2025: A year in art on the edge

the edge The artistic team’s favorite projects this year spanned the circus surrounding DOGE, the mythology of the Vietnam War, the privacy crisis for trans people online, the vast surveillance network aimed at tracking Iranian military dissidents, and much more. We’ve built a scene to showcase some of the featured products from it EdgeGift Guides for, sent an illustrator into the crowded halls of the courthouse to engage Luigi Mangione fans and viewers directly, and delved into the confusing world of News Daddy to create compilations of how college students get their news. Here’s a look at some of what we’ve done this year.

Image by Cath Virginia/The Verge, Wikimedia Commons

Wikipedia is Infected with the awakened mind virus One of the few reliable institutions remaining in these turbulent times, it has remained steadfast and stable through its dispute resolution processes and its faithful group of tens of thousands of Wikipedia editors around the world. I’m inspired by old encyclopedias, neoclassical architecture, and children’s books that contain random images in a stream-of-consciousness explosion that reminds me a lot of those weird little blue hyperlink paths that might end you on a Wikipedia page Grovellinus leonardodicabrioi. — Cath Virginia, Artistic Director

Photo by Tran Nguyen, Christine Radtke/The Verge

For this package celebrating the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Christine Radtke designed a split-screen hub to bring together all the stories, reflecting the conflicting narratives and myths of the Vietnam War. Engineer Graham MacRae brought everything to life, while Tran Nguyen brilliantly painted it. – Christine Radtke, Creative Director

Photo by Cath Virginia and Taehee Eunsol for The Verge

Things seem to get scarier all the time, especially for trans people, but I wanted to use the design of this pack to express the other and unexpected futures that are possible, without being overly hopeful or pessimistic. We don’t know what the future holds, but I know that trans people will be the ones who help shape the future for the better. Grateful for the work of Taehee Yoonseul, who created the loop background animation, and Sasha Cherepanov, who licensed her beautiful Transgender Grotesk font for us to use in this design. — Cath Virginia, Artistic Director

Photo by Molly Crabapple for The Verge

Assigning art to Molly Crabble’s Luigi Mangione pretrial hearing was a stroke of genius by editor Sarah Jeong. This part of the trial was particularly chaotic, and we weren’t sure if Crabapple (or our reporter Mia Sato) would make it to the courtroom, but Crabapple took advantage of the downtime by drawing hordes of Mangione fans and onlookers from the courtroom floor. – Christine Radtke, Creative Director

Photo by Christine Radtke/The Verge

For this package on influencers, their reach, and online crawl, I created a loud chart across each feature and a center that slightly mimics a TikTok scroll. The animated collages from each story, all by different artists, give each story a distinct character while still blending into a consistent atmosphere. – Christine Radtke, Creative Director

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Kralis/The Verge

In order to create a kaleidoscope effect captured entirely on camera for this year’s collection 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 objects inside the mirrored triangle, and photographed while she created gorgeous backdrops. It was the most fun I’ve had in the studio all year. – Amelia Holoty Kralis, Senior Photo Editor

This fascinating graphic story by Matt Huynh about an American military psychologist who tried to scare Viet Cong soldiers with tape recordings of Vietnamese “ghosts” is a look at a globally unknown part of history and a fascinating personal narrative. Huynh’s brushstrokes are passionate and vivid, and his narrative style is one of the best in comics. Edge was published at all. – Christine Radtke, Creative Director

Illustration by Ariel Davis for The Verge

We’re forever obsessed with this Ariel Davis illustration of Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and J.D. Vance as DOGE Cerberus, which perfectly sums up the apocalyptic yet ridiculous vibe of Trump’s first 100 days. — Cath Virginia, Artistic Director

Illustration by Jovana Mojosa for The Verge

Jovanna Mogosa did an amazing job with these crime scene illustrations in this story about a former Iranian military officer who is targeted by kidnappers paid by the Iranian government. The dark olive green and lavender color, combined with the grainy background texture, draws you into the dark world of this predator versus prey story. — Cath Virginia, Artistic Director

Collage by Ian Woods / Photographs by Eva Alicia Lipez for The Verge

I love the handcrafted feel of these collages drawn by Ian Woods for this beautiful piece of writing about fatherhood through a lens Final fantasy. Organic shapes featuring art from the toy series perfectly frame the faces of Joseph Earl Thomas and his children and reflect the mixed world of real life and gaming. — Cath Virginia, Artistic Director

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Kralis

Workers working in manufacturing plants in the early days of Silicon Valley experienced toxic conditions that profoundly affected their health and, in many cases, the lives of their children. I’m grateful to have photographed two of the women who hold these companies accountable and tell the story as a warning for the future of chip production in Justine Calma’s amazing story. – Amelia Holoty Kralis, Senior Photo Editor

Image by Cath Virginia/The Verge, Getty Images

The idea of ​​Infinite Edge was difficult enough to put into words without feeling like I was spouting nonsense. But the artwork worked because it literally illustrated what I was trying to describe: a spectacle of racist conspiracy memes that you can’t stop watching and somehow… fell into. —Tina Nguyen, senior reporter

Image by Cath Virginia/The Verge, Getty Images

the address. Photo. excellent. – Christine Radtke, Creative Director

Photo: Penny DeWitt for The Verge

One of my favorite photos all year was taken by Benny, who perfectly summed up the “downright nightmarish spin” vibe of J.D. Vance and Mark Zuckerberg at this year’s Bitcoin conference. — Cath Virginia, Artistic Director