Calendar project

This project was more challenging than anticipated. With the first version, it was challenging because we were so constricted with what we could design. It was definitely helpful to create pre drawings, because that gave me some direction when I first started. For this version, I wanted to create a big calendar making the numbers more prominent. When I started the second version, we had all of this freedom to use any type of font, color or weight size. I usually would love that, but coming from the first version, I found it more difficult to come up with something. I decided to start off with a design influenced by a clock. I wanted to create a radial feel and make it more 2-dimensional. I found it difficult to fit everything in the area, but once I figured out a system it was easier to create the design. For my third version, we were supposed to take what we learned from the first two and incorporate what we thought we did well into that version. So I took the weight sizes I used in version two and created a graph like design for this calendar. The third is definitely not my favorite. For me, it has a little too much white space. But overall I think I took my idea from my original sketches and translated that into InDesign as well as I could. At first I would have said I preferred intuitive over analytical because of the restrictions, but for this project I would have to say that analytical was easier to process. Overall, I would say my first version is the best. I like how it's easy to read, yet the type plays as a design for the calendar.

These are my original sketches, I found it difficult to put together what I drew out onto the computer. 

Version 1: I fixed the kerning on each, and I also changed the numbers to every other color (black/red) to make it less confusing. We discussed that it would be easier to read in the critique that way. 

version 2: I spread out the days of the week more, and increased the type size to make it easier to read. I also made the gradient less prominent, allowing the numbers to show more. 

Fixed spacing between each, so numbers weren't as close. I also spread out the entire spread. I made the days of the week bigger and the month smaller to make less prominent.