Matthew James Baker
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
- Name
- UsefulCharts Publishing Ltd.
- Nationality
- Canada
- Occupation
- educator · designer · youtuber
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
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.
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Matthew James Baker was a Canadian designer, educator and youtuber. The recorded working language is English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 02 October 2026
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wikidata · Q135420019
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — UsefulCharts Publishing Ltd. • Type — Private • Genre — Infographics • Founder — Matt Baker • Hq Location City — Vancouver • Hq Location Country — Canada • Products — * Educational charts • Nonfiction books • Website — usefulcharts.com
Founder
Founder
Matthew James Baker is a Canadian educator and designer who was born in 1975. 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. In 2003, he cofounded Beacon Hill Academy, a non-profit school in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, where he had previously worked as a teacher. 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. He later began selling physical posters on Amazon.com and was able to rely on income from the UsefulCharts business by 2011. Baker has a PhD in education, with his dissertation titled "Psychological type and atheism: why some people are more likely than others to give up God."
Business
Business
The company was started by Matthew Baker on February 2, 2018 with the purpose of turning Matt's hobby of making charts into a business.
Store
Store
The storefront of the company is located at Commercial Drive, Vancouver, where physical posters and books by UsefulCharts are sold. Posters can also be purchased online through its website.
YouTube
YouTube
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. It recently reached 2,000,000 subscribers.
Notable charts
Notable charts
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. • Writing Systems of the World: a chart detailing writing systems of various languages.
Books
Books released under the UsefulCharts name include: * * * *
Reception
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. Mark Wilson, writing for Fast Company, said Evolution of the Alphabet "beautifully illustrated" the history of the alphabet.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Baker, Matthew James. Psychological type and atheism: why some people are more likely than others to give up God. University of Warwick. 2015.
- 2.Diment, Marcia. Popular quirky YouTube channel has a Vancouver storefront. Vancouver Is Awesome. 2023-10-03. 0832-218X.
- 3.Noe, Rain. Cool Charts Depicting the Evolution of the Alphabet, and the Writing Systems of the World. Core77. 2019-01-29.
- 4.UsefulCharts. The Cult I Grew Up In British Israelism Debunked. 2021-04-16.
- 5.Meet Matthew Baker, Useful Charts. Small Business BC.
- 6.About Us. Beacon Hill Academy.
- 7.Matt Baker. Simonandschuster.com.
- 8.Global News. Charting Vancouver's History. 2023-11-18.
- 9.Wilson, Mark. See the amazing evolution of the alphabet, from 1750 BC to today. Fast Company. 2019-01-31.
- 10.Frauenfelder, Mark. Fascinating chart shows the evolution of the English alphabet from Egyptian hieroglyphics. Boing Boing. 2019-01-29.
- 11.Sierzputowski, Kate. Evolution of the Alphabet: Nearly 3,800 Years of Letters Explored Through a Color-Coded Flowchart. Colossal. 2019-01-29.
- 12.Marshall, Colin. The Writing Systems of the World Explained, from the Latin Alphabet to the Abugidas of India. Open Culture. 2023-10-30.
- 13.Wright, Jacob L. Matt Baker is truly an extraordinary pedagogue. @usefulcharts. 1756658221597565169. 2024-02-11.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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