The Arkansas Rice Federation is the trade association representing Arkansas’s rice industry, from growers to millers and merchants. They wanted a fun way to feature their regional farms in something anyone would want to own. The result is an annual wall calendar of farm dogs, chosen through a Facebook photo contest and voted on by the community. I have designed it every year since 2023, including a custom logo for the Federation’s 75th anniversary in 2026. Five editions in, the layout holds steady and the cover color changes each year.
The 75th anniversary edition.
Each month features one farm dog, credited with its name, the farm and the Arkansas county.
A custom logo for the Federation’s 75th anniversary, carried through socials and the 2026 calendar.
Thirteen dogs made it into the 2027 calendar, and the one with the most votes earned the cover.
You can see the current calendar in the Arkansas Rice shop.
-
Client: Arkansas Rice Federation
Industry: Agriculture / Trade Association
Services: Calendar Design and Layout, Custom 75th Anniversary Logo, Print File Preparation, Printer Coordination
Year: 2023 to present
Format: Printed, annual wall calendar
Specs: 28 pages, 11 x 8.5 in closed, 11 x 17 in open, bleed, top bound, drilled for hanging
Printing Partner: Geiger Brandspiration
Project Brief: Design an annual wall calendar that features Arkansas rice farm dogs, chosen through a public photo contest, in a format that will bring a smile to people’s faces every month.
Solution: A custom calendar template with one featured dog per month, rice fun facts throughout and a custom logo for the 2026 anniversary edition.
Outcome: Five consecutive editions, sold in the Federation’s online shop and handed out at tradeshows.
-
For the first calendar, I started with a provided template. I took it apart and put it back together in my own style for Arkansas Rice using updated fonts, changing the layout and adding holidays, including the national rice holidays. Each month gets one dog, with its name, its farm and its county, and a rice fun fact. The cover color returns as a highlight through the months, and November and December carry QR codes to the Federation’s shop.
That version became my own template, and I update it every year with the new dogs and a new cover color. For 2026, I made the dog photos larger and filled the space around them with a blurred, enlarged version of the same photo behind the in-focus one.
For 2027, thirteen dogs made the calendar, and the one with the most votes moved to the cover.
