Chart of UsefulCharts Charts | 2 Million Subscribers Special

Useful Charts reached 2 million YouTube subscribers, marking a major milestone for Matt Baker’s educational chart business. The company began selling educational charts long before YouTube became its main promotional platform.

Useful Charts operates with a team responsible for animation, design, audio production, and physical distribution. Baker identifies Seawish as his full-time animator and right-hand man, Romero as his design assistant, Ali as his audio editor, and a warehouse team responsible for shipping charts.

The Useful Charts community contributes content and helps sustain the brand. Baker acknowledges contributors to the Useful Charts subreddit, fellow YouTubers with whom he has collaborated, and his wife Charlotte, whom he describes as his greatest personal support.

Useful Charts began in 2010 after Baker returned from eight years of teaching in Sri Lanka. He had taught English and social studies and decided to turn educational materials developed during that period into charts published online.

The original Useful Charts website offered free charts created using HTML and earned revenue through Google advertising. Baker initially had no physical products and used online advertising as his first source of income.

Useful Charts began selling educational products in 2011 as its website attracted more visitors. The first paid products were downloadable PDFs, followed by laminated study guides and small wall charts.

Four original chart concepts became the foundation of the company's long-term product range. Baker considers these early prototypes version 0 because related products remained available approximately 14 years later.

Useful Charts developed its business in the opposite direction from many YouTube creators. Rather than building an audience and subsequently launching merchandise, Baker established a physical educational-product business and later developed YouTube videos to promote it.

The Timeline of World History became Useful Charts' best-selling product and its first mass-produced, regular-sized wall poster. Baker launched version 1.0 in 2012, moving beyond small posters and individually printed products.

Large-format printing created an important financial obstacle for the young business. Small posters could be printed individually using digital equipment at local print shops, but regular-sized posters required commercial offset printing, where production economics generally demanded runs of approximately 1,000 copies.

Baker committed to his first large offset-printing run in 2012 despite having very little money. The decision established the production model that would support the company's subsequent collection of professional wall charts.

The original 2012 Timeline of World History remained on sale for only one year. Baker considers surviving copies historically significant within the Useful Charts product line, although their potential future collectible value is speculative.

The visual design of the Timeline of World History was influenced by a chart Baker discovered in an old Bible when he was six or seven years old. He remembered its colors decades later and incorporated similar color associations into his own work.

Rome's purple, Egypt's green, and Persia's orange were inspired by Baker's childhood recollection of that biblical chart. He mistakenly assigned pink to Greece, later discovering that the original chart had used pink for Mesopotamia.

Baker did not discover the error in his remembered color scheme until years after designing his chart. He eventually located the childhood reference and compared it against his own design.

Useful Charts adopted thicker cardstock and a recognizable font and border design in 2013. These became lasting features of the company's visual identity and continued appearing on many subsequent charts.

The current Useful Charts logo was introduced in 2016, several years after the company's characteristic typography and borders. This distinction helps identify the approximate production period of older chart editions.

2016 became a breakthrough year when Baker's work was featured on Kickstarter's front page. The resulting increase in orders helped transform what had been a small basement operation into a growing business.

The surge in orders led Baker to hire his first employee, Andrew, in 2016. Andrew remained with the business and eventually became its warehouse manager.

Useful Charts operated from Baker's basement until 2021, when the company moved into a warehouse. The transition reflected the growth of its physical inventory and shipping operations.

The regular-sized posters produced by Useful Charts generally measure 24 by 36 inches. This established format serves as the baseline for comparing the company's larger special-edition products.

The United States and European history timelines were among the next major products developed after the world history timeline. These expanded the company's historical coverage from global history into regional and national histories.

Baker changed the color scheme of his American history timeline following the 2016 US presidential election. The revision brought its appearance into line with the design palette he was using across other products.

The European history timeline was originally titled Timeline of Europe and America. Its first design included a section covering European colonies in the Americas.

Baker later removed the American colonial section from the European timeline and replaced it with maps. This narrowed the product's geographical focus and prompted its renaming to Timeline of European History.

Useful Charts subsequently introduced a Canadian history timeline and updated its American history timeline after Joe Biden's election. Political developments therefore influenced the content and revisions of its national history products.

The Timeline of World History received a complete redesign in 2020. By then, Baker had developed more advanced design skills and moved to Adobe Illustrator.

Baker originally created his charts using the open-source LibreOffice suite. The move to Adobe Illustrator marked a significant change in the software behind his later chart designs.

