Grids of square-shaped dates aren’t the only way to keep track of the passing year. These 15 design-centric wall and desk calendars allow you to pop, unravel, bleed and burn your way through the days of the week, or arrange them into a functional sculpture.
Unraveling Calendar by Patrick Frey
(images via: design milk)
With each day that passes, you pull the thread that dangles from the bottom of Patrick Frey’s Gregor Calendar, and the year literally unravels, leaving nothing more than a ball of yarn by December 31st.
Bubble Calendar
(image via: bubble calendar)
Say goodbye to each day with a satisfying, stress-relieving pop. The Bubble Calendar has the days of each month printed on a sheet of thick paper covered in bubble wrap.
Matches Calendar
(images via: gstudio)
If unraveling or popping each day doesn’t give you enough satisfaction, maybe you’d prefer to see them burn. Ukrainian designer Yurko Gutsulayk offers each date as a tear-off match that can be struck against the surface of the calendar’s stand.
Dates Arranged in a Circle by Martin Oberhämmer
(image via: benhammer.de)
This striking black calendar by designer Martin Oberhämmer ditches the conventional layout of dates, arranging them in a colorful circle instead.
Year of the Snake Calendar by Moon in June
(image via: moon in june)
The year ahead is laid out in an unusual graphic checkerboard pattern in tones of magenta and orange in the ‘Year of the Snake’ calendar by Moon in June.
Pop Up Calendar by Johann Volkmer
(image via: design boom)
Each month is represented by a pop-up sculpture made of intricately crafted paper in these three-dimensional calendars by Johann Volkmer. Can you pick out the shapes in each one?
Letterpress Perpetual Desk Calendar by Orange Beautiful
(image via: orange beautiful)
Don’t worry about ever throwing away another calendar. Perpetual desktop calendars like this beautiful typographic one from Orange Beautiful make it easy to switch out the date, month and day of the week so you can use them forever.
ONE Perpetual Calendar Circles
(images via: design milk)
This perpetual calendar uses a series of rings that can be connected in various ways to create a three-dimensional sculpture. The largest ring represents the month, the middle ring represents the moon’s orbit around the earth, and the smallest represents the seven days of the week.
Puzzle Calendar
(image via: paper source)
This fun and interactive puzzle calendar lets you arrange Lego-like blocks any way you like, inserting special blocks for holidays and other events.
Rocking Chair Sculpture Calendar
(image via: design milk)
Some of the seriousness is taken from the notion of passing time with this calendar, shaped like a rocking chair.
Planet Calendar 2013 by Szani Mészáros
(images via: behance)
“I made this calendar for a university project, where we had to use creative papers,” says designer Szani Mészáros of her Planet Calendar. “I wanted to use different papers for each month, so I made a special case, that you can open and, as the time goes by, you can always remove the old paper and replace it with the actual month. I used moon calendar to show the date, indicating only some days of a month, from which you can track all the days you need.”
Geometric Seasons Calendar
(images via: behance)
Spiky shapes capture the essence of various seasons in this calendar concept by Oleg Dzogan.
Ink Bleed Calendar by Oscar Diaz
(images vía: oscar diaz)
Ink Calendar by Oscar Diaz makes use of the timed pace of ink spreading on the paper to indicate the passage of time. The ink reveals each date slowly throughout the month. The ink colors change on a color temperature scale by month, ranging from dark blue in December to red in the summer.
Typodarium Daily Dose of Type Calendar
(image via: fontfeed)
Get your daily dose of type with the Typodarium calendar, which features 366 typefaces from 252 designers – one for each day of the year, plus the cover. It comes in a box that can be used to collect the torn pages, so you can keep enjoying those typefaces even after their ‘time’ has passed.
Median Calendar by Sandi Grigoryan
(images via: the dieline)
“Median Calendar is about balancing your time and energy. Customize you calendar by charting anything in your day and you will see if you are too involved or not involved enough. If you haven’t spent much time on what you are tracking, you will be slacking off but if you spend too much time you may be spreading yourself too thin. This calendar is a visual representation to show how balanced your life is.”
