Hand-drawn timelines
This Tumblr filled with hand-drawn timelines is wonderful...the Troublemaker of the Moment timeline is a favorite.
Geographical time spiral
Lovely timeline of the progression of life on Earth.
It's work clicking through to see the larger image. (via @moleitau)
Cartographies of Time
The NY Times' Paper Cuts blog calls Cartographies of Time "the most beautiful book of the year". I cannot disagree. In attempting to answer the question "how do you draw time?", the authors present page after page of beautiful and clever visual timelines.
Cartographies of Time is the first comprehensive history of graphic representations of time in Europe and the United States from 1450 to the present. Authors Daniel Rosenberg and Anthony Grafton have crafted a lively history featuring fanciful characters and unexpected twists and turns. From medieval manuscripts to websites, Cartographies of Time features a wide variety of timelines that in their own unique ways-curving, crossing, branching-defy conventional thinking about the form. A fifty-four-foot-long timeline from 1753 is mounted on a scroll and encased in a protective box. Another timeline uses the different parts of the human body to show the genealogies of Jesus Christ and the rulers of Saxony. Ladders created by missionaries in eighteenth-century Oregon illustrate Bible stories in a vertical format to convert Native Americans. Also included is the April 1912 Marconi North Atlantic Communication chart, which tracked ships, including the Titanic, at points in time rather than by their geographic location, alongside little-known works by famous figures, including a historical chronology by the mapmaker Gerardus Mercator and a chronological board game patented by Mark Twain. Presented in a lavishly illustrated edition, Cartographies of Time is a revelation to anyone interested in the role visual forms have played in our evolving conception of history.
Timeline paintings
Ward Shelley paints these wonderfully intricate timelines of different things...his life, Frank Zappa's career, and the history of the avant garde.
ISS construction timeline
Nice animated timeline of the construction of the International Space Station. (thx, struan)
Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi branding
You know that image that's been going around that shows several revisions to the Pepsi logo while the Coca-Cola logo is the same as it's been since 1885? It tells a compelling story...Pepsi shifting its brand every few years in an attempt to catch up to steady market leader Coca-Cola. But of course it's bullshit...Armin Vit constructs a more accurate brand timeline that shows many Coca-Cola logos over the years.
Brand timeline portraits
A brand timeline portrait shows all the different brands a person uses and interacts with during the course of a typical day.
Originated by Jane Sample, dozens of other people have also created portraits. (via rocketboom)
Update: Make your own at Brand My Day.
Super Bowl tweets mapped
The NY Times has a timeline map showing what people from around the country said on Twitter during the Super Bowl broadcast. I like the emoticons tab but they also should have included a profanity tab.
A timeline of food
The Food Timeline shows which foods were invented when. Ok, not invented, exactly, but first eaten. A tasting menu:
Pretzels, 5th century AD.
Pork and beans, 1475.
Foie gras, 1st century AD.
Croissants, 1686.
Chop suey, 1896.
Popcorn, 3600 BC.
Swedish meatballs, 1754.
(via snarkmarket)
Timeline twins, music and movies
When I was a kid, "oldies" music and movies seemed ancient. Even though I'm now in my 30s, the entertainment that I watched and listened to in my youth still feels pretty recent to me. Raiders of the Lost Ark wasn't all that long ago, right? But comparing my distorted recall of childhood favorites to the oldies of the time jogs my memory in unpleasant ways. For example:
Listening to Michael Jackson's Thriller today is equivalent to listening to Elvis Presley's first album (1956) at the time of Thriller's release in 1982. Elvis singles in 1956 included Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, and Love Me Tender.
If you're around my age, how old do you feel right now? Here are some other examples of timeline twins:
Watching Star Wars today is like watching It's a Wonderful Life (1946) in 1977. It's a Wonderful Life was nominated for an Oscar the following year along with Ethel Barrymore (b. 1879) and Lilian Gish (b. 1893).
Listening to Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit today is equivalent to playing Terry Jack's Seasons In The Sun (1974) in 1991.
Watching The Godfather today is like watching Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) in 1972. Modern Times was a silent film (Chaplin's last).
Listening to the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks (1977) today...well, they didn't really have rock or pop albums back in 1946. But popular songs on the radio were sung by Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Nat King Cole, and Dinah Shore, as well as many performers and their orchestras.
Back to the Future (1985) --> To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Die Hard (1988) --> Bullitt (1968)
Radiohead, OK Computer (1997) --> Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet (1986)
Breakfast cereal timeline
A timeline of the greatest American breakfast cereals, from Grape Nuts in 1897 to Cheerios in 1941 to the present day. (via geek out new york)
From cave paintings to the internet
A fantastically extensive timeline of recorded information "from cave paintings to the internet". It's an expanded version of the timeline that appears in the book, From Gutenberg to the Internet (more info), which seems really interesting.
From Gutenberg to the Internet presents 63 original readings from the history of computing, networking, and telecommunications arranged thematically by chapters. Most of the readings record basic discoveries from the 1830s through the 1960s that laid the foundation of the world of digital information in which we live. These readings, some of which are illustrated, trace historic steps from the early nineteenth century development of telegraph systems -- the first data networks -- through the development of the earliest general-purpose programmable computers and the earliest software, to the foundation in 1969 of ARPANET, the first national computer network that eventually became the Internet. The readings will allow you to review early developments and ideas in the history of information technology that eventually led to the convergence of computing, data networking, and telecommunications in the Internet.
(via design observer)
A timeline of human history (mostly sex
A timeline of human history (mostly sex and violence) by Milo Manara. NSFW.
A very interesting extinction timeline from 1950-2050.
A very interesting extinction timeline from 1950-2050. Blogging is predicted to die out around 2023, the same time as Web 2.0, The Maldives, and spelling. The last to go? Death. It's based on the creator's book, Future Files: A History of the Next 50 Years.
Courtesy of Wikipedia, a timeline of the
Courtesy of Wikipedia, a timeline of the world's most important inventions, from 2.4 million years ago to the present.
Innovation timeline 1900-2050, from corn flakes to
Innovation timeline 1900-2050, from corn flakes to something called quiet paint.
Writer's Dreamtools has a timeline of events,
Writer's Dreamtools has a timeline of events, people, entertainment, fashion, money, etc. for every decade since 1650. This allows the writer to put herself in that time period and as a jumping off point for further historical research. Favorite categories: "who's in" and "what's in". What a great resource for writers. (via youngna)
Social, political, economic, cultural, historical, and technological
Social, political, economic, cultural, historical, and technological timelines of the world from 1750 to 2100. Having all the timelines in one view is nice, but the zoomable interface is clunky.
A gigantic movie timeline that incorporates events
A gigantic movie timeline that incorporates events from tons of movies. "Who'd have thought that while Gangs of New York's Amsterdam Vallon was killing Butcher Bill, down the road Abraham Lincoln was being kidnapped by Bill & Ted".
Neat visual history of Nikon SLR cameras.
Neat visual history of Nikon SLR cameras. It would be neat to make an animation of how the cameras changed through time.
A timeline of splash screen graphics for
A timeline of splash screen graphics for Adobe Photoshop. I didn't know that Photoshop was developed outside of Adobe and then licensed later. (thx mark)
Google corporate timeline. Might be old, but
Google corporate timeline. Might be old, but I've never seen it before. (via Subtraction)