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
Illustration: Molly Crabapple for The Verge
Image by Molly Crabapple for The Verge
Assigning art for Luigi Mangione’s pretrial hearing to Molly Crabapple was a stroke of genius by editor Sarah Jeong. This installment of the trial was particularly chaotic, and we were unsure if Crabapple (or our reporter Mia Sato) would even make it into the courtroom, but Crabapple made use of the downtime by drawing hordes of Mangione fans and spectators from the floor of the courthouse hallway. — Kristen Radtke, creative director
Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge
Image by Kristen Radtke / The Verge
For this package about influencers and their reach and creep across the internet, I created a poppy, loud scheme across each feature and a hub that lightly mimics the scroll of TikTok. The animated collages from each story, all by different artists, give each story a distinctive flair while still coalescing into a consistent vibe. — Kristen Radtke, creative director
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
In order to create a kaleidoscope effect captured entirely in camera for this year’s set of gift guides, I built a simple mirrored structure that was placed on top of a very large TV. Art director Cath Virginia and I placed the selected items inside the mirrored triangle, and I photographed while she created wonderful backgrounds. It was the most fun I’ve had in the studio all year. — Amelia Holowaty Krales, senior photo editor
Image: Matt Huynh
This gut-punch of a gorgeous comic by Matt Huynh about a US military psyop that tried to scare Viet Cong soldiers with tape recordings of Vietnamese “ghosts” is both a look at a globally underknown piece of history and a gorgeous personal narrative. Huynh’s brushwork is emotive and lush, and his command of narrative builds into one of the best comics The Verge has ever published. — Kristen Radtke, creative director
Image: Ariel Davis for The Verge
Illustration by Ariel Davis for The Verge
We’re forever obsessed with this Ariel Davis illustration of Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and JD Vance as a DOGE Cerberus, which perfectly encapsulates the apocalyptic and also absurd vibe of Trump’s first 100 days. — Cath Virginia, art director
Image: Jovana Mugosa for The Verge
Illustration by Jovana Mugosa for The Verge
Jovana Mugosa did an incredible job on these crime noir illustrations for this story about a former Iranian military officer who was targeted by kidnappers paid by the Iranian government. The dark olive green and lavender, along with the grainy background texture, really pull you into the dark world of this predator-versus-prey account. — Cath Virginia, art director
Image: Ian Woods / Eva Alicia Lépiz for The Verge
Collage by Ian Woods / Photos by Eva Alicia Lépiz for The Verge
I’m in love with the handmade feel of these collaged portraits Ian Woods made for this beautiful piece of writing about fatherhood through the lens of Final Fantasy. The organic shapes featuring art from the game series frame the faces of Joseph Earl Thomas and his children so perfectly and reflect the blended world between real life and gaming. — Cath Virginia, art director
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales
Workers employed in fabrication factories in the early days of Silicon Valley experienced toxic conditions that affected their health and, in many cases, their children’s lives deeply. I am grateful to have photographed two of the women who are holding these companies accountable and telling the story as a warning for the future of chip production in Justine Calma’s amazing story. — Amelia Holowaty Krales, senior photo editor
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Image by Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
The idea of the infinite fringe was hard enough to describe in words without feeling like I was just spewing nonsense. But the artwork worked because it literally illustrated what I was trying to describe: a kaleidoscope of racist conspiracy memes that you can’t stop watching and somehow just… fell into. — Tina Nguyen, senior reporter
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
Image by Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
The headline. The image. Perfect. — Kristen Radtke, creative director
Image: Benny Douet for The Verge
Image: Benny Douet for The Verge
One of my favorite images from all year by Benny, who perfectly encapsulated the “nightmare blunt rotation” vibe of JD Vance and Mark Zuckerberg at the Bitcoin Conference this year. — Cath Virginia, art director
