Intro/Graphic Statement

In the animal kingdom, migration is a natural ebb and flow, a seasonal shift from one place to another and back again. When birds fly south for winter and salmon swim upstream to spawn, they are acting on a genetically coded imperative. When the human animal migrates, it’s not often instinctual. It is a daring foray into the unknown across lines, real and imagined. “It’s the journey, not the destination” is a sentiment that has inspired many a road trip and epic poem. But it’s not the journey, either. It’s the decision to take the journey, the impulse toward discovery. If there is one imperative we share with our finned and feathered friends, it is this: evolve or die. When we are free to move and adapt and change, we thrive.

About the infographic: The hobo code is a system of symbols created by wandering workers in the late 19th century. They annotated their routes with tips and encouragement, forgoing words in favor of simple glyphs to keep their messages secret from the literate and legible to the illiterate. Los Angeles design studio Outpost updated the code, building on the original symbols to make it relevant to all manner of modern nomads, from the hobo to the boho.