Timelines are perfect for telling stories and visualizing projects and processes. You can use a timeline template to:
- Give an overview of events.
- Detail an agenda or itinerary.
- Highlight important points in time.
- Distill important information that people might otherwise miss.
Here are our best timeline templates and tips on how you can use them. Click to jump ahead:
- Project management timeline template
- Business timeline template
- Event timeline template
- Marketer timeline template
- Nonprofit timeline template
- Internal communication timeline template
- Construction timeline template
- Simple timeline template
- Historical timeline template
- More timeline templates
Learn how to customize a timeline template:
Follow these steps to customize your timeline templates:
- Pick a timeline template with the layout that best fits the story you want to tell.
- Just so you know, some of our templates are free, some exclusive templates are paid. But Venngage is always free to use.
- Add, remove, or rearrange points in time with our online drag-and-drop timeline maker (screenshot below).
- Insert your own dates and events using the text boxes.
- Customize the colors, fonts and icons to make the final design your own.
1. Use a project management timeline template to organize projects and get things done
Project managers need to juggle multiple balls. A timeline template is a perfect addition to your presentation, project plan, proposal, project management software or other documents where you need to share project details with stakeholders and keep the team on track.
Color-coding data in your timeline is one of the easiest and most effective ways to make your design readable, like in the project timeline template above.
Use distinct colors for each day, week, month, or even specific activities so that they stand out from each other on the timeline. This project management timeline template uses red and blue to differentiate different activities:
In the project timeline template below, weeks are color-coded to show you what task is planned for when:
Use Gantt timelines to deliver projects on time, every time
What if you’re a manager trying to organize your teams to deliver multiple projects over a period of time? In that case, it would make sense to color-code the teams rather than the dates.
Here’s an example of a color-coded Gantt chart timeline to help you get organized:
Here’s a project management timeline template where tasks are color-coded by team members rather than deliverables:
Pro Tip: With Gantt timelines, you can not only outline due dates but also break down projects into smaller activities that are either assigned to individuals or entire teams. Our guide on Gantt charts will teach you how to use gantt charts to deliver projects on time, every time.
Use multi-week planning timelines to get things done
At Venngage, all teams operate on a weekly sprint cycle. This helps us break down complex projects into manageable chunks and get more done in short bursts.
Here’s a six week timeline template you can use to break down long-term projects into weekly cycles:
2. Use a business timeline template
Running a business is never easy, and the time crunches may be hard to manage.
Do you have too short of a time duration to get things done? I thought you’d say that. Try experimenting with two week project timelines instead to manage your business needs.
Here’s an example of how a two week project template can help you structure your monthly product releases:
Perhaps you prefer operating your company on a quarterly basis? Here’s an example of a monthly timeline that outlines everything each team needs to achieve in a given quarter:
Pro Tip: Learning how to complete projects by dividing up deliverables and underlying tasks is key to getting things done across a project’s entire life cycle. Our project life cycle guide will give you a handy framework to guide projects from inception to completion.
Here is another example of a monthly timeline plan:
The best business planning timelines are simple, but communicate clearly
Sometimes the key to creating business timelines that stick is the right orientation. Maybe in your case, a vertical timeline makes more sense than a horizontal gantt chart.
Don’t be fooled by their simplicity. Vertical timelines can look basic but they’ll surely help you communicate project timelines and deliverables to your potential clients:
Use a timeline template as a PowerPoint alternative
Text-only presentation slides are boring. Timeline presentations are perfect for making information visually engaging. Optimize your timeline outline for PowerPoint, Google Slides or SlideDeck by using landscape orientation and big, bold text.
Use a gradient color scheme to create a flow from the beginning of your timeline slide to the end:
3. Use an event timeline template to plan conferences and visualize project milestones
A lot of your event planning is probably virtual these days. As a marketer, you may feel overwhelmed by the changes. Using an event timeline template will help you block your hours, days, and weeks out so that you can visualize each step of the way:
Scheduling your days in time blocks can be an effective way to organize and prioritize your tasks. Try using different color blocks for different types of tasks or appointments.
This is another opportunity where icons can help you code information and make your timeline scannable.
This personal timeline for example, can make planning your event planning schedule a breeze:
The next two timeline templates block off their projects in monthly milestones, using a contrasting color for the font (green) to help organize information:
Indicate how much time should be spent on each task in your event planning timeline
If you’re a busy small business that needs to budget their time, indicate how long should be spent on each activity in your timeline. One way to do this is to use bars of different lengths to visualize lengths of time.
For example, look at how this personal timeline template segments lengths of time in one person’s day:
Wedding planning timeline template
Another example of an event that you may be planning as a small business is a wedding. You can include specific times and any important details people should know. For example, take a look at this wedding day timeline template:
Keep event attendees on track with a conference planning timeline template
Want your event to go off without a hitch? Give your attendees a timeline of what the day will look like. That way, they’ll know what to expect ahead of time.
