01 / Information Design
Nebraska Enterprise Fund
25th Anniversary Timeline
A large-format visual timeline tracing 25 years of Nebraska Enterprise Fund history through organizational milestopnes, leadership, lending growth, client businesses, and cultural reference points from 1994 through 2019.
Client
Nebraska Enterprise Fund
Year
2019
Format
Large-format timeline
Role
Information design / Environmental graphics
02 / Project Overview
Assignment
Nebraska Enterprise Fund was celebrating its 25th anniversary and wanted a large-format timeline showing how the organization had grown from 1994 through 2019.
There was a lot to fit into one piece: organizational milestones, leadership changes, lending and asset growth, client businesses, and cultural and economic reference points. The challenge was keeping all of it organized enough to scan from a distance while still rewarding a closer look.
Challenge
Twenty-five years meant a lot of different kinds of information competing for attention – dates, people, financial milestones, client businesses, photographs, logos, and outside reference points. The challenge was keeping the timeline readable without flattening everything into the same kind of information.
My Role
Information design and environmental graphics, including timeline layout, hierarchy, image and icon integration, and final artwork preparation.
03 / Timeline System
Putting 25 years on paper
The timeline had to carry 25 years of history without becoming a wall of dates. I used five-year markers, a continuous line, photographs, logos, icons, and financial milestones to break the information into manageable pieces while keeping everything connected.
I wanted the broad progression to be easy to understand first, with enough detail that someone could move in closer and spend time with the individual stories.
1994-2004
Timeline 1994-2004
2005-2009
Timeline 2005-2009
2010-2014
Timeline 2010-2014
2015-2019
Timeline 2015-2019
The piece had to work at a distance and reward closer inspection.
04 / Context
Adding in some context
The timeline wasn’t only about NEF’s internal milestones. We also used familiar cultural and economic reference points to help place the organization in time.
Those details needed to be recognizable without competing with the main story. They give the viewer another way into the timeline and help 25 years feel less abstract.
The reference points help set the context for each area.
05 / Production
Built for the road.
The project specifications required the finished timeline to be modular, easy to set up, and durable enough to travel. Making that work required clear communication with the printer, along with properly built files using their preferred bleeds, marks, and production specs. A press proof kept us on point, and the final result was exactly what we wanted.
Scale, panel breaks, alignment, and final output were considered from the beginning and the design and layout were built around them.
Modular construction
Large-format output
Portable installation
Production artwork
06 / Outcome
25 years on a tabletop
The finished timeline gave Nebraska Enterprise Fund a way to show its history, growth, people, and milestones in one piece.
Built in modular sections, it was easily installed for anniversary celebrations, traveled well, and gave people a more intimate way to engage with the story.