Outlet’s 2026 Collaborative Riso Calendar!
We’re doing another collaborative risograph calendar! We’ve printed these every holiday season for 6 years now and we feel lucky to have the creative folks we know and love and print with (and some new friends too!) participate. For those of you who are new here: every year we take submissions from local artists to create a vibrant 2 color risograph printed and bound calendar. The theme of the calendar this year is BRIGHTNESS!
We design this calendar with printmakers, designers, riso nerds, and print collectors in mind—you can trim the artwork out to keep and frame (12 beautiful prints!), and we include color combinations, special inks and papers, and other extras that can serve as a swatchbook and inspiration for any future projects!
Discounted preorders are open until 11/15!
Why preorder this calendar? Preordering helps us gauge how many copies of this calendar we need to make and order the necessary supplies—plus you save $10! Preorders will be available until 11/15 and will ship late November/early December with time to arrive before the holidays. We ship anywhere in the US, or you can select free local pickup—we’ll contact you when these are available!
Each year has a theme
The theme of this calendar is BRIGHTNESS!
In years past we’ve had themes like justice, reimagined futures, hope, transitions, abundance, and connection. We know people typically look at calendars often and our goal with picking these themes is to create something that is inspiring, joyful, hopeful, compelling, empowering, and resilient—something that won’t be draining to look at every day. It’s so great to see and get inspired by everything you all make and print at Outlet!
As we move into a new year we want to use this calendar to remind everyone of brightness and joy in times of despair and hopelessness. You can interpret this theme any way you want—abstract, literal, written, drawn, analog, digital, etc. We love the diversity of work that’s possible via riso printing and want to represent that here.
Be part of the calendar!
Submit your art to our calendar!
We use our annual calendars to feature a collection of 12 different artists printed in vibrant riso inks. Each year has a theme that is open to interpretation and artwork can be anything — digital illustration, collage, pen/ink, typography, photography, watercolor, pastels, and more. We can’t wait to see what you make!
It’s so hard to pick from all of the lovely submissions we get, so we limit this to people in the US, prioritize underrepresented identities, and cap submissions.
Submit your design!
Please fill out the form linked below by the submission deadline. Questions? Having issues submitting? Feel free to contact us at hello@outletpdx.com!
Late submissions will not be accepted. While we would love to accept and print everyone’s work this calendar will be limited to 12 people. Failure to submit files within specifications will disqualify you from participating.
The Details:
Size: 8” wide x 5” high
Theme: BRIGHTNESS
300dpi non-transparent PNGs, converted to grayscale
Files must be separated for two colors and set up appropriately for riso (grayscale). For file setup help, check out our comprehensive guide and FAQs!
Keep in mind that risographs work well with high contrast imagery. They interpret art based on its value (the degree of lightness or darkness of a color), so the lighter the value, the lighter the print. Aim for darker colors, grays, and blacks when possible in order to get a richer print. The darker the value, the brighter and more saturated that ink will print.
Do not include bleed or crop marks
Design must be flexible in terms of registration and color; you won’t know what colors we’re printing with so please design accordingly!
We will be using one dark and one light color; feel free to label your files which is which if you like!
Deadline to submit: 11/15 by 11:59 PM PDT
Take a look at some photos of past calendars below! Work by Sally Mullaney, Lettie Jane Rennekamp, Victoria Mary Design, Pace Taylor, Nia Musiba, Steph Bianco, K Fry, Dana Paresa, Josh Stover, Natalia Cardona Puerta, Beth Kovar, and Bridger James.
