Corbis doesn’t lack for products. With more than 100 million rights-managed photographs and illustrations and royalty-free images, Corbis continually faces the challenge of communicating the depth, breadth, diversity and quality of its vast collection and getting designers, art directors, publishers, editors and filmmakers to think of Corbis as their one-stop source for all stock image needs every single day.
That design brief quickly suggested to Studio Hinrichs the idea of creating a day-at-a-time calendar, featuring an event that happened that specific day in history and an image that tied the story together. This approach would allow Corbis to showcase the range of its many collections – celebrities, sports, fine art, science, architecture, cultural, outer space, historical, etc. –and give recipients a fascinating factoid for the day. What’s more, it addressed Corbis’ desire to make this program accessible across multiple platforms and to provide something that would be appreciated by everyone from top-level newspaper editors to wannabe designers still in school.
Corbis made one other request – it had to be translated into five languages for its customers worldwide. This meant that topics had to be of global interest and the text had to allow for translations into languages that sometimes required more space.
The concept for the Corbis 24/7/365 Calendar came easy, but the execution was anything but the case. Luckily, there was a wealth of images to choose from, but visually pacing the day-at-a-time calendar to represent different styles, collection categories and thematic ways of interpreting a topic required endless mixing-and-matching. Move one image or change one topic and a lot of shuffling had to occur. Delphine Hirasuna (yes, me) researched and wrote all the text. Brick Design collaborated on converting the calendar into digital formats for Web and mobile access. Meanwhile, the Corbis team double checked rights clearances and handled translations.
The result is a multiplatform program – a limited run desktop calendar, accessible online and on your mobile phone, and a poster/magazine ad insert that features all 365 images at a glance.
