Interactive Typography Timeline
The approach for this project looked at taking advantage of the interactive possibilities of a web application to allow for progressive disclosure of content. Unlike traditional print and other non-interactive timelines, information could be revealed to the user as the user shows interest in a certain period of time. This method of progressive disclosure also ensures the visual display does not appear crowded with content at any time, something which is traditionally a challenge in print-based timelines.
Looking at interactive maps as the inspiration, I chose to present all the events of typographic history on one horizontal timeline. The user begins by seeing the time period of 1100–2100, which encompasses all the events represented. Each event is represented as a circle on the timeline. For events which occur near other events in chronological order, a “grouped” icon is represented instead of the events. For example, an event in 1730 and 1757 is replaced by one gray circle labeled with the number 2. This numerical number describes the amount of events grouped. A user can the selected an individual event circle to reveal a popup detailing the name of the event, the year of the event, and a description of the event. If a grouped icon is selected, the user is zoomed in to that time period on the timeline. For example, if the grouped icon mentioned earlier is selected, the user is automatically zoomed in to the 1730 to 1760 time period. From here the user can then select one of the events.
