Calender to keep track on everyday life in an easy, beautiful and manageable way

04 January 2023 | Design Rocket

• Focus on sustainability
• Design
• Hobby & Leisure
• Home accessories

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All families with children know how difficult it is to keep track of all the things that go on in everyday life; school, kindergarten, work, leisure activities, homework, playdates, family time, screen time, outdoor play, etc. It is easy for parents to share a calendar online, but how do you create an easy overview for the children? Also those who can't read yet?
Design Rocket has found a solution for that. With their new Pictogram Calendar, an overview is easily created for the whole family in a sustainable and elegant way.

A family that creates for other families
Design Rocket is a small family business that started just before corona hit Denmark. All design and production is carried out by the owners Lena and Lars Vilstrup-Sørensen themselves, and all inspiration for their products comes from their two children aged 5 and 4. It all started with a zoo for the teddy bears, then there were wooden stacking boxes, bookshelves, etc. All created to make everyday life a little bit easier for families with children and created according to the needs of the family themselves, and designed for and for children with a clear desire for it to be elegant and something the parents think can fit neatly into the interior design.
The products develop together with their own children and the needs they have, which is why alphabet magnets also came when their daughter, aged 4 at the time, started to show an interest in letters.

Family time, small children, company and work
Lena and Lars both work alongside Design Rocket, and have chosen from the start that the company should not be at the expense of time with the children. Therefore, the children are often involved in the workshop and are really part of the company, but there are still challenges in getting everyday life and all the activities going. And it wasn't just with the small entrepreneurial family that they struggled to keep track of agreements and plans. Several people in their circle had the same challenges and especially those with smaller children who cannot yet read had a challenge in relation to how the children could have an overview of the week.
The calendar has been a long time in the making and a lot of thought has been put into how it should be made so that an overview can easily be made with pictograms for the whole family, even the very small ones. In the development process, several people have also drawn attention to how important a tool a calendar like this can be for families with diagnosed children, such as autism and ADHD.

Weekly schedule, add ons, pictograms and more options on the drawing board.
The large weekly calendar is designed to fit an average Danish family of 2 adults and 2 children, and the accompanying 70 pictograms fit approx. 2-3 working days. However, the company has been aware from the start that all families are different, both in terms of structure, everyday life and activities. Therefore, it is possible to purchase various packages of pictograms, so that you can design a calendar that suits your family, needs and everyday life 100%.
Various add-ons have also been designed which can be used both together with the big week calendar or on its own. Initially, morning, evening and afternoon routines will be launched. They are designed so that the children can easily see what needs to be done in the morning, afternoon and evening. They are made so that the children can have their face pictogram attached, so if there are several children in the family, they can each get their own board and easily see the difference. The child must actively move the pictogram from the top to the bottom "completed" line when the task has been completed. Both on the Add-on calendar and the weekly schedule there are active things the children have to do, such as on the big one to move their face pictogram to the next day, so you can practice the days and learn that way.
There are already several add-on calendars on the drawing board, such as duties, month, meal plan, clothing, school schedule and later even learning add-ons such as tables, clock etc.

Designs on the way for both private and institutional use
In the process of designing the calendar, the project has developed, because Design Rocket quickly discovered that it was not only at home that children greatly enjoy an overview with pictograms. In their children's own nursery, pictograms are used in many different contexts. One of them is a board in the cloakroom, where children and adults can see on arrival whether they have to start the day inside or outside, and what clothing they have to wear. Right now, Design Rocket has their version of this board, with accompanying pictograms, out to be tested in various kindergartens and there have already been requests for other supplementary boards and pictograms for both kindergartens, schools and special classes.

Circular and Danish production
Like all other designs from Design Rocket, the calendar is handmade and produced in Denmark, but the focus is on sustainability and circular production. The company offers TAKE BACK on all their larger products, such as their Bamse Bo and stackable boxes, to ensure the products have a longer life. With the calendar, there has also been a focus on sustainability, and therefore the add-on calendars have targets, so that they can be made on a cut-off from other products. The pictograms are mainly made from scraps and offcuts.