UPDATE 06 April 2021

Following the government's announcement on 05 April, we have updated the visual guide slightly. Here is the new PDF. The key changes are:

Care homes residents can now have 2 visitors plus very young children

A trial of larger events will start as part of the Events Research Programme

From 09 April everyone can take a lateral flow test twice a week

The next update is due on or around 10 May

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Original article

The recently-released England Covid-19 Spring Response is a long and detailed written document with very little in the way of visualising the complicated 4-step, 4-test roadmap. So we’ve had a go instead - here’s the PDF.

There’s a lot of information to convey here:

A timeline of at least 16 weeks 

Four different steps, the first of which has two sub-stages

Many different categories of life and business that are affected

Four tests that will be applied before we move into each new step

Ongoing uncertainty in some areas about what will be possible

We’ve chosen to keep it simple with a straightforward left-to-right timeline. The steps are colour-coded moving from blue (cold, frozen) to green (open, growth). Icons are used when categories become more relaxed, along with a vertical bar to signpost each significant change.

With the exception of the title, this slide is one single table and the colour is provided through cell fills and border styles. Almost all of the icons come from Microsoft’s inbuilt icon set.

If you have a complex roadmap you need help with, get in contact. And for more examples of how to create roadmaps, see our free templates.