Sketchy Calendar

Summary

titleSketchy Calendar datedQ2 2025 authorMarcel Goethals, Paul Sonnentag Sketchy calendar When it comes to calendars, you can choose between using a digital calendar app or getting a paper calendar. They both allow you to keep track of things like doctor appointments, work meetings or birthdays, so you can keep a clear head and be sure that you won’t forget anything. But while the two approaches may seem similar on the surface, they’re radically different in the kinds of trade-offs they make. In this project, we’re exploring what it would mean to have a calendar that combines the convenience of a digital calendar with the simplicity and expressivity you get from pen & paper. Calendar apps On the one hand, calendar apps like Google Calendar offer many convenient features. You can easily switch between different (daily, weekly and monthly) views. All your events are synced across your devices. You can send calendar invites and even create shared calendars with other people, so when you plan something that affects others, you can check their availability. While powerful, Google Calendar’s design imposes a strict view of what a calendar event is. If you have tentative plans like “lunch with a friend sometime next week” there is no obvious way to add this to your calendar in a way that differentiates it from an important appointment that can’t be missed. Calendar apps can also feel very sterile and impersonal. All events are visually uniform, regardless of importance, even across different contexts. Events on my company calendar (which I only need to see for coordination) exist alongside my personal commitments with no visual hierarchy. A calendar app could be a deeply personal place for collecting memories, which allows users to reflect on how they are spending their time. In practice, calendar apps are primarily a tool for scheduling meetings. Paper calendars In contrast, using pen & paper is much more flexible. You can get calendars that offer varying degrees of struc...