The American and European history timelines were also completely redesigned before the recording. Baker had recently finished the European redesign and made it available for purchase before publishing a dedicated video about it.

The world, American, and European history timelines had all reached version 2.0 by the time of the video. Their redesigns established a more consistent appearance across the company's main history products.

The Canadian history timeline remained at version 1.0. Baker expressed an intention to redesign it as version 2.0 during the following year.

The Greek Mythology Family Tree was the second chart Baker mass-produced. Its original design closely resembled the later product but used a brown background rather than blue.

The Greek mythology chart received its blue design in 2015. The revision also incorporated the company's distinctive typography and border.

Useful Charts introduced a matching Norse mythology chart in 2015. This began the development of a coordinated series of mythology family trees.

An Egyptian mythology family tree joined the collection in 2016. Baker also added the company logo and made smaller background adjustments, creating a coordinated set of three mythology posters.

The selection of Greek, Norse, and Egyptian mythology was influenced by the popularity of Rick Riordan's books. Baker chose these traditions partly because they corresponded to the mythologies featured in Riordan's widely read series.

The Egyptian mythology chart became the first of six Useful Charts products launched through Kickstarter. Crowdfunding provided a practical solution to the difficulty of financing multiple large printing runs.

Kickstarter allowed Useful Charts to collect customer preorders before committing substantial money to manufacturing. This reduced the amount of upfront capital Baker needed to publish new products.

The three mythology posters remained largely unchanged for almost a decade. Baker considered their designs successful and had no definite plans to redesign them, unlike several other product categories.

Baker launched his first full-sized royal family tree in 2013, on the day Prince George of Cambridge was born. He arranged for the printers to delay final production so that George's name could be included.

Baker was dissatisfied with the original 2013 royal family tree and redesigned it completely in 2014. The replacement became version 2.0 and closely resembled the chart subsequently featured in many of his videos.

The 2014 European royal family tree placed William the Conqueror at the top. Charlemagne did not replace him as the chart's starting figure until 2016.

The addition of Charlemagne in 2016 coincided approximately with the introduction of the Useful Charts logo. These changes distinguish the later European genealogy chart from earlier editions.

The Useful Charts YouTube channel experienced significant growth in early 2018, driven particularly by videos about royal family trees. Baker had initially produced videos about many different charts, but royal genealogies consistently attracted the strongest audience response.

The popularity of royal genealogy videos changed the company's product development priorities. For several years, Baker created additional royal family tree posters in response to viewer requests.

The expanding royal genealogy collection included charts on Roman emperors, Asian monarchies, and ancient historical dynasties. Baker had already produced the Roman emperors chart before continuing the expansion with Asian and ancient-history family trees.

Baker divided the original European royal family tree into separate western and northern/eastern versions. Splitting the chart allowed him to include additional countries and dynastic relationships that could not fit comfortably into the original design.

Useful Charts sometimes removes older YouTube videos when Baker produces updated treatments of the same subjects. This practice had made some historical videos unavailable on the main channel.

Baker established a secondary YouTube channel called Useful Charts Archive to restore older videos. Previously removed material became accessible again without interfering with the main channel's newer content.

The western European royal family tree received a complete redesign in 2022. The revision coincided with Queen Elizabeth II's death and the need to reflect the accession of King Charles.

The Roman Emperors Family Tree subsequently received its own complete redesign. This continued Baker's effort to modernize the older royal genealogy products.

The northern/eastern European royal family tree was also completely redesigned during the year of the recording. Together with the western European revision, this updated the two products created when the original European chart was divided.

A separate chart covering Europe's matrilineal dynasties was discontinued because sales were poor. Instead of removing the content entirely, Baker released a free digital version through the Useful Charts website.

Baker planned further royal genealogy redesigns for the year following the recording. One major change would involve separating the existing Asian royal family tree into two products.

The proposed Asian genealogy split would create one chart focused on Islamic monarchies and another covering East Asian dynasties. China, Korea, and Japan were specifically identified as subjects for the second chart.

Useful Charts had not produced its own African royal family tree. However, a fan created one, and that chart remained available through the company's product collection.

Evolution and Classification of Life became Useful Charts' fourth regular-sized wall poster. It developed from the science-related material among Baker's original four chart concepts.

The Evolution and Classification of Life chart retained essentially the same design for nearly ten years. Its early revisions involved relatively limited changes rather than a complete visual reconstruction.

Version 1.1 of the evolution chart changed the placement of magnoliids relative to monocots. This was a specific adjustment to the botanical relationships presented in the chart.

