Project Title: January Risograph Calendar Page Design
Project Description: As a class we are creating a full calendar design to be printed with risograph, with everyone assigned a single month. The calendar theme is "Floora & Fawna," a calendar of fantastical animals and plants, and the designs are not limited to matching the season or weather of your assigned month. The design should include a hidden "hot dog" to be interpreted however the illustrator may like, and include a playlist of 3-6 songs as recommended by the illustrator. Each page should be designed using the page template, as designed by Kelly Thorn for continuity throughout the calendar, and the risograph colors which maybe used are pink, yellow, and blue, along with any combination fo colors risograph printing may allow with said colors.
Approach: I decided to create a fantastical creature inspired by the month of January for my design, and used a combination of imagery to create the final creature design. The two headed dog is inspired by Janus, the two faced Roman god associated with beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is the namesake of the month in January, and symbolizes the end of the past year, and the beginning of the new one. As January is associated with both the end of the past year, and beginning of the new one, i gave my creature a circular halo to symbolize the idea of continuity, as the year will continue to eventually circle around to January once again. He also has a suture running up his torso to align with January being aligned with rebirth, as it is the "birth" of a new year to mimic the idea of giving birth to the new year. And he sits upon a pile of snow, as January takes place in the heart of winter. The hidden hot dog takes the form of a sausage in one of the heads mouths. Inspiration for the creature design comes from the Greek god designs from "The Hounds of Achilles" by The Angel Incarnate and the demon designs of BANQUET by A. Szabla.
I decided to include icons for a few of the holidays to spruce up the design, which include a bottle of champagne for New Years Day, a howling wolf for the first full moon of the year, the water-bearer for the start of Aquarius season, a rabbit for Chinese New year as 2023 is year of the rabbit, and a cupid for the upcoming month of February.
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Final Design:
Fonts used include Eckmannpsych by James Edmondson from OH no Type Co. for "January," Sign Department JNL by Jeff Levine for all numbers, School Project JNL by Jeff Levine for the letters of the week, and Pitch Sans Bold by Klim Type Foundry for all other type.
Fonts used include Eckmannpsych by James Edmondson from OH no Type Co. for "January," Sign Department JNL by Jeff Levine for all numbers, School Project JNL by Jeff Levine for the letters of the week, and Pitch Sans Bold by Klim Type Foundry for all other type.
Suggested listening songs include "Brutus" by The Buttress, "VAMPIR" by IC3PEAK ft. Oli Sykes, "Little Bit Here" by Nikolay Kostlyev ft. IC3PEAK, "Underrated Popstar" by Alice Longyu Gao, "Designer Sadness" by Zheani, & "Incubus" by Munro. These have nothing to do with January or the design itself, however are songs I enjoy that I was listening to while I worked. that I wanted to recommend.
Template:
Designed by Kelly Thorn
Designed by Kelly Thorn
These designs were created under the guide of Kelly Thorn at Tyler School of Art & Architecture at Temple University in Illustration for Design.
This is for personal & class use only, and not for sale or reproduction. If you would like a similar design for your own brand, please contact me for a freelance design commission.
