Will the next Design Calendar be your handiwork? Calendar contest by AYY & TOKYO

Aalto University Student Union and Arts and Design Students TOKYO ry are announcing the design contest for the Design Calendar for the academic year 2019–2020.  TOKYO ry, the association for Aalto University Arts and Design Students, has published an annual design calendar since 1975. In the academic year 2019–2020, the calendar will be executed for the second time together with AYY and distributed to all Aalto University students. The designer of the calendar will be chosen with a traditional contest from among the students.

The previous contest was won by Master’s-level Interior Design student Reetta Vartiala. For the upcoming academic year, the calendar will be made for the time period of 1 Aug 2019–30 Sept 2020. The contest starts on 1 Jan 2019, and its deadline is on Thursday 31 January 2019 at 4 pm!

Contest rules:

1. Contest duration and right of participation

The contest period runs from 1 Jan 2019 to 31 Jan 2019 at 4 pm.

All Aalto University students have a right to participate in the contest. Preparing a calendar design requires fluent skills in Finnish or English.

2. Submission of proposals

Contest proposals must be handed in at AYY’s Service Office (Otakaari 11) by Thursday 31 January 2019 at 4 pm. To ensure anonymity, the proposals should be accompanied by a working title and a sealed envelope labelled with an alias, containing the name(s) of the designer(s) and their contact details. The proposal must be attached onto white cardboard or board.

3. Design framework

The proposal must contain at least the following designs:

• calendar cover
• weekly spread with space for possible adverts on the bottom
• Student Union information pages
• possible project calendar
• suggestion for materials

The calendar is pocket-sized, at most A6-sized, i.e. approx. 105 x 148 mm. Flexibility will be determined based on the final design and the printer to be decided later. Calendar pages must be presented in their actual size.

Colour: There are four-colour advertisements and information sections at the beginning and end of the calendar. The calendar proper and part of the information section are bicolour.

Print run: 8000

Language: Finnish, English and Swedish (festive dates and info pages). Main language can be English, but trilingualism is a plus.

4. Choosing the winner

The winner will be chosen by a calendar panel appointed by AYY and TOKYO. The panel consists of representatives of AYY and TOKYO as well as a specialist member on visual communication design. Panel members cannot participate in the competition themselves. The panel will give feedback on the submitted works and choose the winner.

5. Winner’s commission

The winner(s) will be commissioned with the final design for the 2019–2020 calendar. The final design work will take place in early 2019. The designer(s) will be paid a remuneration of 1800€ for their work.

6. Content of the design work

The design work includes making print-ready files in cooperation with AYY’s Communications. If necessary, AYY offers work facilities on the Otaniemi campus. When preparing the final design, the commissioning party’s requirements regarding the calendar’s usability and printing costs must be taken into account. Other terms for the work will be settled when making the contract.

7. Other

Marking the national holidays must be considered in the design. Qualities to be considered in the design include ease of use, sustainability, clarity and accessibility (e.g. dyslexia), individuality and eco-friendliness. Based on experience, other good features in a calendar include ample writing space, paper that suits various pen types and durable cover material. However, these are not regular features in all calendars.

Please note that the panel will favour the following issues when assessing the designs:

♡ Does the calendar reflect both the Arts students’ TOKYO and all of Aalto? The calendar must look and feel like TOKYO, Finland’s biggest and most beautiful art student association, as much as the entire Aalto community.

♡ How does your calendar continue the TOKYO design calendar family? You can view a part of TOKYO’s calendar cavalcade from past years in the TOKYO Space in Otaniemi. There are past calendars from both TOKYO and AYY on display there.

♡ What does the calendar look like? How does it work? The panel also values the presentation-technical quality of the proposal. Present your proposal with sensible rhythm, preferably with signs and a visual model. Introduce the materials, paper types, fonts and colours you have used. Names alone tell the panel nothing: include samples in your presentation. Avoid graphic-designer jargon.

♡ What is special about the calendar? Ensure that the panel is aware of the new and cool features of your calendar. Write clarifying descriptions of how the calendar works. Give short and sweet reasons for your solutions.

♡ Is your proposal completely thought-through? Lead the panel’s imagination by submitting a firm proposal. The proposal is not the finished calendar, but present it as if it were.

♡ Can you take the project all the way to completion? Your knowledge of graphic design and ability to take the calendar from proposal to finished product must be apparent from your proposal. This does not mean that you have to be a graphic designer, but the work requires knowledge and experience of the technicalities of printing. Submit your proposal on time: being late suggests that the calendar itself will be late as well.

More information is available from AYY’s Communications Specialist Henna Palonen ([email protected]).

You can read more about the calendar and its history on the TOKYO website (https://tokyo.fi/tapahtumat/kalenterikilpailu/?lang=en).

Free your creative powers and produce the world’s best calendar design!