Click on regions of this image to jump to a particular timeline.
Each example timeline shown below is described by a tuple from our timeline design space, described using the following format:
[Representation] | [Scale] | [Layout]
Click on an image to view in full resolution in a new tab.
(Linear | Chronological | Unified)
Narrative Point: present chronology, duration of events.
Perceptual Task: bar length and position judgment.
Comments: This design is supported by existing timeline presentation tools.
Data: Lives of Western Philosophers (by rengel-de), coloured by region.
(Linear | Chronological | Faceted)
Narrative Point: compare chronology, duration of events between facets, present synchronicities (coinciding events).
Perceptual Task: bar length and position comparisons.
Comments: --
Data: Visualising painters' lives (by Accurat), coloured by event category, faceted by painter.
(Linear | Chronological | Segmented)
Narrative Point: compare chronology, duration, periodicity of events between segments.
Perceptual Task: bar length and position comparisons.
Comments: --
Data: Obama's first 100 days in office (demo dataset included with TimeFlow), coloured by event category, segmented by month.
(Linear | Relative | Faceted)
Narrative Point: compare relative chronology, duration of events between facets, present relative synchronicities.
Perceptual Task: bar length and position comparisons.
Comments: --
Data: From first published to masterpieces (by Accurat), coloured by event category, faceted by author.
(Linear | Logarithmic | Unified)
Narrative Point: present chronology of a timeline with emphasis on recent events.
Perceptual Task: bar position judgment.
Comments: do not start story with log scale.
(Linear | Logarithmic | Faceted)
Narrative Point: compare chronologies with emphasis on recent events between facets, present synchronocities.
Perceptual Task: bar position comparisons.
Comments: do not start story with log scale.
Data: List of epidemics (Wikipedia), coloured by epidemic type, faceted by world region.
(Linear | Sequential | Unified)
Narrative Point: present a sequence of events.
Perceptual Task: bar position judgments.
Comments: wide aspect ratio.
Data: German Chancellors (Wikipedia), coloured by political party.
(Linear | Sequential | Faceted)
Narrative Point: (accurately) compare lengths of sequences between facets.
Perceptual Task: bar position comparisons.
Comments: effectively a bar chart.
Data: US Tornadoes 2001-11, coloured by severity, faceted by state (C3 tornadoes have been filtered out).
(Linear | Sequential + Interim Duration | Unified)
Narrative Point: present a sequence of events with distribution of time elapsed between events.
Perceptual Task: bar position judgments (sequence), bar length judgments (interim durations).
Comments: appropriate for non-uniform chronological distributions.
Data: US Presidents (Wikipedia), coloured by political party, segmented by century.
(Radial | Chronological | Unified)
Narrative Point: present chronology, duration of events.
Perceptual Task: arc length and position judgments.
Comments: LinChronUni is likely to promote more accurate perceptual judgments, but it may lack the aesthetic appeal of this radial representation.
Data: Arab Spring (by Katin and Khachaturov), coloured by event category.
(Radial | Chronological | Faceted)
Narrative Point: compare chronology, duration of events between facets.
Perceptual Task: arc length and position comparisons.
Comments: LinChronFac is likely to promote more accurate perceptual judgments, but it may lack the aesthetic appeal of this radial representation.
Data: The daily routines of famous creative people (by Podio), coloured by activity type, faceted by person.
(Radial | Chronological | Segmented)
Narrative Point: compare chronology, duration, periodicity of events between segments.
Perceptual Task: arc length and position comparisons.
Comments: LinChronSeg is likely to promote more accurate perceptual judgments, but it may lack the aesthetic appeal of this radial representation.
Data: HURDAT Hurricane data (from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Hurricane Research Division), coloured by hurricane severity, segmented by year.
(Radial | Relative | Faceted)
Narrative Point: compare relative chronology, duration of events between facets.
Perceptual Task: arc length and position comparisons.
Comments: LinRelFac is likely to promote more accurate perceptual judgments, but it may lack the aesthetic appeal of this radial representation.
Data: From first published to masterpieces (by Accurat), coloured by event category, faceted by author.
(Radial | Sequential | Unified)
Narrative Point: present a sequence of events.
Perceptual Task: arc position judgments.
Comments: square aspect ratio. LinSeqUni is likely to promote more accurate perceptual judgments, but it may lack the aesthetic appeal of this radial representation.
Data: British Prime ministers (Wikipedia), coloured by political party.
(Radial | Sequential | Faceted)
Narrative Point: (approximately) compare lengths of sequences between facets.
Perceptual Task: bar position comparisons.
Comments: LinSeqFac is likely to promote more accurate perceptual judgments, but it may lack the aesthetic appeal of this radial representation.
Data: List of epidemics (Wikipedia), coloured by epidemic type, faceted by world region.
(Grid (Base-10) | Chronological | Segmented)
Narrative Point: compare chronology, duration, periodicity of events between centuries, decades.
Perceptual Task: grid cell count and position judgments.
Comments: only supports consecutive events (timelines with event overlap not supported)
Data: US Presidents (Wikipedia), coloured by political party, segmented by century.
(Grid (Calendar) | Chronological | Segmented)
Narrative Point: compare chronology, duration, periodicity of events between months, weeks, days.
Perceptual Task: grid cell count and position judgments.
Comments: only supports consecutive events (timelines with event overlap not supported)
Data: Author's travel calendar, coloured by region, segmented by year.
(Spiral | Sequential | Unified)
Narrative Point: present a sequence of events.
Perceptual Task: area judgments.
Comments: more compact than RadSeqUni or LinSeqUni. LinSeqUni is likely to promote more accurate perceptual judgments, but it may lack the aesthetic appeal of this spiral representation.
Data: British Prime ministers (Wikipedia), coloured by political party.
(Spiral | Sequential | Faceted)
Narrative Point: (approximately) compare lengths of sequences between facets.
Perceptual Task: area comparisons.
Comments: LinSeqFac is likely to promote more accurate perceptual judgments, but it may lack the aesthetic appeal of this spiral representation.
Data: G7 Heads of State (Wikipedia), coloured by political leaning, faceted by country.
(Arbitrary | Sequential | Unified)
Narrative Point: present a sequence of events.
Perceptual Task: path length judgments.
Comments: LinSeqUni is likely to promote more accurate perceptual judgments, but it may lack the aesthetic appeal of this abritrary representation; the shape can also be used as a mnemonic.
Data: Canadian Prime ministers (Wikipedia), coloured by political party, in the shape of a maple leaf.
Comments: Joseph Priestley's original Specimen of a Chart of Biography (1765), faceted by into "statesmen" and "men of learning".
Comments: with some minor style tweaks, here is our version of Priestley's classic chart.