.
Are you ready to bring your promotional calendars to life? Don't miss out on year-long advertising and amazing brand exposure. Order your promotional calendars today and ensure your brand stays top of mind every day.
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