Desk calendar concept and design
Regarded as a powerful piece of year-round B2B advertising, the Cartoon Network calendar had to compete for desk space against many other promotional calendars sent out towards the end of the year and it became an annual challenge to come up with an item more inventive and desirable than the previous years'.
Showcasing a broad range of shows and characters, often with a requirement to feature particular shows on specific months in order to line up with new season launches, the calendar was a complex and involved project.
A theme of escalation was chosen with the idea of printing months on acetate to allow the action to progress from the previous month. Each page needed to be flipped forwards from behind to overlay and cover, or add to, elements of the previous month and move the narrative on.
Art directing both a 3D artist and a 2D illustrator to achieve the ultimate integrated effect added an extra aspect to the planning of the project.
The aesthetic quality of using acetate also gave a satisfying and fitting connection to traditional 2D cell animation.
