The Moment 2020 Calendar

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Based on the concept of enjoying the moment, there is a new design expression to show dates in this project. Month is printed in the centre of the page while every date is shown on a gradient arc. Dates and arcs rotates clockwise around it and fade away due to the translucence of tracing paper, which poetically illustrates present and impending loss of time. The Chinese 24 solar terms and daily mottos are highlight of The Moment to strengthen concept and remind people to enjoy the moment.

Dimensions & Packaging

185mm x 94mm x 46.5mm

Tags

Calendar, Chinese Twenty-four Solar Terms, Daily Motto, Enjoy The Moment, MATTENAI

Production Technology

The Moment calendar is produced by high level printing and manufacturing technologies, including . The temperature and humidity were strictly control in the whole process of printing Color testing for pages of solar terms were carried out several rounds to ensure accuracy. Moreover, the high requirement of folding and binding ensures paper alignment for design excellence. The easily-torn line on each page provides a smooth user experience.

Design Challenge

The first challenge is to present ancient wisdom about time in contemporary style and minimalism. Designer carefully design the layout of each page, which enable users clearly read the date and motto instead of being interrupted by information of another pages. Afterwards, it spends 6 months to test and choose parchment as final material of inside pages by comparing dozens of paper and considering transparency as well as producibility. The printing process must be dry to avoid the shape change of paper by high humidity.

Research

Enjoying the moment is a simple truth but easily forgotten, as well as the ancient wisdom of Chinese 24 Solar Terms. Therefore, it is a good chance to look back our cultural as the research background of this project. Designer collected images from ancient poetry of each solar term and chose tradition color to finish 24 illustrations about the Solar Terms. Moreover, many great classic in the world (such as Bible) are also worthy to learning, from which the daily motto on each page be selected.

Inspiration

Fast-paced lifestyle in China forces many people to race against the clock and brings anxiety more than accomplishment. However, we run to problems when we try to beyond the limitation of time. Everything has its own time and we should do things in proper time. The traditional Chinese 24 Solar Terms shows seasonal change to guide farm work and daily lives. The ancient wisdom inspired me to design a calendar, which could remind people to know the season, follow the time and enjoy the moment.

Project Duration

The project started in August 2018 in Shanghai and finished in September in 2019 in Shanghai.

Operation Flow

Tearing off a page means time has passed. Next translucent pages could be seen indistinctly just like the coming days. This interaction express that we could neither prolong the past nor touch the future. In other words, the only thing we really have is nowness, is now. In that case, we should enjoy the moment rather than regret for the irreversibility or worry about the uncertainty. The other interesting operation is that users could see rotation of the gradient arc when they jump calendar pages quickly (same principle as frame-by-frame animation). We live in the moment while time is infinite, but eternity is a series of moments.

Patents

Copyright belong to Shanghai Shapher Network Technology Co., Ltd, 2019

Image Credits

Echo Chen, 2019