A calendar is bought once and judged for twelve months. Almost every failure is a specification decision made in September by somebody saving a very small amount per unit.

This guide covers the four decisions, then the ordering calendar that decides whether any of it arrives in time.

Format follows the audience, not the budget

Wall calendars work where somebody sits: beside a desk, above a workbench, on a kitchen wall. Desk calendars work on a client’s own desk, glanced at dozens of times a day. Magnetic works for households, because the fridge is the highest-traffic surface in a home.

Year planners are for teams who need twelve months visible at once. Pocket cards are the lowest cost per month of presence there is. Matching format to audience matters more than anything else on this page.

Binding decides whether it lasts the year

Saddle stitch is neat and cheap and lies flat for mailing, and it starts to sag on a wall around September. Wire-o costs slightly more, hangs open cleanly and holds its shape through December.

For anything staying on a wall all year, specify wire-o. For anything mailed flat in volume, saddle stitch is the sensible economy.

Stock, and where it actually matters

For a standard wall calendar, 150gsm silk inner with a heavier cover is plenty. For a photo calendar the paper is the product: 200gsm silk for colour photography, uncoated art stock for illustration and black and white.

For pocket cards, 350gsm laminated is the floor. Lighter card softens at the corners in a wallet within weeks, at which point your number goes in a bin.

The grid is the part nobody checks

Week start, fiscal or academic year, regional holidays, term dates, shutdowns, deadlines. All of these should be set into the grid rather than listed underneath it or, worse, left wrong.

A calendar with the wrong week start or missing local holidays is quietly useless, and the recipient will replace it with a free one from somebody who got it right.

Thirteen sheets, and other small differences

A separate cover means January gets its own image rather than doubling as the front. A notes column beside the grid gets used. A generous top margin keeps the image away from the hanging hook.

None of these cost much and together they are the difference between looking considered and looking economical.

Order in September

The manufacturing takes about two weeks. What does not take two weeks is getting artwork approved, dates confirmed and a mailing list cleaned, and December is competing with the entire retail season for carrier capacity.

September and October are comfortable. November is achievable. December is a conversation about what is still possible, and we would rather have this conversation in August.

What to send us

Your artwork, the format and size, roughly how many, and your dates — week start, year type, holidays, terms, shutdowns. If branch details or imagery vary per copy, send a spreadsheet.