Best calendar app designs and how to prototype your own
Calendar app design can be simple or complex. In this post, we show you 10 of our favorites and how you can make a start on your own
There’s something satisfying about making a plan and putting it in your calendar. The ability to conjure up a engagement, scribble it (or type, you know it’s 2018) into your calendar and slowly watch the days pass by until the event is exciting.
It’s clear that time dictates much of our lives. Whether it’s a tight work deadline, a countdown until a warranty expires, your mother’s birthday or simply when your next vacation is, we need somewhere to put all of these appointments.
Prototype your own calendar app designs in Justinmind now. Download free
Time gives us structure and sense of place. And what better place than a calendar to put all that information, for easy viewing? Some have gone as far as saying calendars are more effective than the almighty to-do list. We’ll leave that up to you to decide.
Now, let’s take a look at 10 of the best calendar app designs and how you can start making your own in our prototyping tool . No need to save the date, let’s start today.
Calendar app design best practices
Everyone’s scheduling needs vary. But there are some fundamental best practices that should be taken into consideration when building a calendar app.
Since people who use calendar apps want to get to their information quickly and without frustration, it’s best when designing a calendar app to maintain a clear and clean user interface
This means you should design with minimal distractions. A calendar acts as a personal assistant, ensuring your days flow smoothly. Adding a new appointment should be as straightforward as possible, so as to avoid any frustration from the user.
In essence, you want your calendar app design to be:
- Visually pleasing (who wants to use an ugly calendar?)
- Easy to use
- Simple to share
- Cross-platform
Now let’s take a look at 10 calendar app designs, both real and concept, which took our fancy…
10 examples of calendar app designs
Moleskine Timepage
Fantastical 2
Bloom by Arnas Goldberg
Google Calendar
Smart Calendar App by Kyle Blackman
Calendar by Shawn.F
My Calendar UI by Tauhid Sajib
Bright Vibe Calendar by Tubik
Calendar & Task Management by Yi Li
Busycal
How to create your own calendar app design in Justinmind
Before you start designing, create some sketches of how you want your calendar app design to look. This is just to get your initial ideas out so don’t put too much heart into these sketches. You can either start on paper or directly download Justinmind and use our free Sketching UI kit .
For more on how to get the most out of your sketches, read our handy beginner’s guide .
After you’ve made some sketches, create a new mobile prototype in Justinmind. You can choose iPad, iPhone or Android from our selection of devices. You’ll be able to use our range of pre-built widgets , which make app prototyping much faster.
To create your own calendar in Justinmind, try out our dynamic panels . In the example image above we used 3 sets of dynamic panels, two linked using , and text widgets coupled with some SVG icons.
Drag a dynamic panel on to your canvas, ensuring it takes up enough size to fit one calendar month comfortably on the screen. Within this panel, add a table widget in which to put the numbers of the month and the month’s name. Replicate this process for each given month. Use a text widget for any copy you’re using and style as you wish in the Properties palette.
Next to the month, you can place an arrow widget so users know they can switch between the months. On the arrows, you want to use the Change Panel so that when the user clicks on the arrow to go from January to February, the dynamic panel changes accordingly.
Under the main set of dynamic panels Put another set of dynamic panels. This is where you’ll put the information relating to any entries in the calendar.
You can use here to make the calendar more user-friendly.
Conclusion
Calendar’s are great. They keep us organized, on time and efficient. Because of their inherent simplicity, it’s easy to make your own. So, if you don’t find what you’re looking for elsewhere, take the initiative and download Justinmind and get prototyping.
Originally published at https://www.justinmind.com on March 7, 2018.
