Get to know some of the most important religious festivals and holy days from the world’s major religions, including Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and the Bahá’í Faith, with this infographic design. 

You’ll learn how to create a beautiful calendar infographic in Adobe InDesign and prepare it for sharing on social media. 

This may look complicated, but it’s actually a relatively simple design. You’ll need access to Adobe Illustrator as well, to create the central circle graphic for the design. 

If you want to create your own unique infographics, you can discover a massive range of icons and infographic templates on Envato Elements and GraphicRiver. 

What You’ll Need to Create Your Infographic

As well as access to both Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign, you’ll also need to download the following fonts and graphics from Envato Elements:

• Maxim Sans font


• Arkibal Display font


• Popular religious icons set

You’ll also need to download the provided set of ASE color swatches.

You can add dates to your infographic using the online 2019 Interfaith Calendar. 

1. How to Set Up Your Infographic in InDesign

Step 1

Open InDesign and go to File > New > Document. 

Click on Web at the top of the window, before setting the Width of the page to 1600 px and Height to 2240 px. 

Add Margins of 125 px, and click Create.

Step 2

Expand the Layers panel (Window > Layers) and double-click on Layer 1, renaming it Background. 

Create six more new layers: Key, Calendar, Holidays, Segments, Months, and, finally, Header, at the top. 

Then lock all the layers except Background, which we’ll work on first. 

Step 3

Expand the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches) and choose Load Swatches from the panel’s main menu. 

Navigate to the ‘Religious Calendar Infographic Swatches.ase’ file you downloaded earlier, and click Open. The RGB swatches will load into the panel. 

Step 4

Working on the Background layer, use the Rectangle Tool (M) to create a shape across the whole page, setting the Fill to R=33 G=43 B=45.

2. How to Create the Calendar Graphic

Step 1

To create the segmented circle at the heart of the design, we’ll need to turn to Adobe Illustrator for help. 

Open Illustrator and create a new document at any size. 

Select the Polar Grid Tool (you’ll find this in the Tools panel, from the Line Segment Tool’s drop-down menu). 

Right-Click on the Polar Grid Tool icon in the Tools panel to open the Options window. 

Set the Number of Concentric Dividers to 0, and the Number of Radial Dividers (which will represent the number of days in the year) to 365. 

Check both Create Compound Path and Fill Grid, before clicking OK. 

Step 2

Click and drag onto the page, holding down Shift, to create your circle. 

When it’s created, select it and Edit > Copy it. 

Step 3

Head back to your InDesign document and lock the Background layer. Unlock the Calendar layer.

Edit > Paste the circle onto the page, and scale to roughly the size shown below. Switch the Fill Color of the circle to R=75 G=94 B=100.

Pull out guides from the top and left-hand rulers (View > Show Rulers) to mark out the center-point of the circle. 

3. How to Add Months to Your Calendar

Step 1

Lock the Calendar layer and unlock the Months layer. 

Use the Pen Tool (P) to create a short curved line across the top-right of the circle, mimicking the curve of the circle’s edge. 

Step 2

Switch to the Type on a Path Tool (Shift-T) and click once on the line to transform it into a text path. 

Type in ‘JAN’ and from either the top Controls panel or the Character and Paragraph panels (Window > Type & Tables > Character / Paragraph), set the Font to Arkibal Display, Size 23 pt. Set the Font Color to R=239 G=248 B=254.

With the Selection Tool (V, Escape), select the line, and make sure the Stroke Color of this is set to [None]. 

Step 3

Copy and Paste the line 12 times, rotating each and positioning them along the inside edge of the circle. Also edit the text for each month. 

4. How to Create a Key for Your Infographic

Step 1

Open up the religious icons set in Illustrator.

You can use some of the icons here to create a key for the bottom of your infographic. 

First, I’m going to select the Star of David, the symbol of Judaism, from the top row and Edit > Copy it. 

Step 2

Head back to InDesign and lock the Months layer. Unlock the Key layer. 

Edit > Paste the vector icon onto the page and position it towards the bottom of the page. 

Give the icon a contrasting Fill Color, like R=229 G=26 B=71.

Step 3

Repeat the process, bringing over icons from the illustration into InDesign, positioning them in a row at the bottom of the layout, and giving each of them their own contrasting color.

5. How to Add Dates to Your Calendar

Step 1

It’s time to start adding festival and holy day dates to your calendar. You can add as many dates as you like from the Interfaith Calendar. 

First, lock the Key layer and unlock the Segments layer. 

Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw out a simple three-sided shape, taking up one segment on the circle and using the guides to show you where the segment should finish at the center of the circle. 

Set the Fill to one of the shades in your key, making sure to match up the color with the right religion for the date you’ve selected. 

Step 2

Unlock and activate the Holidays layer. Create a text frame using the Type Tool (T), typing in the date, holy day, and religion. 

Set the Font to Arkibal Display, All Caps, Size 17 pt, and set the Font Color to R=239 G=248 B=254.

Rotate the text frame and position it above the colored segment. 

Step 3

Copy and Paste both the colored segment and text frame, and use the Free Transform Tool (E) to reposition and rotate it to create the second date on the calendar.

Edit the text and color of the segment if needed. 

Step 4

Continue to Paste and build up more segments and dates on the design, adapting the color of each to match the colors of the symbols in the key below. 

6. How to Add Header Text to Your Infographic

Step 1

Lock the Segments and Holidays layers and unlock the top layer, Header. 

Create a text frame centrally on the circle, typing in ‘2019’ and setting the Font to Maxim Sans, Size 220 pt, and Font Color to R=239 G=248 B=254.

Step 2

Add a large text frame to the top of the page, typing in ‘Religious Calendar’, and setting the Font to Maxim Sans Bold, Size 90 pt, All Caps, Align Center and Font Color to R=115 G=178 B=159.

Add a sub-heading below this, set in Maxim Sans Bold, Size 40 pt, All Caps, Align Center, and set the Font Color to R=75 G=94 B=100.

7. How to Export Your Infographic

Step 1

To share your infographic on social media or attach to an email, head up to File > Export. 

Choose JPEG from the Format menu in the window that opens, name your file, and click Save. 

Step 2

In the Export JPEG window that opens, set the Resolution to 72 ppi, to make the image suitable for web viewing. 

Then hit Export. 

Conclusion: Your Finished Infographic

Your religious calendar infographic is finished, and it’s looking awesome! Make sure to share the infographic on Pinterest and Facebook. 

If you want to create more infographics, you can find a huge range of icons and infographic templates on Envato Elements and GraphicRiver. 

Make sure to check out these other cool infographic tutorials:

• 

  How to Create a Colourful Dasara Infographic in InDesign

  This colorful infographic is a tribute to the Dasara festival, during which processions and celebrations take place across many parts of the Indian...
  
  


• 

  How to Create a Russia Infographic in Adobe InDesign

  Learn how to put together this stylish infographic in Adobe InDesign. In this tutorial for relative beginners to InDesign, we’ll look at how to set up a...
  
  


• 

  How to Create an Infographic Design in Adobe InDesign

  This infographic explores the history of same-sex marriage, acknowledging both the set-backs and incredible achievements along the way.
  
  


• 

  How to Create a Rainbow Road Infographic to Celebrate Pride Month

  To celebrate Pride Month here at Envato Tuts+, we’ve created an infographic using the theme of the Pride Marches, which you can recreate for yourself using...