If you're at all like me, choosing a wall calendar each year is like making a big commitment.
You're going to have to live with it and look at it and certainly, count on it, for the next 12 months. I have take my time and look long and hard for something I won't get sick of.
Or, maybe you got one of those "self-published-by-uploading-your-own-pic" calendars of relatives or dogs, and they just don't look right on your wall.
Here are a few beauties for 2008 that you ought to consider taking a look at:
The 2008 Julius Shulman Calendar
The cover of this elegant 11-by-14-inch portfolio features architectural photography of the 20th century taken by Julius Shulman. An art piece as well as a calendar, it is printed in high-resolution offset lithography with a satin aqueous coating. Individual pages are suitable for framing or for displaying on the wall or a table easel. An ideal gift for everyone from art neophytes to photography and architecture buffs, the calendar may be easily ordered directly from the AMC at 323 857-6501.
Modestly priced at $30, plus tax and shipping, with a ten percent discount for LACMA members, the calendar is also available through the LACMA Store.
Griffith Observatory Architectural Calendar 2008
Photographed by Julius Shulman & Juergen Nogai
Price $35.00 Beautiful images of Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles' award winning cultural icon, have been captured by the world's great photographers. In the spring of 2007, world-renowned architectural photographer, Julius Shulman collaborated with Juergen Nogai to photograph Griffith Observatory.
Twelve of these full-color photographs are presented in an elegant 11-by-14-inch presentation portfolio. Calendar and portfolio are gorgeously printed in high-resolution offset lithography with a satin coating. The portfolio contains twelve individual pages, each one suitable for framing or for displaying on the wall or a table easel.
Buy it here
The Elliot Erwitt 2008 calendar
An elegant calendar featuring Elliott Erwitt's witty photographs.
A month-to-view calendar featuring images by one of the leading photographers of his generation, Elliott Erwitt (b. 1928)
Thirteen carefully-selected images taken from the best of Erwitt’s work are combined here with elegant typography and a practical layout to create a functional, yet charming, piece of stationery for the home and the office. Each image is beautifully printed and featured as a full page, allowing you to cut out and keep your favorite images after the year has passed.
Buy it here.
Michal Kenna's 2008 Wall calendar
Michael Kenna’s intimate, exquisitely crafted black-and-white photographs reflect a sense of refinement, respect for history, and thorough originality. We are pleased to present our twelfth calendar featuring his work. Our 2008 Michael Kenna Wall Calendar is printed on an exclusive, uncoated, natural Japanese paper using “Daido black” ink.
It features both well-known and previously unpublished photographs: Pine Trees, Wolcheon, Gangwando, South Korea, 2007; Twenty One Fence Posts, Shirogane, Hokkaido, Japan, 2004; Graceful Oak, Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire, England, 2007; Motu Nui, Motu Iti and Motu Kao Kao, Easter Island, 2001; Basilica San Marco, Venice, Italy, 2007; Butterfly and Peonies, Kongobuji, Koyasan, Japan, 2006; Morning Clouds, Monument Valley, Utah, USA, 2005; Manhattan Skyline, New York, USA, 2007; Fifty Four Sticks, Calais, France, 1998; Le Desert de Retz, Study 9, France, 1988; Swan Song, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1990; Early Cloud Cover, Mont St Michel, France, 1994; and Kussharo Lake Tree, Study 4, Kotan, Hokkaido, Japan, 2007. The print run is limited to 2,000 copies for international distribution; as always, early orders are encouraged.
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Size: 14 x 18"
The Miss Tuning World 2008 Calendar
This one will surprise you...but if you know someone who simply must have a cheesy slutty girl+vehicle calendar, there's a limited edition one of Miss Tuning 2008 on the market that's actually nicely shot and produced!
Lake Constance, the home of the TUNING WORLD BODENSEE, provided the scenery for the photographs for the 2008 Miss Tuning calendar. Austrian lifestyle photographer Christian Holzknecht who has recently worked for Playboy, put the new Miss Tuning, Silvia Hauten, in scenes (Only half with fabulous vehicles) for 12 calendar pictures.
Further information at www.tuningworldbodensee.de.
or buy it here- Europe and Australia only.
