Yvonne Wang

Day by Day Calendar 2021

Bachelor of Design Editorial Publication Typography Print Inter-cultural Commerce World views Aotearoa

A calendar for New Zealand and Taiwan

Different from the normal calendars print a month per page, traditional day calendars having a day printed on one paper. Tearing off a page indicates a day passed. The Day by Day Calendar is designed in such format which has a special context in Taiwan. It is divided into four 27.5 x 41.5 cm tear-off calendars by seasons. Red, orange blue, and green represent Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. The content includes:

  • Dates in English/Chinese translation
  • The lunar dates in English/Chinese translation
  • Auspicious & Inauspicious
  • The phases of the moon
  • The 24 solar terms
  • The times of sunrise and sunset
  • Local ingredients in season
  • Festivals in Taiwan & New Zealand

The unique design of day calendars is from Eastern Asia. There is a special social context of using the tear-off calendar in Taiwan. It was originally designed to fit the farmers’ lifestyle who would go to work at sunrise and go home when the sunset.

The Day by Day Calendar is a project that explores cultural exchange within a commercial context, while also quantifying the concept of intangible time onto tangible paper. The project follows two core concepts: localising the Taiwanese calendar format by integrating New Zealand’s information into the day calendar, and quantifying each day to a piece of paper to make every day counts. My objective was to heighten relationships between Taiwan and New Zealand, create a new position for paper-based calendars in the digital era and raise awareness of the current political concerns in Taiwan.

Aside from the unique designs for festival days, the calendar emphasises seasonal changes since the seasons are the biggest difference between the northern and southern hemisphere. The content of the calendar borrows from the traditional calendars in Taiwan—in other words, the Day by Day Calendar let you see ‘the life in New Zealand’ from a Taiwanese point of view.

With the development of technology, devices replace many paper-based products, including calendars. The lack of ritual affects people’s attitudes to daily life. By turning a page off every day, people can quantify times and enjoy the pleasure in every day.