Don’t forget to include information about where each part of the day will take place. Including photos or illustrations of what to expect can also help get your attendees excited about the day’s events.
For example, check out this sleek and minimalist event timeline template:
Pro Tip: During timeline formatting, special event consultants and event planners of all stripes can add their branding to any templates of their liking. Then, save it as a template to use again and again. Meaning: less administrative work for you.
Enhance a calendar timeline template by using colorful icons
Take a classic calendar and make it more effective by using icons. Pick icons to represent different types of events…and don’t be afraid to mix up the colors! Simple visuals make information easier to remember, so pick icons that will stick in your memory.
Choose icons to fit your event timeline templates using Venngage’s library of over 40,000 icons.
4. Use a marketing timeline template to map your customers’ journey
Understanding your customers’ journey is a core component of a solid customer experience. Create an infographic that visualizes your various customer profiles. Use icons to emphasize key steps in their journey.
Take a look at how this timeline example uses icons to make each customer journey easy to understand:
Click the template above to enter our online customer journey map maker. Customize the template to your liking – no design experience needed.
Use icons to help readers scan your timeline for specific information
Icons visualize information in one small graphic. That’s why they’re perfect for including in a visual timeline for your events. Pick an icon with a widely recognizable meaning (for example, social media platform logos) so people can scan your timeline for information about a specific topic.
For example, this historical timeline template showing the history of social media platforms uses icons to identify which point is about each individual platform. You can always customize templates to fit your needs:
5. Use a nonprofit timeline template to visualize your fundraising process
Nonprofits may rely solely on fundraising to keep their projects running. To make things easier for your team — and yourself — a nonprofit timeline template helps to organize your processes. It also is a great way to sum up the events and tasks for an important day.
Your daily tasks may consist of ample planning for content, promotion, social media, etc. Using a timeline template allows you to be much more organized:
This weekly timeline template can be customized to make it hourly:
Click “Week 1” and change it to “9 a.m.”, for example. Consultants for nonprofits can also add this timeline template to their marketing plan to help change up their workflow. A more efficient workflow will help the nonprofits’s team effectively carry out your recommendations.
This project timeline template uses line icons to emphasize each step:
Social media icons are instantly recognizable and help organize the information in this timeline template:
Pro Tip: Timeline infographics are great for nonprofits looking to become thought leaders. Pick a topic that shows the development of an idea in your industry. Plot it into a timeline template and insert it into your blog posts or guest posts or share it on social media. Add it to a white paper, too.
6. Use an internal communications timeline template to onboard new hires
Visual timeline templates are an effective way to plan your business goals or detail a new process in your internal communications. You can lay it all out, summarize steps, and use visuals to emphasize points.
New hires at any company, for example, will understandably have a lot of information to process. A sprint timeline detailing the first day on the job would be a welcomed addition to the usual onboarding documents.
Pro Tip: Timeline templates can help simplify the onboarding process. You don’t need to limit your timeline to a new hire’s first day at the company either! Consider providing a timeline for their first week, month, or even the entire probationary period. Chart important information, like the dates of their reviews, or when their benefits kick in. This will be much appreciated by your new hire, who likely has a lot to keep track of!
Zoom out even further and plan your entire year. Organize critical milestones by month using this vertical timeline template to share with your company:
This timeline template takes the same approach, but it color-codes the months and text for improved readability and impact:
Use a weekly timeline template to track your reports’ progress
As mentioned earlier in this guide, you can keep track of your team’s progress week over week with a simple and organized timeline template.
Use symbols and icons to categorize different types of tasks so that readers will be able to skim the timeline and find the information quickly.
Alternate between two neutral background colors to increase the readability of your design. Here’s the two week timeline from earlier that follows this scheme:
Pro Tip: A project timeline template can be a fresh way for consultants to make progress reports for stakeholders. The client can see at a glance what you’ve been up and how the project’s progressing. No wading through walls of text – a timeline is easy to scan, understand and digest.
7. Use a construction timeline template to visualize a process
Sometimes, processes can be confusing, especially if there are a lot of steps to follow. It’s easy for people to forget steps in a process, especially in the construction industry.
A construction timeline template visualizes the building process, organizes the steps, and shows the connections between steps.
This construction timeline template uses color text boxes to neatly organize its project milestones by month:
Pro Tip: Consultants can use project timeline templates to keep a project on track, especially if there are multiple people involved (subcontractors, multiple stakeholders etc.). Assign a task to a different person and color-code these people/companies i.e. green for you, red for the client.
PS: Looking for a scheduling app to help you book meetings without the back-and-forth? Check out HubSpot’s Meetings tool.
