The design for this product stemmed from a brief to redesign common items, in this case a calendar. The brief required students to create new versions of the products with an emphasis on sustainability through longevity. With a focus on materials and aesthetics, we were to design objects that would be treasured and passed down, rather than be thrown away for a new model.

My calendar design focuses on a single event in the year, rather than traditional calendars which show many. This was done to add importance to a specific day or moment that the calendar is set to. The spiral-type piece on one side emphasizes this, showing the progression of more to less time remaining. The piece consists of brass sheet, a circular timber panel (laser-etched), an acrylic screen and painted timber for the dial arms.

The calendar has two presentation options, it can be displayed showing either the spiral side or the more mechanical side on which the setting arm is. This arm controls how many days the calendar is set for which is replicated on the other side. The calendar holds 366 notches to account for a leap year, so the calendar can be set to count down till the desired upcoming event.

The first refinement of this concept was created in photoshop, showing rough thickness ratios between each of the different elements and where they would be positioned. This iteration of the calendar was design to be hung up on a wall by a hook.

After deciding on the size of the calendar I made a prototype using low-cost materials, such as form board, plywood and paper to depict the laser-etched notations on the design.

After testing and getting input from the client (Sam Tompkins - Industrial design tutor University of Canberra) I refined my design further using Creo parametric to create a mockup the calendar with the materials chosen. This gave me excellent reference for sizing as well as outlines for machining when creating my final prototype.