- The springboard into a personalized calendar is a great photograph or collection of photos. These images--whether actual photos or generic clip art images--serve as the visual focal point for the calendar. For best results, photos may be touched up with photo-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop; during the touch-up process, be sure to adjust for color tone, lighting balance, and red-eye reduction. The calendar may be arranged so that a single photo is visible all year, a different picture is shown each month, or various images are scattered throughout the calendar. Depending on the software used to create the calendar, and how many pictures are available, a separate image may even appear on each of the calendar's individual days.
- With the appropriate photos collected and edited, software can be used to produce the actual calendar. Calendar-making software packages range from freeware downloads to commercial packages, and some print shops even offer Web-based applications for designing calendars. Depending on the software capabilities, a variety of options may be available; some popular options include monthly, weekly or daily calendar view, paper size, red-letter days, holiday indicators and "thought for the day" quotations. Some packages also allow descriptions of photos and copyright information to be placed in appropriate positions on the calendar, and may allow for placement of a bar code if the calendar is designed for retail sale (see Resources below).
- With all software options evaluated and appropriately set, the calendar must be printed for use. Individual calendars may be quickly and easily printed from a home printer, providing a truly personalized product. Calendars with lots of photos, though, can require considerable amounts of ink and may require a resolution many home printers are not capable of producing. For this reason, may commercial print shops, like FedEx Kinko's, provide relatively inexpensive calendar-printing services. These print shops can produce a professional-quality calendar on heavy, glossy paper for a reasonable price, giving the personalized calendar a truly professional appearance (see Resources below).
