UsefulCharts

UsefulCharts Publishing Ltd.

Brand logo
Company type	Private
Genre	Infographics
Founder	Matt Baker
Headquarters	Vancouver , Canada
Products	Educational charts Nonfiction books
YouTube information
Channel	UsefulCharts
Presented by	Matt Baker
Location	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genre	Education
Subscribers	1.95 million[‡ 1]
Views	218 million[‡ 1]
Associated acts	Andrew Mark Henry
Website	usefulcharts.com
Creator Awards 100,000 subscribers 1,000,000 subscribers
Last updated: 1 July 2025

UsefulCharts is a chartmaking company founded by Canadian educator and designer Matt Baker. The company produces infographic posters both physically and digitally and has an associated storefront in Vancouver and a YouTube channel.

Matthew James Baker^{[‡ 2]} is a Canadian^[1] educator and designer^[2] who was born in 1975.^[3] In a YouTube video, Baker said that he was born into a family who were members of the Worldwide Church of God. He described the church as a cult and has since converted to Progressive Judaism.^{[‡ 3]} In 2003, he cofounded Beacon Hill Academy, a non-profit school in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, where he had previously worked as a teacher.^[3][4][5] When he moved to Vancouver in 2009, he uploaded around 100 educational charts online covering various topics which earned him money through Google AdSense advertisements on his website.^[3] He later began selling physical posters on Amazon.com and was able to rely on income from the UsefulCharts business by 2011.^[3]

Baker has a PhD in education,^[6] with his dissertation titled "Psychological type and atheism: why some people are more likely than others to give up God."^{[‡ 2]}

The company was started by Matthew Baker on February 2, 2018.^{[citation needed]}

The storefront of the company is located at Commercial Drive, Vancouver, where physical posters and books by UsefulCharts are sold.^[7] Posters can also be purchased online through its website.^[2]

The company has an associated YouTube channel where Baker narrates over videos presenting educational charts. Baker has said the revenue between physical chart sales and the channel is "about 50/50." In a Global News segment covering UsefulCharts, a video detailing the history of Vancouver was highlighted.^[7]

Timeline of ancient history, uploaded by UsefulCharts to Wikimedia Commons in 2011.

Charts designed by the company which have received media attention include:

• Evolution of the Alphabet: a visual timeline of all 26 glyphs in the English alphabet.^{[2][8][9][10]}
• Writing Systems of the World: a chart detailing writing systems of various languages.^[2][11]

Books released under the UsefulCharts name include:

• Baker, Matt (2016-01-01). The Atheist Personality: Why some people are more likely to give up God. Vancouver: UsefulCharts. ISBN 9780994834669.
• Baker, Matt; Andrews, John (2020-10-20). Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press. ISBN 978-1-64517-417-2.
• Baker, Matt (2023-09-05). Timeline of the British Monarchy. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-6672-0079-8.
• Baker, Matt (2024-01-09). Timeline of the Bible. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-6672-0078-1.

Biblical scholar Jacob L. Wright commented on Twitter in 2024 that Baker was "an extraordinary pedagogue" while sharing a video by UsefulCharts on the Twelve Tribes of Israel.^[12] Mark Wilson, writing for Fast Company, said Evolution of the Alphabet "beautifully illustrated" the history of the alphabet.^[8]

In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):