: Software for Calendar Designing Which is the best software of making a calendar. Coreldraw or Illustrator? What is the standard size of calendar? And is there any inbuilt format or template fro

@Si6392903

Software:

The best way to create a calendar is to use the same method for creating a book or a catalog: Use Photoshop for rasterized images and special effects, use Illustrator for your vectors such as logos, and then import all these files into a layout you will create in InDesign or QuarkXpress.

You could always do this in Illustrator but I don't recommend it. The important is to keep in mind that Photoshop doesn't print texts and fine lines well; it's made for images not layouts with the texts.So use InDesign, QuarkXpress or Illustrator, or any vector software for your texts and main layout... and import your images/pictures in it instead.

No one has really told you why exactly you shouldn't use Photoshop for texts and layouts...

This is why:

--> The left side is a Photoshop rasterized printed text on offset

--> and right is a vector from Indesign/Illustrator/Quark.



Keep in mind that the result you see on the left will happen to lines, logos, texts and anything similar. When you can do something in Illustrator or Indesign in vector, use these software.


If you plan to have a career as a designer and work on printed
projects, you absolutely need to browse this site and read about how to
prepare print-ready files, and stick to the advice you'll read. It's not a question of preference to use
Illustrator/Indesign or Photoshop in a lot of case; it's a question of
quality. Maybe have a look at this link: How to prepare a design for CMYK printing?


Size:

There are standard sizes for calendars and they are usually cheaper to print. If you use an online printer, you will also be limited by the sizes they offer. The best is to communicate with your printer to see what are your options. It's also greatly based on your budget as the bigger the calendar is, the more paper it requires, the more expensive it will be. And on top of this, if you plan to create a desk calendar for example, there's a dieline for the base that will hold the sheets of the calendar; if you use a standard size suggested by the printer, you might not need to pay for that dieline.

If you use a local printer, ask for different quotes and see what you can afford. That advice is good for pretty much any size question you'll have in the future. Everything can be done; it's just more expensive :)

No one here can tell you what are the standard sizes for this because it depends where you live too. Some places have standards such as Legal, Lettersize or Tabloid papersize, and others use A2, A3 or A4, etc.

Template:

There are some templates that you can purchase, but it's not very hard to simply create yours in InDesign or QuarkXpress. It also offers you way more freedom for the design to create your own!

The best way to proceed is to create one page with a demo grid for the days that will be on the calendar; start with one page. Since every month will be different, you should use a 7 columns by 5 rows, and link the date numbers in text boxes. It will make it super fast for you to simply move the 28-31 numbers of the months once the template is done.

One suggestion: For the date numbers, choose a font that has a very symmetrical width. On some fonts, the number "1" doesn't have the same width as the others. When a column of numbers are aligned with these bad fonts, it will not look balanced and equal. For example, the Interstate font is very bad for that kind of project. You can always use these fonts, but you'll need to manually adjust the kerning when you'll use the 1 with another number next to it.

The size of the square for each day is up to you and depends if you want to make the calendar artsy or practical. They can be very small and without any borders if the calendar is not intended to be filled, and you can use big square if you think people might want to write on it. For the same reason, you'll select a glossy or matte stock depending on this choice as well; it's very hard to write on glossy/coated paper!

For your months titles on your first page template, use the longest and shortest month names to evaluate what will be the best size to use for that text (eg. May and November.)

Don't forget to add 2 smaller calendars on your template for the month before and after the current month. That's something people appreciate but it's not a standard.

Once your template is ready, make it a master page and adjust each month accordingly. You will find online reference of calendars for the year you need and yo can use them to make sure you don't do any mistakes with the dates.

If you add images on your calendar, it's up to you how big and where you put them. On table and wall calendars, the images are often on their own page.


Just make sure to always be careful with the safe margins; on table
calendar,you need to be careful about the spiral binding and keep a
0.5-0.625" safe margin around it where no important element or text will be. Same goes with the hole that will be on your wall calendar. The hole is usually 0.125" to 0.25" diameter, and can be either near the fold or on the top and bottom of the calendar.

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@Alves566

I would use InDesign.
You might find this guide helpful, that script rocks! indesignsecrets.com/calendar-template-time.php

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@Lee3735518

I know you asked between Coreldraw and Illustrator but I would recommend laying out the calendar with a publishing program like quarkxpress or Indesign. You can always use Photoshop or another program to create elements of the calendar.

Coreldraw or Illustrator: Whichever one you feel comfortable using.

Calendar Size: A calendar can be any size but 8.5x11 and 11x14 are pretty common sizes.

Pre-made templates:

You can find templates by searching something like "illustrator 2015 calendar template"

Sandee Cohen has written a detailed article which goes over how to create a calendar in Indesign. He uses the Adobe InDesign Calendar Wizard to make the template.

Can you use Photoshop: Yes you could, but you should not be using Photoshop (heck, you can make a calendar in Powerpoint if you really wanted to). It would be a lot more work to design a calendar in Photoshop rather than using a publishing program like quarkxpress or Indesign.

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@Radia289

I would prefer to use Photoshop because of all the effects you can use.
You should try to search for some example on Pinterest, once you have an idea of what you want you can google for some calendar templates.
Check what software has been used to make that template and try to use the same tool.

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@Michele215

1) Do not use Photoshop.

2) Corel or Ilustrator is the same, this depends on which software you want to use.

3) Do you really think there is a standard size in calendars? Pocket ones, wallpapers...

4) A templete for designing calendars? depends on the year... and the design.

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