Calendar Printing in the US: What to Specify

A calendar is a print job with a deadline built into the product. A brochure that arrives a month late is late; a calendar that arrives in February has lost a twelfth of its use and most of its point as a gift. Every decision in the specification is easier than the one that matters most: the date by which the artwork has to be approved.

It is also a job where content errors outlive the run. A wrong date or a missing holiday on a wall calendar is seen every day for a month by everyone the calendar was meant to impress. The specification below is as much about the grid as about the paper.

What to put in the specification

An RfQ carries one specification field, and this is what belongs in it for calendars. Anything left out is something each producer assumes differently — which is why offers stop being comparable.

Format

Wall calendar, desk tent, desk pad, poster or pocket card. They are different products made on different equipment, and some producers make only one of them.

Size in inches, closed and open

A wall calendar is usually quoted closed and hangs open at twice the height. Give both, plus bleed, so nobody quotes half the sheet.

Months and start month

Twelve months, thirteen with a cover month, or eighteen, and which month comes first. A calendar that starts in January printed for a September launch is a different book from one that starts in September.

Binding and hanging

Wire-o with a hanger, or saddle-stitched with a drilled hole. Wire lets pages turn flat and costs more; a drilled hole needs a position that clears the artwork.

Paper and finish for the grid

Give the weight in pounds or gsm and say whether the date grid will be written on. Gloss or UV coating on the grid pages can refuse a pen; an uncoated or silk grid page does not.

Cover and back board

A heavier cover, and a board back on desk pads and tents so they stand. Say which you need; they are separate lines on the quote.

Imprint and versions

One design, or the same calendar with a different logo or message for each client or branch. Versions are cheap to print and easy to mix up — give the count per version and how each is to be packed.

Envelopes and packing

Individual envelopes or poly bags, shrink-wrapped sets, or bulk cartons. If the calendars are mailed, the envelope has to fit them with the wire and the hanger.

Proofing including the dates

Ask for a full proof of every month and check it against a printed calendar for the year. If you supply the grid, the producer prints what you send; nobody on the press is checking which weekday each date falls on.

Latest approval date

Ask each producer for the last date on which you can approve the proof and still have the calendars delivered when you need them. That date, not the price, is often what decides between offers.

Sourcing in United States

The week starts on Sunday

US wall calendars conventionally start the week on Sunday; much of Europe starts it on Monday. If your template came from elsewhere, decide which convention your readers expect and say it in the specification.

Which holidays to mark is your decision

Federal holidays, state holidays, religious observances, your own company dates: the producer prints whatever list you supply. Write the list down and send it with the artwork rather than relying on a template's defaults.

Sizes follow US sheets

Common formats are built from US paper sizes rather than A-sizes. Give the size in inches, and if your design was made for an A-size, ask the producer which US size it should be adapted to before you finish it.

Four ways this goes wrong

A wrong date or day of the week

Proof every month against a reference calendar for that year. It is the error a calendar cannot recover from.

A glossy grid nobody can write on

Say the grid will be written on and ask for an uncoated or silk grid page.

Ordering against a price instead of a date

Ask every producer for the latest approval date that still meets your delivery date, and compare that first.

Envelopes that do not fit the binding

Give the producer the bound thickness, including wire and hanger, and order envelopes in the same RfQ.

Frequently asked questions

Wire-o or saddle-stitch for a wall calendar?

Wire-o turns flat and hangs from a hanger; saddle-stitch is cheaper and hangs from a drilled hole. Both are common. Ask for both in the same RfQ if you have not decided.

Twelve or thirteen months?

Thirteen adds a cover month, often the last month of the previous year, so the calendar is useful the day it arrives. Say which you want; it changes the page count and the price.

Can each client get a calendar with their own logo?

Yes. Versioned imprints are a normal part of calendar printing. Give the number of versions, the quantity of each, and how each version should be packed and labelled.

When should calendars be ordered?

Work back from the date you need them. Ask each producer for the last day you can approve the proof and still receive the calendars on time, and plan the artwork around the earliest of those dates.

Calendar printing in the United States