Baker also replaced the early-human illustrations in the evolution chart because the original images had limited licensing rights. The change demonstrates how intellectual-property restrictions affected the company's published designs.

The Evolution and Classification of Life chart underwent a complete redesign in 2024. Baker subsequently produced an extended YouTube series explaining the chart and its contents.

Baker was considering expanding the evolution chart into a larger series covering different branches of the tree of life. Rather than placing all biological classification on one poster, individual charts could explore particular groups in greater detail.

A chart focusing on plants and fungi had already been completed a few months before the video. Baker also produced a video about mushrooms connected to this subject.

Useful Charts introduced an alternative periodic table in 2017. The product originated from requests Baker received while attending fan conventions and similar events.

Customers at events such as Fan Expo sometimes asked Baker whether he sold a periodic table. He decided to introduce one but preferred an unconventional arrangement rather than reproducing the standard layout.

Baker researched alternative periodic-table designs before selecting the arrangement he preferred. The resulting product expanded Useful Charts into chemistry without abandoning its emphasis on information visualization.

The alternative periodic table remained a relatively weak seller because it was outside the company's usual subject areas. Nevertheless, Baker continued keeping it in stock.

Baker identifies Writing Systems of the World as possibly his personal favorite chart. Its origins lie in a childhood attempt to understand the relationships between alphabets and writing systems.

Baker's family owned relatively few books during his childhood but had a set of encyclopedias. The encyclopedias included small comparisons showing how individual letters appeared in different writing systems.

As a child, Baker tried to combine these individual comparisons into a comprehensive A-to-Z chart. He abandoned the project after discovering that letters in different languages and writing systems did not always have exact equivalents.

The Writing Systems of the World chart allowed Baker to revisit that childhood project with a more sophisticated understanding of linguistics. Its design reflected the complexity of different writing systems rather than assuming all scripts corresponded letter for letter.

Writing Systems of the World was launched through Kickstarter. The crowdfunding campaign included a smaller companion chart created as part of a stretch goal.

Baker later published the companion chart free on Twitter, where it went viral. He continued seeing it reposted on Instagram years after the original release.

The success of the viral writing-systems chart led directly to new commercial products. Baker first offered a limited edition and subsequently expanded the design into a regular product sold through Useful Charts.

The viral writing-systems chart demonstrated that freely distributed educational graphics could generate demand for physical merchandise. An image initially released without charge became the basis for a permanent commercial offering.

Baker delayed producing a biblical family tree despite repeated audience requests. He attributed his reluctance to a complicated personal history with religion, which he had discussed elsewhere on the channel.

Useful Charts released its first Biblical Family Tree in 2020. This represented a major expansion into religious history after years of hesitation.

The Biblical Family Tree was followed by an Islamic Prophets Family Tree. The additional poster extended the religious genealogy collection beyond the Christian biblical tradition.

Baker also produced a Timeline of Biblical Composition. Its release coincided with his YouTube series examining who wrote the Bible.

Religious studies gradually became a larger part of the Useful Charts YouTube channel. Baker increasingly produced videos about biblical history and religion alongside his established subjects of world history, royal genealogy, mythology, and science.

Baker holds a PhD in religious studies. His academic background helps explain his ability to produce detailed material about biblical composition, religious history, and relationships between religious traditions.

Baker explicitly rejected the idea of turning Useful Charts into an exclusively religious channel. He maintained that charts, rather than any single subject, would remain the defining focus of the business and its videos.

The Biblical Family Tree eventually received a complete redesign to match the company's newer visual style. This brought the original religious genealogy product into line with the presentation used across other updated charts.

Useful Charts subsequently introduced a Christian Denominations Family Tree and a World Religions Family Tree. These were the two most recent religious charts discussed in the video.

The World Religions Family Tree was the first Useful Charts poster to use a burgundy border. Burgundy subsequently became the preferred border color for many products, especially royal genealogy and religion charts.

The company changed its channel logo from blue to burgundy during the year preceding the recording. This reflected the growing importance of the royal family tree and religion categories and made the broader visual identity more consistent.

Royal family trees and religious charts had become the two product categories most closely associated with Useful Charts. Their visual style increasingly influenced the company's wider branding.

Useful Charts periodically produces limited-edition posters outside its standard product range. These releases include special designs, milestone celebrations, and charts derived from popular online content.

The viral alphabet-related chart became the company's first limited-edition offering. Its subsequent commercial expansion followed the strong response to the freely distributed digital version.

