The Verge art team’s favorite projects this year spanned the circus surrounding DOGE, the myths of the Vietnam War, the privacy crisis for trans people online, the vast surveillance network aimed at tracking down Iranian military dissidents, and much more. We built a kaleidoscope to showcase some standout products from The Verge’s gift guides, sent an illustrator to the crowded halls of the courthouse to draw Luigi Mangione fans and spectators live, and dug deep into the confusing world of News Daddy to create collages about how college students get their news. Here’s a look back at some of what we made this year.
Image: The Verge, Wikimedia Commons
Image by Cath Virginia / The Verge, Wikimedia Commons
Wikipedia is infected by the woke mind virus one of the few remaining reliable institutions in these trying times, kept steady and stabilized by its processes for deciding disputes and its faithful pool of tens of thousands of Wikipedia editors across the globe. I was inspired by old encyclopedias, neoclassical architecture, and the DK kids books, the latter of which have random images in a stream-of-consciousness explosion that reminds me a lot of the strange little blue hyperlink pathways that might end you up on the Wikipedia page for Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi. — Cath Virginia, art director
Image: Tran Nguyen
Image by Tran Nguyen, Kristen Radtke / The Verge
For this package commemorating the 50-year anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Kristen Radtke designed a split-screen hub to collect all the stories, reflecting the conflicting narratives and myths of the Vietnam War. Engineer Graham MacAree brought everything to life, while it was brilliantly illustrated by Tran Nguyen. — Kristen Radtke, creative director
Image: Cath Virginia, Taehee Yoonseul for The Verge
Image by Cath Virginia, Taehee Yoonseul for The Verge
Things seem to get scarier all the time, especially for trans people, but I wanted to use the design of this package to express the otherworldly and unforeseen futures that are possible, without being overly hopeful or pessimistic. We don’t know what the future holds, but I know that trans people are going to be the ones helping to shape it for the better. Grateful for the works of Taehee Yoonseul, who created the looping background animation, and Sasha Cherepanov, who licensed her beautiful font Transgender Grotesk to us for use in this design. — Cath Virginia, art director
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