A Timeline of Type is a brief history of letters and typography with an illustrative approach. This spread appears in a collaborative calendar along with other spreads by York College students. The calendar was made entirely of black and white hand-drawn graphics. Given these parameters, I decided to create characters for each point in the timeline. I researched the history of lettering and chose which twelve points were most important. I made sure those points would range from the dawn of written language to the most recent typography development.

My goal was to educate in a way that would interest even children. The illustrations make each point more memorable, giving an example as well as a person to associate with the point in time. I also made a conscious effort to reinterpret the art styles of earlier civilizations when depicting their contributions. For example, Egyptian statues of the Old Kingdom Period were often portrayed walking with straight backs and their arms at their sides. The Sumerian depiction is based on the famous clay statuettes found in the Temple of Abu. The characters were later reincorporated around the calendar.