In the Circuit, there are 54 designers who design product interfaces for every fourth company in Russia. And our designers write Guides , where they share their experiences. And now, more than a year, the guys have been creating calendars that have made noise in the company.

What is the project "Calendar" and how controversy treated him, tell Julia Krasilnikova, the project curator and designer Kontur.Market .

In 2016, Sergey Solovyov, the head of all product designers, came up with a calendar project so that our designers could take a break from everyday activities and show imagination free of frames. We wanted to make not just a reference point in time and space for internal use, but a mood, a peculiar spirit of the month. Now there are 15 calendars in the project, each of which is the personal association of the author with the selected month, a creative message or an unusual idea.

When we offered designers to draw calendars, they happily agreed: someone immediately took up the task, someone chose a specific month. Now the project has become so popular that, among others, there are, for example, colleagues from the development and sales department. Most likely, in May there will be an experiment - we will give the calendar to the designer.

Calendar as art

Over the past year we have had calendars, posters, calendars, poems, calendars, posters. All of them, like any art objects, have supporters and opponents. Perhaps the most discussed was the May calendar of Mitya Astafyev. The author had such associations with this month: peace, labor, May, International, Comintern , revolution, Mayakovsky, avant-garde , constructivism , abstract painting, Kandinsky, Malevich, VHUTEMAS , De Stijl , Mondrian . That's what came out of it:

In Staffa, our internal social network, some expressed rapid approval of the new calendar, others just as violently scolded the author and his creation. Most contourists said that the calendar should fulfill its intended purpose - to help navigate the days of the week.

The December calendar of 2017, too, was more about art, rather than the sequence of days in the month.

Sasha Khramtsov, user interface designer and calendar author describes the concept as follows:

- According to my observations, December is the craziest and most hectic month. It seems life itself will end here: plans, work, study, the opportunity to buy gifts, plan a vacation. In December, many people look back, sum up, try to complete their work, close their budgets, correct their estimates. At this moment, more than ever, there is a transience and lack of time. A slight madness of the pre-New Year rush reigns around us and is difficult to ignore. The closer to the end of December, the greater the emotional pressure. Somewhere there is a limit when it's all over. My calendar is a countdown to that very day - the last day of 2017.

Not everyone appreciated the idea of ​​the author and his work, but it was for this calendar that the contours gave the best answer about the functional calendar:

Calendar illustration

The hostesses in the kitchens in the offices of the company asked when the usual calendars with flowers or cats would appear :) The graphic calendar designer Kati Gordeeva’s July calendar was just with flowers and cat Batman.

- The idea is that July is coming and everyone falls under its influence. Even the most serious and busy tend to enjoy the pleasures of this summer month. And Batman says “July”, and not July, not just like that - it could be the name of the month or the name of the girl, ”Katya says.

And this year we opened a very atmospheric calendar from Andrei Lukyanenko, the graphic designer of our web studio. For him, the beginning of the year is not just holidays:

- January is associated with cold, orange sunsets and a session at the university. When I was asked to draw a calendar for this month, a picture about returning from the exam in the frost first appeared in my head: public transport was stuck somewhere, and in order not to freeze at the bus stop, it is better to go on foot and enjoy the dramatic sunset.

To create an illustration, Andrew attracted models. Were they students, the story is silent.

The original calendar

The January calendar, in general, has good karma. In 2017, January from Vova Dzekh, a graphic designer Kontur. Externa, also went to cheer.

The highlight of the calendar is that the numbers 1–9 were not drawn in Photoshop, they were made by hand and photographed! Eight had to be connected.

But February in 2017 was adopted not so unequivocally. Olya Romanova, designer Kontur.Elby , wrote in ink the poem Pasternak, then scanned and carefully processed. And then we tormented the layout for a long time, changed the grid and chose the degree of depressive design. We stopped at the least gloomy. But you will not tell?

Calendar that went beyond the project

By the end of last year, calendars became more ideological, filled with deep meaning. The October calendar was made at once by 2 designers - Ksyusha Ilinykh and Vova Kutovoy, interface designers in Billing and Extern. Here is what they say about their idea:

- We decided not just to make a calendar, but to spend a month of awareness, good habits and self-love. Every day in the calendar there is a task.

The guys started a community in Staffa where they posted posts with tasks for tomorrow - what to do and what it gives. All signatories received a job in the mail. For example, on the second day, the calendar taught me to meditate, and on the eighth day, I suggested having lunch without a phone.

Many people liked the idea of ​​copyright calendars so much that they wanted to hang up a complete collection of posters at home and asked to create a calendar for 2018 with old pictures. Of course, we did not use old posters, but organized a subscription. Now every month we print calendars for everyone.

All calendars can be viewed on Github , and even the February print and hang in a prominent place. If you want, subscribe to the repository updates - at the beginning of each month there will appear a new calendar.

Time for discussion. The opinions of the contour of the calendars are divided - you already understood. And how, in your opinion, should the calendar be first of all a clear guide in days and weeks? Or you can sacrifice this for the sake of beauty and original ideas?