Timeline Infographics: 6 Types To Boost Your Brand

Life on earth was traced back to 3.8 years ago. While organisms were still gearing up, around 2.15 years ago, the first undoubted fossil evidence of photosynthesis was seen. It was only 6 million years ago; the hominins started walking on earth. Interestingly, with the help of fossil footprints, this movement was revealed.

Can you visualize the human species crawling on earth in a time frame? Yes, you can bring it to life by using infographics. It’s engaging and worth remembering than the plain text format.

According to Google, customers don’t do very well with large chunks of text. It’s overwhelming and time-consuming. People are likely to pause and see your infographics because it’s self-explanatory.

Timeline allows you to tell a time-related story chronologically. Readers would be able to see how events have occurred during the timeline or notice patterns appearing over specific periods in a timeline.

You can use timeline infographics to

• Indicate how one thing leads to the other
• Demonstrate how things have changed over time
• Make a long, complicated story easier to understand

Reference image

Use of timeline infographics

When you design timeline infographics, you take your viewers on a journey. The design of the timeline will direct the readers to take the next path. It will point them to the start, end, and other critical points. For this, you need essential aspects and intriguing images that fit well with it. All these factors add up and make the journey exhilarating, engaging, and educational.

Let’s jump in to see ‘how to design’ step by step –

• Create a smart plan
• Design a timeline template
• Design it properly
• Use compelling typography
• Specify the layout size
• Prepare the timeline content
• Market the timeline infographics

Create a smart plan – Without better planning, you cannot do the maximum you want. What dates and events are in the order of importance? What timeline activities would attract them easily? The same applied to images and other elements. Based on the desired length of the timeline infographic, you might have to insert the stops. Adjust but don’t allow irrelevant stop points. As recommended, go with a shorter timeline and captivate customers.

Design a timeline template – Here, you create a layout to maximize your design plan’s readability. Your layout type will determine where you choose to display your timeline infographic. Vertical infographic timelines work best with smartphones and tablets. But for print marketing, you’ll find a horizontal design more friendly.

You can also use the central focus point. It’s divides the vertical page into two. This line is the starting point for each of your timeline events. You can alternate each side as you begin to display the timeline events. Transform images and text using these imaginary lines. As you start optimizing multiple times, you’ll reach different target audiences.

Design it properly – There’s no hard rule when it comes to layout. If you want to be innovative, customize it. You can also customize the template if you need. Try left or right-aligned layout. The left/right focus timeline infographic helps you to encompass extensive data. Each section of the timelines can have different colors and fonts. In coiled/spiraled timelines, you can customize and be creative with your timeline infographic.

Use compelling typography – Because there’s a lot of information, it’s necessary to keep it visually appealing. Use specific points or sections with colors and bullets to draw the attention of the audience. How you present your data will create your business’ personality in the viewer’s mind.

Placement matters while deciding the color and font’s role. Be careful about viewers’ readability. Fitting too many texts without gaps or headers in between makes it clumsy. Cluttered versions don’t give breathing space to the readers. When in doubt, use contrast to pop out! Your Colors/fonts should complement one another. Finally, see if the design is perfectly aligned and tell your brand story just you wanted.

In timeline infographics, consistency is also important to maintain the flow. It makes the customer stay connected from start to end. Keep the headers and fonts to make the readers familiar with your tone and values.

• Specify the layout size – Visual learners prefer for infographics over any other marketing collaterals. If the infographic is too long or has dense text, they’ll get bored too quickly. While designing, follow the visual hierarchy to improve the overall aesthetic of the design. Order of importance helps you to prioritize the main content. You dictate the focal points of your timeline infographic by focusing on text size, text color, saturation, and the text layout.
• Prepare the timeline content – A timeline infographic displays events in a specific order. Your starting point establishes the tone for the remaining text. The narrative should be smooth and should make the events connect. Make them travel through your timeline with ease. Because you talk about specific historical events, be accurate with your information. A small mistake can ruin everything. Always verify the facts that are included. You can take the help of an editor or a copywriter to be on the safer side.

• Market the timeline infographics – Once your timeline infographic is complete, you can promote it extensively. Think about it; you have information that the customers are waiting to hear. You can increase your visibility by running paid ads on different platforms. Also, include social media plugins in your website for increasing shareability.

Types of infographics

Whether you’re completing or starting from scratch, these tips will help you come a long way. Now, you can try the six types of timeline infographics that –

• The Historical Layout
• Chronological layout
• Biographical layout
• Organizational layout
• Resume layout
• Project management/workflow layout

• The Historical Layout – You can follow the chronology of the events that happened in the past; something that has already occurred. You want to highlight an intriguing aspect of a particular culture or moment in time; this is smart. Historical timeline layouts are the oldest to date but are still being used on several occasions. You can outline the history of your business or integrate the design directly on a landing page.
• Chronological layout – It’s quite similar to the old layout. To highlight the shift in time, you can use it. You want to show your viewers how your product has evolved, use this layout to visualize your idea. It not only shows the change that took place but also depicts growth. For example, you could highlight the transformation of Indian culture over the years using this method.
• Biographical layout – If you’re hoping to tell the story of a famous individual’s success story, biographical arrangements will highlight breakthroughs or achievements of that person. This layout looks like a double-sided resume. You can use it as part of a content strategy to showcase a famous person’s struggles over time.
• Organizational layout – Whether it’s the company’s fact sheet or the structure, you can use a corporate layout. Use this timeline infographics for scheduling purposes. Please make use of it for hosting an event or meeting to brief the attendees.
• Resume layout – It’s very similar to a biographical layout, but instead of highlighting another person’s life, you talk about your own experiences. You can use it for the “About Us” page of your website or on LinkedIn.
• Project management/workflow layout – With workflow layout, you can better visualize the tasks at hand. This is used widely by content marketers and social media marketers. It gives a detailed look at how to share your content on social media for winning results effectively.

If one can visualize what happened 6 million years ago, you can picture your business’s information. Technology has changed your life like never before. In a matter of minutes, you can simplify the information with timeline infographics. Find more guides related to infographics at All Time Design.