We are surrounded by historical relics that span centuries. Sometimes we ignore it completely.
When you think of a calendar, what is one of your impressions? One of my ideas is that the calendar hanging on the wall under the New Year pictures when I was a child may be a table, in which the numbers are arranged in 7 columns and 5 rows (or 6 rows, depending on 1 day) to represent the future full moon. In our life, calendars are used almost every day, whether it is a desk calendar on a mobile phone, a desk calendar or a desk calendar hanging on the wall. The same design, regardless of the media, the same format has been transferred from posters to digital applications without any change.
We are surrounded by historical relics, sometimes even spanning centuries, and we completely ignore it. Whenever I encounter a design embedded in our life, I want to know what is a design decision? Who accepted them? This makes this object what it is today. Calendar grid is one of them.
I have a hypothesis that when a person has stood the test of time, he may have reached a greater promotion point? This means that users are satisfied with the solution to a specific problem and do not need to iterate further to meet their needs. No one will stop designers from iterating, but it is likely that new functions will be added? Like readability in a calendar? It will only improve gradually (see figure 1).
Figure 1 product curve
Usually, when products arrive in this area, they are likely to be surpassed by new products, which solve the same problem, but use different routes. The back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, and the front waves die on the beach. But the calendar we know today already exists in any other design, and no one seems to need a new version of it. It may have reached a critical point, just like some common things we use today, such as a keyboard calculator.
So, who is this great designer? In this article, I may only know something about this vague path, because only a few artifacts can prove the origin of the calendar grid.
But before studying the design, let's quickly outline the concept behind the calendar.
The seven-day cycle seems to have a mixed and synchronous origin, and it is difficult to trace back and provide the ultimate inventor: it was implemented in Judea from the 6th century BC, and the 7th day was of mysterious significance to the Babylonians. Related to the seven celestial bodies; Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. As far back as Japan and China in ancient times, a seven-day work week based on these same celestial bodies was adopted. But how popular is the seven-day work week? And its prominent position in the modern calendar? It can be traced back to the earliest adoption by the Romans: in 32 1 year, Constantine the Great officially adopted the seven-day work system. This means that we have been using this. It has been used continuously for 1700 years.
Replicated the fragmented fastiantes maiores (60 BC), the seventh and eighth months.
Julius Caesar introduced julian calendar in 46 BC. It is impossible to find a unique inventor. Therefore, we must talk about the ability to make the General Assembly popular. The Romans were once again regarded as people who defined the month as 30/3 1 day. Of course, they didn't get it right, because they only used eight months a year. But because of their existence in culture, it is still Gregory's until today.
If the Romans provided us with the calendars we know, we still don't know who popularized the grid format. Grid itself seems to be a natural choice, because it is the most intuitive and effective way to display a series of elements? Egyptians use grids in their calendars. It seems that there is no need for inventors at all, just as we never ask who invented words.
Although the visual representations of months and weeks changed direction between16th century and17th century, calendars seem to follow the same path.
Before17th century, it was very popular to use circular charts to represent years, months and weeks, because it was a better way to represent cycles. A calendar is regarded as a permanent device, not a plan to show the coming year. There is no connection between the calendar name and the date? The well-known seven-day working day.
: Wikisharing
Medieval folding yearbook,15th century (:wiki sharing)
In the next few decades, the only available design is the permanent calendar, which is a tool that has been effective for many years and aims to allow a day to be calculated during a specific date in the future? Instead of one-time and annual production as it is today. Only when the printing industry makes printing very cheap and thus available to the public can disposable calendars be used.
Modern calendars have developed together with other calendars, such as calendars. Calendar collects cultural, meteorological, astronomical and astrological information in tabular form, and ephemeris is also arranged in grid form. However, the major changes in calendar design, from the arrangement of circles to the arrangement of tables, will only occur in the late 5th century of/kloc-0, not only because of the revision of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, but also because of the introduction of printing presses in Johannes Gutenberg.
Modern calendars develop together with other calendars, such as almanac, which collects cultural, meteorological, astronomical and astrological information in tabular form? Ephemeris is also arranged in grid form. However, the major changes in calendar design, from the arrangement of circles to the arrangement of tables, will only occur in the late 5th century of/kloc-0, not only because of the revision of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, but also because of the introduction of printing in Johannes Gutenberg.
Samuel Moran's eternal yearbook, dated 1650, is an interesting early example. Interestingly, there is no mention of the name of the working day, only the first seven letters of the alphabet. This format can also be seen in1the post-printing of william parsons wallets in the early 7th century.
I have no historical facts to support my hypothesis, but I see the correlation between movable types and their natural similarity to grid systems with standardized table formats. Any special design requires the printer to hire artists to print individual plates, usually woodcut plates, instead of using movable type, so the printer is likely to contribute to the permanent calendar grid layout as a more practical standard, especially because movable type can be easily rearranged in any month of the year.
Samuel Moran's Perpetual Almanac, published in 1650, is an interesting early example. Interestingly, the name of the working day is not mentioned, only the first seven letters of the alphabet are mentioned. This format can also be found in1william parsons's wallet in the early 7th century and later printed materials.
Samuel Moran's perpetual calendar, 1650.
/kloc-European timetable of william parsons in the 0/7th century.
1773, as a publisher, Robert Aitken invented his so-called daily plan in the United States, which provided his clients with a preset layout, different from today's planners. For the first time in history, Americans can see their days listed in a list, just like the modern agenda, and plan their "to-do" in advance beyond the general forecast of the annual calendar.
The perpetual calendar of Elizabeth Knowles, 1787.
Besides being practical, calendars have also developed into decorations. In the late18th century and the second industrial period, calendars will become a popular tool to spread brand characteristics in people's families. Hotels, gas stations, banks, big or small brands will provide free calendars as a means to enhance their existence.
Brand sponsorship calendar 1888
We won't be able to restore minimalism until the 1960s. Graphic design and fonts have become the objects of experiments, and they have also been promoted by introducing Helvetica and modernity. The most famous and famous products of that era happened to be two Italians in the same year: Vignelli's famous large-scale calendar and Enzo Mali's permanent edition, both of which were left in our home.
The future of calendars.
Has the calendar achieved greater improvement? Perhaps so, the latest digital version found on Android or iOS proves that the design is still powerful and indisputable, although the desire to try new formats is undoubtedly attractive.
Some designers try to break away from convention. Most famously, John Mehta tried the interface currently used by MoMA's permanent collection. Recently, Canadian businessman Teehan+Lax (later absorbed by Facebook) made a new example. You can see the prototype at /69623560.
Of course, for many calendars, nothing is better than the simple grid and timetable we know.
1966 Stendig calendar of Massimo Vignelli
Android Calendar App, 2022
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The above is related to the 1888 calendar, and it is about sharing the Android calendar. Read the calendar of 1888, I hope this will help everyone!