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There’s an old saying goes something like this: “You’ve got to know where you came from to know where you’re going.” I’ve found that that mantra helps me in my professional as well as personal life. Well, I’d like to argue that the same goes for type and the use of typography.

Those of us who spent some of our formative years in design classes had the history of design and the graphic design basics drilled into our heads. For me, part of that history included the appropriate use of type.

We’ve often thought about pulling together a timeline containing all of the pertinent moments in typography, and well, wouldn’t you know it, someone has already pulled one together. Recently, one of my co-workers sent me a link to the following typography timeline.

To view the timeline, click on the Explore the Interactive Timeline link in the lefthand column. Then click the link to Open the Typography Timeline.

I can’t be sure of its provenance, but my guess based on the URL is that it comes from the fine folks at Tyne Metropolitan College in the UK.