If nature is more your thing, photographer and digital artist, Jan Stary, has a limited edition Water wall calendar that is both striking and original.
12 months 13"x19" wall calendar with a spiral binding on top, each month on a separate page with a beautiful 10"x13" color photograph.
Order by email from Jan Stary,or by phone (206)850-6029.
price; $29.95 + $9 domestic Priority Mail shipping
2008 Calendar - WATER, Limited Edition
Or Franz Lanting LIFE, 2008.
Wire-spiral bound 19.7 x 27.6 in., 28 pages, Stunning nature photography, nicely produced by Taschen.
$29.99
Buy it here
If you must do a desk calendar, this is a great option:
Colour Calendar 2008 by Moritz Zwimpfer
Following the huge success of the Colour Calendar 2007, here is the Colour Calendar 2008 – and every day once again gets its own special color from Switzerland’s design genius, Moritz Swimpfer. This appealing, spiral-bound desk calendar is a bit like a Pantone book with room for notes; each day’s color brings its own scent, taste and sound, the implications of memory, the possibilities of the future. A beautiful little object, impeccably printed, for the desk or attaché case of a design aficionado, promising enjoyment long after 2008 is history. The appendix includes a calendar overview for 2008-2009, Pantone codes for the 365 colors, and blank pages for memos.
September 2007, English & German text
Softcover with spiral binding
382 pp, 43/4 x 6 inches
Retail Price: $28.00
Buy it here.
Above: A shot From the 2008 Pirelli calendar with its' Shanghai theme.
Of course, if you can get your hands on this years' Pirelli calendar, shot by Patrick Demarchelier or Lavazza's 2008 calendar shot by Finlay Mackay, consider yourself lucky. Those are not available to the public and getting one can only be a result of 'who you know'.
Above: the cover of this years' Lavazza calendar celebrating "MajesticWomen"
Now, if photos and illustration simply do not appeal to you, you cannot go wrong with the two following design classics, the Stendig and the Pentagram calendar.
NOTE: like many a designer, I buy a Stendig or Pentagram calendar that I can write upon in addition to a wall calendar. Maybe you should consider doing the same.
The 2008 Pentagram Typography calendar
Kit Hinrichs has designed Pentagram’s 2008 Classic Typographic Calendar using twelve typefaces designed by typographer Matthew Carter including Walker (originally designed in 1995 for the Walker Art Center), Snell Roundhand (a 1966 revival of 17th century English writing master Charles Snell) and Galliard (a 1978 anthology of Roman and Italian styles of French punch-cutter Robert Granjon). “I wanted to bring a new awareness of typographic design through this calendar,” said Hinrichs. “Typefaces are pervasive in our daily lives in everything we read and see around us and yet most people are oblivious of them or the circumstances in which they were created. We can gain a new perspective on our world by studying the origin of typefaces. I hope the calendar will encourage a new sensitivity to the importance of typeface usage and the work of Matthew Carter.”
The calendar is available in two sizes, a supersize 33-by-22 inch version suitable for wall hanging and a smaller 18-by-12 inch version appropriate for desk use. Both versions are available in the US and UK at kenknight.com. The price of the supersize calendar is $36 and the smaller desk and wall calendar is $22. (Prices do not include shipping.)
The 2008 Stendig Wall calendar 
Massimo Vignelli has designed a lot of things but few of his designs are as pervasive or recognizable as his Stendig calendar. the Stendig calendar was designed in 1966 and is a classic. it graces the walls of architects and designers the world over, over forty years after it was designed, and these people know what looks good.
Dimensions: 4 feet by 3 feet makes the stendig; a richly sized, functional and affordable art-piece, ready to charm your home office and executive walls.
Buy either the Stendig or the Pentagram Calendars for 2008 here.
Letterpress & Indie Artist Calendars
Above: two examples of many of the letterpress desk calendars available at Etsy.com
There are also tons of beautiful letter pressed and independent artists' calendars for 2008 .
No blogger did a better job of rounding up these indie art calendars than Holly Becker's Decor8 two part series of calendars.
See Part One. And Part Two.
Be sure to check out etsy.com for many, many lovely options. of smaller desk calendars and calendar posters. Or my list of stationers and card shops in my side bar. all of whom make lovely calendars.