Use a home renovation timeline template to stay on track
Alternatively, you can organize your timeline by steps and the number of days you need to complete them, like in this construction timeline template:
Pro Tip: Design newbie consultants and freelancers can use our “My Brand Kit” tool to import brand colors and logos from a website. Or enter them manually. Use your branding, or the client’s, as you like. It’s an easy way to impress the client, without any design work on your part!
Pro Tip: Consultants and freelancers will especially benefit from using this project timeline template. They’re an easy way to show the client what steps are required to complete a project and how each step impacts the next. The client will love having a visual timeline to refer when they can’t remember what’s supposed to happen when. And this means less emails and phone calls to you – we hope!
8. Simple timeline templates
A simple timeline template allows you to make project planning easier for everyone involved. Your team will be grateful for the visualization of a difficult project or process. Here is a simple template that allows your audience to understand what you’re presenting in a breeze:
9. Use a historical timeline template to show the history of a popular topic
People often like to learn about the history of people, places, and things that they’re interested in. The historical timeline example below highlights the evolution of the internet and technology.
This historical timeline template uses Google’s iconic color palette to reflect the story. Icons and logos make it easy for readers to skim the timeline and find their favourite products:
This historical timeline template uses a similar strategy — using icons and colors to section off Apple’s WWDC by year:
Related: COVID-19 Timeline: Critical Moments in the First Year
Group years together in your timeline to shows periods throughout history
While most timelines typically use one connecting line down the middle to show progress over time, you can group years together using horizontal lines. Group periods according to different technological breakthroughs, political movements, artistic and fashion trends, or any other broad theme.
Don’t be afraid to stray away from the classic branch timeline design. Get creative by moving events around the page and playing with different layouts.
Check out this history timeline template for some inspiration:
Highlight important dates in history with an infographic timeline
Educate and remind readers about important dates in history using a history timeline template. Emphasize certain dates by using big, colorful fonts. Offer brief, concise explanations for why the dates are important.
If you are pulling your information from other sources, be sure to cite your sources at the bottom of the infographic.
This timeline template uses text bubbles and cute arrow graphics to create a natural flow of information:
Use comparison photos to show how something has changed over the years
It’s fun to see how things have changed over the years – tech, fashion, event foods. Create a visual timeline that shows photos of a thing, to highlight how it has changed over the years. You can use a comparison infographic template to do this.
For example, this timeline shows how cameras have changed over the years, uses images and brief descriptions to inform readers:
Icons, instead of photos, help show how email has changed over time in this vertical timeline template:
Summarize complex histories with a simple timeline template
While you can’t cover everything that has happened in history in one timeline, you can highlight the important, defining events. Summarize the history of a person, place or thing by showing key moments in history and offering concise explanations of why those moments are significant.
Use colorful icons to enforce and illustrate the information. If you have a resource where readers can go to get more information, cite it at the bottom of the infographic.
These political infographic templates are a good place to start.
Colorful text boxes use icons and punchy descriptions to keep the reader engaged in this history timeline template:
10. More timeline templates
Here are more examples of timeline templates that you can use:
Number each step on the timeline to make the information easy to follow.
Use your brand guidelines to spread brand awareness and make your content recognizable across multiple channels.
Rank facts using a numbered timeline template
A timeline doesn’t necessarily have to chronicle years. It can also be used to count down information. Take this timeline template that counts down New Year’s Eve facts. The line down the middle of the infographic creates a flow from fact to fact.
You could use a template like this to rank products, websites, movies…anything!
Use an illustration as the backdrop for your timeline
The beauty of a timeline infographic is that you can create a design that really reflects the theme of your information.
Pick a flat icon that reflects the theme of your information and stretch it to fit the background of your page. Then, pick a color that stands out to create your timeline, text and smaller illustrations.
Look at how this timeline example uses an icon of a body as the background image:
Emphasize different points in your timeline by using non-uniform design elements
If certain dates or events are particularly important, emphasize them on your timeline by making them bigger than other dates. You can do this by using bigger icons, bigger font sizes, or using a contrasting color.
Not only will using non-uniform design elements make certain points stand out, they will also make your timeline more interesting to look at.
Pro Tip: Use a timeline template to show the history of your business. Put it on your website’s About page to grab the reader’s attention. You can also add it to consulting proposals or pitch decks. We have plenty of business proposal templates to help you get started.
PS: Looking for a different kind of infographic? Venngage can help you:
- Create business strategy or brainstorm new ideas with a mind map
- Explain a complex process with process infographics or product roadmaps
- Compare and contrast multiple options with comparison infographics
- Raise awareness about an issue or cause with nonprofit infographics
- Check out our 15+ project plan templates post for more ideas on how to plan your business goals.