{"id":6368,"date":"2021-12-17T11:54:36","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T11:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/?p=6368"},"modified":"2025-11-02T11:57:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T11:57:46","slug":"10-gorgeous-timeline-ui-design-inspiration-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/10-gorgeous-timeline-ui-design-inspiration-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Gorgeous Timeline UI Design (Inspiration &#038; Tips)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Here&#8217;s a collection of gorgeous timeline UI designs for inspiration, and some tips on things to think about when creating them!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Related: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/list-ui-design-inspiration-ux-tips\/\">6 Best List UI Design Inspiration &amp; UX Tips<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tips &#8211; how to create a good timeline UI design<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>When should you use a timeline?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A timeline is used to display a list of events in chronological order. So, this can be applied for example, in these scenarios:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Displaying comments and replies (with each reply going further down the timeline)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Representing calendars and actual timelines<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Illustrating the history of a process (for example, a company&#8217;s history)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In video\/sound\/creative editing (allowing for parallel layers of effects)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Showing progress<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As you can see, there are <em>tons<\/em> of different use-cases that timelines can be used. So when you start designing a new one from scratch, make sure you first know the use case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>General guidelines to think about when creating a timeline UI design<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What will your intended users want to get out of the timeline first and foremost? That will be the main focus of how you lay out your design. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How can you best display that information? Horizontally, vertically, visually, with copy, etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What other functions may be nice to have? And where can you fit them in? What functionalities do you not need?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What conventions are there for the type of timelines you want to create? Timelines can actually be a rather complex mental model to understand, so it helps if your timeline follows established design conventions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Perform usability tests! Try out your design on someone without explaining it to them first. See if they can use your design. Will you need to simplify or perhaps add helper texts?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large is-style-default\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0D8YGLLSJ\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"356\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/blog-ad-ui-design-book-1024x356.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7703\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/blog-ad-ui-design-book-1024x356.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/blog-ad-ui-design-book-300x104.png 300w, https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/blog-ad-ui-design-book-768x267.png 768w, https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/blog-ad-ui-design-book-1536x534.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/blog-ad-ui-design-book-2048x713.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">8 Timeline UI Design Inspiration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And onto the collection of 8 gorgeous and great timeline UI designs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Activity Timeline by <a href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/shots\/16452952-Activity-Timeline\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/shots\/16452952-Activity-Timeline\">Attio<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think <a href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/shots\/16452952-Activity-Timeline\">this<\/a> dark mode design by Attio is gorgeous because it&#8217;s so minimal. It reminds me of the Reddit comment section, so if I were to design a comment and reply section, then I&#8217;d probably take inspiration from this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Project Chart by Ivan <a href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/shots\/16966132-Gantt-Chart\">Ivan Strashkulych<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A visual timeline design, with profile pictures for the assigned person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Taskete Task Manager Webapp by <a href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/shots\/16736123-Taskete-Task-Manager-Webapp-Design\">Happy Tri Milliarta<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I find the thumbnails in all the tasks highly appealing. It&#8217;s similar to how Google Calendar has started implementing auto-generated thumbnails for calendar events. When done right, thumbnails on calendar events really do allow the user to take in the information faster. So, that&#8217;s the key takeaway from this inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Timeline by <a href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/shots\/17064722-Timeline-Light-Dark\">H\u00fcseyin Gayiran<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is one of the cleaner parallel timelines I&#8217;ve seen. Many times when I&#8217;ve used editing software, I&#8217;ve been confused by where to find the confounding element (for example what a color block represents). In this regard, I think this design by H\u00fcseyin is great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Event Calendar by <a href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/shots\/11565571-Location-aware-Event-Calendar\">Denis Efremov<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As mentioned in the beginning, timelines are, of course, great for visualizing events that have happened throughout history. Here&#8217;s an example of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Journal Calendar by <a href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/shots\/6012013-Journal-App-Calendar-Overview-Page\">Wendy Zhou<\/a> (Mine)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m very happy with this timeline that I designed for my own journaling app. I think the blue glowing dots work well for dark mode timeline designs, and that the vertically aligned entries work well too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.dribbble.com\/users\/1597244\/screenshots\/6012013\/media\/02c6646dfd9e6d9ea2f66cc0fd10f402.png\" alt=\"timeline UI design inspiration\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/shots\/6012013-Journal-App-Calendar-Overview-Page\">Wendy Zhou<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">7. Task Manager by <a href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/shots\/16848978-Task-manager\">Vitaliy Dorozhko<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s another great dark mode timeline UI design. It&#8217;s so visually cool and nice. The glowing neon-ish side border on each task is gorgeous! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">8. Multifunctional Dashboard by <a href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/shots\/15198542-Multifunctional-Dashboard\">Gura Nicholson<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The detail I loved the most in this design is the drag-and-drop functionality of the task. I love small interactive components like that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I hope this gave you some nice inspiration!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a collection of gorgeous timeline UI design for inspiration, and some tips on things to think about when creating them!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[455,175],"tags":[247,516],"class_list":["post-6368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-en","category-ui-design","tag-design-inspiration","tag-ui-design-en","entry","has-media"],"gutentor_comment":0,"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Timeline-UI-Design-Inspiration-Tips.png",1280,685,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Timeline-UI-Design-Inspiration-Tips-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Timeline-UI-Design-Inspiration-Tips-300x161.png",300,161,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Timeline-UI-Design-Inspiration-Tips-768x411.png",768,411,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Timeline-UI-Design-Inspiration-Tips-1024x548.png",1024,548,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Timeline-UI-Design-Inspiration-Tips.png",1280,685,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Timeline-UI-Design-Inspiration-Tips.png",1280,685,false],"ocean-thumb-m":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Timeline-UI-Design-Inspiration-Tips.png",600,321,false],"ocean-thumb-ml":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Timeline-UI-Design-Inspiration-Tips.png",800,428,false],"ocean-thumb-l":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Timeline-UI-Design-Inspiration-Tips.png",1200,642,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Wendy Zhou","author_link":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/author\/wendy1111live-se\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Here's a collection of gorgeous timeline UI design for inspiration, and some tips on things to think about when creating them!","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6368"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8263,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6368\/revisions\/8263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}