Print Design:
Second Place, Most Creative

Jenny Tran
Art Center College of Design

2001 Calendar: Year of the Bird

Artist's Statement: I created my Year of the Bird calendar as an assignment for my Typography II class. The objective of the assignment was broad: to create a 12-month calendar that is larger than 11x17 inches, employing a final output other than digital printout. The theme of the calendar was open, but must use typographical elements.

I chose the life cycle of birds as the theme of my calendar because birds, with their ability of flight, figuratively take us through the year. Also, the bird in literature symbolizes the potential of journey, and the passage of time. These concepts are inherent in the function of a calendar. January starts with return of migrations of birds. February is thematically linked to bird song and the mating ritual. As the months pass, we journey through the bird cycle of raising young, feeding, growth, first flight, etcetera. Hence, the use of the calendar is intrinsically lined to the biological rhythm, as represented by the birds.

For the general composition, I scanned in an image of world bird migratory flight patterns and traced it in Illustrator® to create an organic grid on which the calendar pages lay. Using the grid, I used the typeface Shelley to compose the first letter of every month onto their respective pages. From there, imagery and text were added supporting the theme of each month.

Once I had my grid, I added small secondary text in each month using the typeface Baskerville. Baskerville created a contrast with Shelly both in form and scale. Baskerville also had the delicacy and formality that was needed. Baskerville was used on the days and weeks of the month. The piece was turning out be a calendar filled with both sweeping movement (the large Shelley letters and flight patterns) and the intimate detail (the imagery and smaller text). At this stage, I was composing entirely in Illustrator with an occasional digital printout for reference. The calendar was turning out to be delicate, introspective piece full of relations both thematically and formally.

After experimenting with output methods such as blueprints, brownlines, heavy brownlines, and blacklines, I chose heavy brownline as my output choice. The texture and color produced by this method matched closely the mood I wanted to achieve. The final pieces were printed from Illustrator onto 11x17 in laser jet prints, which I tiled into each month. I wanted to show the process of production by leaving the tape marks very evident on the prints. With the prints finished, heavy brownlines were made of each month and bound together with grommets to form the final calendar.