Baker created a limited-edition Carolingian dynasty family tree to celebrate reaching 1 million YouTube subscribers in 2022. The product connected a channel milestone with the royal genealogy subject for which the audience had become particularly enthusiastic.

A limited-edition British monarchs chart was also released in 2022 for Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee. This was a separate commemorative product from the Carolingian dynasty chart.

Useful Charts also produced a Timeline of UK Political Parties as a limited-edition chart. A small number of copies remained available at the time of the video.

The 2 million subscriber milestone was marked by the release of Baker's largest chart to date. The new poster combined the eastern and western European royal family trees into one comprehensive European genealogy chart.

The combined European Royal Family Tree measures 44 by 54 inches, compared with the standard 24-by-36-inch posters. Its much larger format allows the two previously separate genealogical charts to be presented together.

Only 1,000 copies of the combined European Royal Family Tree were scheduled for production. Baker committed to personally signing and numbering every copy.

The combined European chart was released on the same day as the 2 million subscriber announcement. It was positioned as both a commemorative product and the fulfillment of repeated customer requests for a single comprehensive European genealogy poster.

The East-West combination reverses an earlier product decision made to accommodate more information. Baker had originally separated European genealogy into regional posters to increase coverage; the substantially larger commemorative format made it possible to reunite them.

Useful Charts had also contributed charts to three books published through a partnership with a mainstream publisher. The books were not published directly by Useful Charts, distinguishing them from the company's self-produced wall posters.

The first book featured the latest version of the Timeline of World History. Its cover design had changed since the original publication, but the book continued to feature Baker's updated historical timeline.

The second book, Timeline of the British Monarchy, incorporated a version of the limited-edition British monarchy chart. The chart was updated to include King Charles III, bringing it beyond the edition produced for Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.

The third book, Timeline of the Bible, incorporated Baker's Timeline of Biblical Composition. It also contained several smaller charts derived from the Biblical Family Tree.

Timeline of the Bible involved substantially more original work from Baker than the previous two books. For this publication, he produced both the charts and the accompanying written text, whereas the earlier books primarily incorporated his chart designs.

The three books extended Useful Charts' intellectual property into mainstream book publishing. The partnership allowed existing chart content to reach readers in book form while remaining separate from the company's direct poster-publishing operation.

Useful Charts maintains a visual record of its product history through an official Chart of Useful Charts Charts. This records the development of individual products, including their original forms, revisions, redesigns, and relationships to later releases.

The company's version numbering distinguishes early prototypes, minor revisions, and complete redesigns. Labels such as 0, 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 help customers identify which edition they own and how it fits into the product's history.

Dotted outlines on the master chart identify the versions available for sale when the video was recorded. Earlier versions superseded by newer designs are out of print and are not offered through the current product collection.

Baker treats the company's older editions as part of Useful Charts' publishing history rather than interchangeable copies of its latest products. Changes in layout, typography, borders, colors, logos, and historical content provide clues for distinguishing editions.

Useful Charts' product development has repeatedly responded to measurable audience demand. Examples include royal genealogies expanding after strong YouTube viewership, mythology charts reflecting popular books, a periodic table responding to convention requests, and a viral alphabet chart becoming a permanent product.

The company has used several distinct methods to finance and distribute educational content. These include Google advertising, paid PDF downloads, laminated guides, digitally printed small posters, offset-printed wall charts, Kickstarter preorders, limited editions, and mainstream publishing partnerships.

Kickstarter played an especially important role during the company's transition to larger-scale manufacturing. By financing production through advance customer orders, Baker could expand the catalog without personally funding every substantial print run.

The company's later development increasingly emphasized revising successful products rather than continually replacing them with unrelated subjects. Major redesigns of the world history timeline, European royal genealogies, Roman emperors chart, evolution chart, and Biblical Family Tree illustrate this approach.

Not all Useful Charts products receive the same level of investment or revision. Strong-performing, visually outdated charts were redesigned, the mythology series remained stable because Baker was satisfied with it, the alternative periodic table stayed in stock despite modest sales, and the commercially unsuccessful matrilineal dynasties chart became a free download.

The company's current catalog combines durable educational products with subjects that require periodic updates. Historical timelines and royal genealogies change as new events and monarchs must be included, while mythology and writing-systems charts generally require fewer event-driven revisions.

Useful Charts remained committed to educational charts as its central product despite its expansion into YouTube, books, and religious studies. Baker stated that the company would continue covering multiple disciplines rather than reorganizing itself around a single successful video category.