Celtic Typography Timeline

This is a timeline I did on the evolution of Celtic letterforms, for History of Typography at YSDN. Richard Baum at Thompson Reuters asked me why I put North at the bottom — I told him I wanted the timeline and travel-line to move in sync. Since the colonists were so uncooperative as to have travelled west, that meant either reversing up/North or reversing right/future. I had already seen a left/future timeline in Ménard’s Napoleon graph and I knew it wouldn’t be right for this infographic — essentially one that’s a timeline first and a map second.

For that reason, and because I had seen down/North maps before and was intrigued by the results, I opted for the above compromise. If this had been a newspaper piece, where quick access to clear information is the priority, the flip would not have worked. But as an editorial spread, the priority is on strong narrative and engaging content supported by extensive research and visual energy.

Tags: illustrator, infographic, map, print, visual journalism, YSDN