Fedrigoni UK, producer of luxury papers, has released its annual calendar project. For the new year, the calendar embraces generative design to produce novel imagery and celebrate the 2024 leap year. The project is titled Fedrigoni 366 2024, and features work from 731 creatives.

The calendar series was initially launched in 2017. Since its launch, different versions have been produced each year. In 2024, the instalment sees the calendar go further than before, with generative technology producing over 2 million designs.

In partnership with printer F.E. Burman and design studio TM (TsevdosMcNeil), Fedrigoni uses innovative HP Indigo digital print technology to make each book unique. A HP Mosaic tool was implemented to randomly shuffle colours within each design by applying algorithms. Thus, creating different design combinations in each book.

One of two colour palettes, orange or green, was assigned to each of the 731 artists. They were then asked to create a design that considered this shuffling of colours. The full palette of ten colours was made available to each designer, but they could use as many, or as little, of the ten as they pleased. The colours within the designs were then randomly shuffled by the HP Mosaic tool, on an unprecedented usage scale for the tech. The generative design was produced by Oswin Tickler, a creative coder and designer, using HP Spark.

At the same time, colours in every other part of the book were also randomly shuffled, using a generative code. This spans from the outer jacket to the divider pages inside. As a result, each book produced has its own original colour combination. The designs are all printed on special paper from the Digital for HP Indigo printing collection.

Fedrigoni’s annual project involves the UK creative community each time it runs. Designers are asked to produce a design for a date of the year, assigned at random. This time around, the collaborative effort was extended even further, with international designers invited to partake.

Speaking on Fedrigoni 366 2024, Ambra Fridegotto, Marketing Manager at Fedrigoni Paper UK says: “Fedrigoni 365 is known for its sense of community and a creative outlet for those who take part. To have been able to extend this invitation to over 60 creatives from 19 countries across the globe has been amazing”.

She continues, “Digital printing is fast and efficient, but we wanted to show how it can also be incredibly creative and diverse, both with the content and with the paper selection”.

The project demonstrates the innovation of the digital printing and design fields. As Ade Onabanjo, Director at F.E. Burman describes, the production is “boundary-breaking”. He comments, “The complexity of handling over 2 million files speaks for itself, but more broadly it demonstrates the ability of the industry, to harness both design skills and the latest algorithmic software, collaboratively to produce innovative, imaginative products".

Fedrigoni 366 2024 is available for purchase now, and profits from this year’s sales will be donated to the charity, Save The Children.

As technology advances, the role of the creative continues to evolve. Within this landscape, Fedrigoni 366 2024 demonstrates how technological advancement and classic creativity can work together to produce unique, forward-thinking concepts and designs.