Life calendar poster
A life calendar poster shows a whole life as a grid of weeks, usually 52 columns by 90 rows, so 4,680 boxes on one sheet. With My Life in Pixels you fill in a date of birth, color the big life periods and export the result as a free PNG that prints sharply on A4 and well on A3.
What is on a life calendar poster?
A life calendar poster has one box for every week of a long life. The classic layout, from Tim Urban’s 2014 essay “Your Life in Weeks”, is 52 boxes across for the weeks of a year and 90 rows down for the years: 4,680 boxes in total. Filled boxes are the weeks already lived. Empty boxes are the ones still to come.
What makes a poster personal is color. Childhood, school, studies, each job, each home, a relationship, the years with small children: every period gets its own color and a line in the legend. One look at the wall shows where the time went.
How do you make one with My Life in Pixels?
- Go to the life grid and enter a date of birth.
- Drag across the weeks of a period, give it a label and pick one of eight colors. Repeat for every period that matters. Single moments, such as a wedding or a birth, color one week.
- Optionally add a name. It appears as the title of the export.
- Choose light or dark theme with the button at the top of the page. The export uses the theme you are looking at.
- Click “Export PNG” and print the file at home or at a print shop.
Which paper size should you choose?
| Paper size | Resolution of the 2,000 px export | Result |
|---|---|---|
| A4 (21 × 29.7 cm) | about 240 dpi | Sharp |
| A3 (29.7 × 42 cm) | about 170 dpi | Good |
| A2 (42 × 59.4 cm) | about 120 dpi | Fine from a distance |
| 50 × 70 cm | about 100 dpi | Fine from a distance |
The export is a tall image, roughly 4 by 7, so it suits a portrait frame and leaves a margin left and right on standard paper sizes. Because the image is made of flat squares rather than photographs, it enlarges better than the dpi numbers suggest.
What are good periods to color in?
Fewer, larger periods read better on a wall than dozens of small ones. A set that works for most people:
- Childhood and each school
- Studies or training
- Every job or career chapter
- The places you lived
- Relationships and marriage
- The years with children at home
- Single moments: births, a wedding, a big journey, a move abroad
The tool allows up to 60 milestones, which is more than a readable poster needs.
Frequently asked questions
What size can I print the free export?
The PNG is 2,000 pixels wide. On A4 that is about 240 dpi, which is sharp. On A3 it is about 170 dpi, which still looks good on a wall. For A2 or 50 × 70 cm it drops to about 100 dpi, fine from a distance but soft up close.
Is a life calendar poster a good birthday gift?
It works well for round birthdays such as 30, 40 and 50, because the grid shows the years so far at a glance. At 40, exactly 2,080 of the 4,680 boxes are filled in. Color the periods you shared and it becomes a personal gift rather than a generic print.
Can I make a poster for someone else?
Yes. Enter their date of birth, add the milestones you know and export the PNG. You can also send them the share link so they can finish their own grid. Remember that the link contains the date of birth and the milestones.
Will there be a high-resolution poster?
A vector PDF in A2 and 50 × 70 cm, without watermark and with a name and title, is planned as a paid extra. The grid, the share link and the PNG export stay free.
What does the export contain?
The grid itself, a legend with the color and label of each milestone, the counter with weeks lived and weeks to go, an optional name as the title, and the domain name mylifeinpixels.com in the corner.
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