The 2021 edition of Fedrigoni UK’s 365 desk calendar is a mind-stretching feat of digital print production – 4000 copies in which nearly every printed element is different. This is the fourth edition of a project that began four years ago, when London-based TM Studio designed a 2018 calendar printed on Sirio Ultra Black for Fedrigoni UK. The studio’s founders Danny McNeil and Johnny Tsevdos conceived 365 as a ‘community’ venture, for which they would invite designers they knew (or knew of) to design a page each.
At first it was a challenge for McNeil and Tsevdos to get designers involved. Happily the open invitation – to which people could apply online – was welcomed and spread quickly online and by word of mouth. Soon, there were 100 more designers than they had space for. The successful applicants were given a day of the year to interpret, and a deadline by which they had to upload their final artwork.
The designers explain that Fedrigoni UK’s Pari Blackbeard, who commissioned the project, wanted a product that would be welcomed by existing clients and that would also help sales staff start conversations with new customers. 365 ignited a spirit among designers that was both competitive and co-operative. The mix of conceptual, decorative, typographic and illustrative approaches from a large number of professional designers helped the company forge stronger links with the design community, many of whom proudly showed snapshots of the 365 pages via social media.