Share this story:

So… what is beautiful?

Every summer for the past seventeen years, my partner and I drive along highway 113 to a beach house in Delaware. Approximately 30 miles east of Selbyville, I start scanning the left side of the highway to see… this.

Utility logo
The Utility Trailer Company's logo (www.utllitytrailer.com)

I can tell you what I love about it. The blue that is not quite blue, the crooked “U,” the awkward attempt to wrap the banner around the globe. It is imperfect. It is earnest. It is Americana. And it is nostalgia. So, appropriately, this first post is about the emotional reactions that beauty evokes. It has absolutely nothing to do with data visualization. But it is about art, and information, and where those two meet. For me, information, understanding and clarity evoke a similar reaction–and that’s why I wanted to create this blog. But more on that in future posts. For now, this is just about the visuals.

And that’s why I thought I’d start with this example. And tell you about the logo that welcomes us, tells us that the 3.5 hours of Beltway driving are almost over. That pine trees, mosquitos, goose poop and Old Bay await.