An idea strikes me just before I reach the mountain top. Walls. That’s it! How about a book that can also be unfolded and stuck on a wall? Why on Earth is so much time (and money) spent producing beautiful books only for them to be clammed shut and stuffed on a bookshelf with nothing more to show than a spindly spine….?

The idea of a ‘wallbook’ is born. I see it as a timeline – a visual way of taking in the enormous, but compelling story of planet, life and people over the last 13.7 billion years. I envisage hundreds – no thousands - of pictures and captions - an engrossing visual rendition of the past from the dinosaurs to Genghis Khan, from the Big Bang to 9/11...

I appreciate the benefits of a timeline. Read sideways it reveals cause and effect. Viewed vertically it shows, at a glance, what else was happening in other parts of the world at any point in time. I also realise that, if designed right, a timeline could unlock the essence of the What on Earth? concept, bridging all those essential links between human history and the natural world...

NEXT >>> From idea to concept...

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Towards a Timeline