The best calendars for 2021

The best calendars for 2021 can help you get organised, and set the tone, for the year ahead. You may be used to using an online calendar, but we think there's no beating a physical calendar. In our opinion, having beautiful office stationary that combines functionality with design is a surefire way to encourage you to stick to your organisational goals. 

Creating an aesthetically-pleasing and well-organised workspace will help you feel confident and motivated, making it easier for you to keep on track of your meetings and appointments, as well as break down your projects into manageable chunks.

A good organisational setup is as important for your home office as having the best office chair or the best desk, so don't settle for a plain, boring calendar. In this guide we've collated the best wall calendars for the design-conscious, as well as the best desk calendars if you want something with more organisational features such as to do lists. 

The best 2021 calendars for your office or home 

If you're looking for something to brighten up your office or kitchen and add a touch of class to your walls, you can't beat the richly-detailed designs of William Kilburn. This stunning wall calendar features 12 designs from the UK's V&A Museum's collection, with patterns in all colour schemes from gorgeous greens and warm yellows, to fresh greens and brilliant blues. 

Dublin-born William Kilburn (1745–1818) was the most famous block-printed cottons designer of the 18th century. After he moved to London, he started selling prints, drawings and engravings to print shops. The designs featured in this calendar have been taken from the Kilburn Album, one of the V&A’s most treasured possessions. Each image is accompanied by text accompanies each piece.

If the organisation offered by the Boxclever isn't granular enough, then this desk calendar from Peachly is the 2021 calendar for you. There's not as much space per day as the Boxclever desk calendar, but each weekly view has six sections: blocks for each day of the week (with equal spacing for weekdays and weekends), a weekly priorities list, notes for next week, a to do list, a habit tracker and a 'dot grid' for taking quick random notes (or doodling!). If you like to view your week as part of a bigger picture, choose this calendar. 

In the habit tracker you can keep an eye on things like how much water you're drinking, how much exercise you're doing, or that you're having a mindfulness break. Intriguingly, this calendar is undated so you can start using it any time of the year, and you can save yourself a piece of paper if you go on holiday and miss a week of planning. 

If you're a fan of the Bristol-based street artist Banksy, or any street artist really, then the Banksy 2021 calendar is a great choice for you. Featuring 12 high quality images of Banksy's best, recent graffiti art, this calendar will add a touch of artistic inspiration to your wall. 

Our favourite image is the boy playing with a nurse toy while Batman and Spider-Man lay discarded in a bin. This image features on the cover, and went on display in Southampton general hospital earlier this year. Other featured artwork includes the iconic Armoured Dove, and fan-favourite Girl with Balloon.  

This doodle-friendly wall calendar is the perfect choice for creatives who love to doodle, or need some encouragement to take regular screen breaks and relax. When you're feeling uninspired, reignite your creative mojo by escaping to magical kingdoms filled with woodlands, plants and flowers, and even fantasy creatures. The Inky Wonderlands 2021 calendar features illustrations from all eight of "illustrator and ink evangelist" Johanna Brasford's adult colouring books, printed on high-quality paper selected by Basford herself. The spiral binding means you can easily transform it from wall calendar to colouring pad, and back again. 

We can all use a reminder of everything we have to be grateful for, and that's exactly what the Simply Blessed 2021 wall calendar offers you. Each month of this 12 month calendar brings a new snippet of wisdom, or a blessing, to help you feel calm, inspired and purpose-filled as you go about your work. The mantas include "Live the simple life," and "Begin each day with a grateful heart", and all sit in beautifully-drawn wreaths with colour schemes to suit the time of year. 

There's plenty of space for making notes on this calendar, with large boxes for each day of each month.

The Boxclever Press desk calendar tops our list of the best calendars for 2021 because it's compact enough to stay on your desk without taking up valuable workspace, but is still packed with useful features.

The month-to-view pages are clearly laid out and give you enough room to write in important meetings, appointments and deadlines, plus there's a previous/next month view to help you keep track of longer-running projects. Weeks run Monday to Sunday, and weekends are conveniently highlighted to help you separate your work and free time. 

Our favourite thing about this calendar has to be the super-useful 'To Do' flip page section: there are 52 pages, one for each week of the year, with a tick box for each line so you can stay organised at a monthly and weekly level simultaneously. This feature is perfect for your weekly to do lists, or to jot down random reminders that come to mind that you don't want to clog your calendar with. 

The East Urban Home Monthly Calendar Chalkboard Wall Sticker is the most fun calendar in our roundup. This peel and stick chalkboard wall calendar is fully interactive as you'll need to write the month and days every month, as well as everything you want to keep track of. Don't worry though, it's easy to remove and reposition without marking your surfaces. Write down all your key activities with chalk, and then simply wipe it clean with a cloth when you're ready to move onto the next month.

We think this calendar would work especially well in an open studio space, but you can use it anywhere in your home because you can stick this calendar anywhere – walls and windows included. 

If a little bit of sass and sarcasm will help you stay motivated then this is the calendar for you. Keep track of your daily to do list and organise your time into neat hourly blocks to ensure you all get all your sh*t done! 

On the other hand, the calendar is small and there isn't a lot of space per day for tracking your projects and appointments in addition to tasks. You might find more notation space more helpful than space for tracking your daily food and water intake when it comes to choosing the best calendar. If inspiring  quotes are more your thing, check out the Inspire Daily Desktop Calendar instead.

This epic magnetic wall-mounted calendar from Harry Larry doubles as a photo memo board and so is a great calendar for someone looking to get creative when it comes to organisation.

It's a functional blackboard and comes with magnetic accessories so you can attach notes, photos, material samples or anything you like to keep you both organised and inspired. Found a new material you like the look of but you're not sure about using in your next project? Pin it to your calendar and work with it in your office or studio for a few weeks first. You can also attach business cards from networking events, or photos of your family and friends if you want to use the calendar to help remind you to keep a good  work-life balance. 

The month names and days of the month are hand-screen printed on a laser-cut and powder-coated metal panel, so while you can change up the look of your calendar, the key dates you need to stay organised won't go anywhere.  

Read more:

• The expert guide to working from home
• The best L-shaped computer desks
• The best desks for your home office