DESCRIPTION Foreign Policy 2009 Calendar CLIENT Self-promotion DATE December 2008 DESIGN CREDITS Foreign Policy Design Group Creative Direction/Art Direction: Yah-Leng Yu Design: TY Zheng Writing: Arthur Chin PRINT CREDITS pH Productions TYPE CREDITS Bauer Bodoni Trade Gothic Condensed

QUANTITY PRODUCED 500 PRODUCTION COST Not Disclosed PRODUCTION TIME 3 weeks DIMENSIONS: WIDTH × HEIGHT × DEPTH 25 in × 21 in (× 2 sheets) PRINT METHOD Offset, Silkscreen and Laser Print PAPER STOCK 60 gsm Poster Paper, Grey Pulp Board and Thermal Paper NUMBER OF COLORS CMYK + Pantone 804 OTHER The belly tag was printed using Brother QL-550 on thermal paper as with airline tags.

To let the world, or at least Singapore, know of their arrival in the city as a creative force to be reckoned with, the Foreign Policy Design Group decided to create a rather ambitious self-promotional calendar that blends together concepts of current and political affairs, maps, the world and its leaders. The result is an unconventionally arranged calendar that takes the shape of the countries of the world and is very groovily designed with a combination of classic typography and contemporary visual flair. Creative director Yah-Leng Yu provides some thorough insight:

Usability: We wanted to do something unconventional, so we mapped the calendar into a world map. The challenge is to make this as intuitive as possible and have people getting used to learn a new 'system'. We even brought in people to have them sit or stand in front of the calendar and ask/test them if they know or understand what it really is.

Dimension: Originally we had wanted the calendar to be in one sheet but for three reasons we had to print them in 2: a) usability and folding difficulty; b) the paper we wanted only come in a certain sizes; and c) giving the recipients an option to place the calendar horizontally, from left to right, or have it placed, one above the other, in a vertical arrangement should there be a wall space constraint.

Silkscreening the announcement card: We ran into some challenges in terms of the the thinnest parts of the Bodoni in the descenders, ascenders and serifs were not easy to silkscreen. We had to outline the text with an additional .5 point overall and it worked out.

Colors: The brown textured background needed a lot of calibration and tests so we could achieve as close as to what we wanted, since brown is really one of the most difficult colors to match.

Label: We were trying to figure out how best, most efficient and flexible to produce the airline-tag-looking labels since we needed to send to different people with different addressesso we needed the flexibility, and we prefer to keep it looking like the airline tag almost. After some research, we chanced upon the Brother QL-550 which we needed for the office anyway. Worked out great as we could customize the look and feel of any labels we want from that little printer. It has like raw touch due to the imperfect thermal printing which sort of add to that airline tag feel even more.

We were able to print some extra notepads & letterheads from the unused areas of the paper. That made us very happy too. :)

If you sent me a letter on that hipster gingham letterhead, I would turn it over and frame it.

I love the gingham too, very fresh! Nice idea for the map-calendar.

That letterhead is great! I love how well it shows through. Simple pattern but perfect execution.

So many surprises—the color pallet, the format of the calendar, the boarding pass. This was a treat to look at.

Amy, if you send me your address, I will send you the gingham letterhead. :)

class palette!

Love the creative execution of what could have been done in a lifeless way. I work at an NGo and would love to show a sample around. Any chance?

Jennifer, yes please send me your address, we will ship one or even two out to you. :) AFFAIRS(AT)FOREIGNPOLICYLTD.COM

Brilliant design and work! Would love to see your ideas for a 2010 calendar!

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