At a time when smartphones, tablets and computers dominate our daily lives, the idea of an analog calendar may seem old-fashioned. But there's something distinctive and valuable about a physical calendar that digital alternatives simply can't offer.
Overview, visual presence
An analog year planner hanging on the wall gives me a constant visual overview of my year; a constant reminder of upcoming appointments and plans, but also of nice things, like meeting friends, me-time, a vacation, perhaps still far away, but already present on the wall. The thought of having everything important and beautiful at a glance gives me relief and reduces the chaos in my head.
Art and aesthetics
As a purely functional helper, a digital calendar is always just a means to an end, an analog calendar is clearly more: for example, a sensual, good-looking companion that, like my Kilim calendar, beautifies the home or office, exudes a good mood with its colors and patterns and stimulates the brain to engage in creative planning processes. And that's exactly what it's about, because life isn't just about obligations and appointments.
Inspiration, positive vibes, your own ideas steer your life planning in an individual direction, a pool in which self-confidence, self-confidence and your own decisions await you. Despite work and being tied to everyday life, creative thought structures can greatly inspire our lives and inspire us to do more. Be it just easier organization, a deeper, multi-dimensional perception of time or the thought of a hobby, a passion that was buried for a long time or was not allowed to have a place in our lives.
Haptic experience & commitment
Not only the eye, seeing, but also the hand, touching stimulates creative processes. Entering something into an analog calendar, writing it while stroking the paper sharpens our senses. I experience what I write. What I touch is.
In addition, all plans, thoughts and appointments cannot simply be deleted or replaced quickly - like on a cell phone - just as canceling a meeting with a friend does not simply mean deleting them. It is binding. Which doesn't mean that there shouldn't be an alternative. Yet it is there, it stands there, it is real. But because it can't be easily replaced with a few clicks, we enter it more consciously and think more about our decisions, our plans and our time.
Plan together
Of course, connected users can also use a digital calendar to plan a business week, a couple's or family's everyday life. Oddly enough, this seems to feel less binding for many people. Maybe because the world on the internet is moving faster and a lot of things change there in a short period of time.
Consider that in the past, without cell phones, we could easily and successfully arrange to meet at a specific place for a specific time. Since the advent of cell phones and WhatsApp, people have been constantly texting each other back and forth despite having made an appointment, calling each other uncertainly shortly before the meeting point: "Is it staying tomorrow?", "Where exactly are you?" "For me it will be 2 minutes later" etc.
When using a shared digital calendar, my husband constantly asked me about appointments that were written into there. This happens with our analog family calendar, I don't want to say never, but much less often. There the reason for a simple and lasting overview takes effect again, which creates trust and eliminates chaos in the mind beyond the digital distraction.
We love to enter some appointments together as a family. It is an experience in itself and creates a connection between the different life plans and requirements that exist in almost every couple, team or family. My son loves to write down our birthdays with stars and the good things about the next two weeks. When I observe him, I think that you don't have to be a calendar nerd like me, but that there is something about planning that is deeply anchored in people: the desire for structure, the desire for anticipation, the capture of it incomprehensible journey through time towards understanding...
Tradition, a rite: the celebration of a year
Something for more traditional people & calendar nerds like me: I love looking at this temporally woven carpet at the end of the year: a huge quilt of plans, experiences, memories, moods, meetings, places, successes, feelings, wishes. I then summarize and let it happen again. Realize that there are things I want to do differently next year or things I really want to do again. I am often surprised by this moment because, despite my planning, many things turn out differently, it grabs me in a completely different place, tastes contrary to my expectations, a food, a place, a person makes me laugh or love someone I didn't expect would have.
I just love this contemporary piece, this carpet. For me it is a true gift that I hang out and say goodbye to outside. Ready for a large, empty new wall: ready to weave new impressions and many design options for everyday life and life.
Conclusion
Visual presence, overview, haptics, writing and commitment, inspiration, the stimulation of creative processes, a partner and family meeting point, ritual and reflection, all of that a digital calendar could never offer me; which doesn't mean that both (analog and digital) aren't practical. And yet, in our increasingly digital world, I consider an analog calendar to be increasingly attractive and indispensable as a time, art, life document and design tool. That's how I feel. How are you doing with that?
