One can gain a great deal of physical and chemical insight from images and likewise one can apply mathematical and physical intuition towards the design of better imaging systems. In the first part of my talk I will discuss our lab's research focus on imaging, manipulation, and spectroscopy at the nanoscale.  We employ scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate the electronic and chemical properties of a wide-range of materials including graphene, organic semiconductors, and macroscale-inspired molecular machines.