This past year The Verge launched an ambitious sci-fi series, broke stories that started conversations and forced change in industries, made our first zine, created interactive timelines, guides and a couple of straight-up video games. And for each one, we made a piece of art to carry the story through. So as New Year’s Day approaches, we’ve compiled our favorite illustrations from 2019, made by our art team and incredible freelancers.
If you want to see more beautiful work from The Verge, check out and follow us on Instagram @thevergeart. As always, our wallpapers page has original art for free download to put on your device. You can also head over to 2019: A year in photographs on The Verge to see the best of our photography from this year.
Online Reunion
Artist: Marcin Wolski
Monsters Come Howling in Their Season
Artist: Corey Brickley
The god box: an oral history of Avatara
Artist: Jude Buffum
The Burn
Artist: Arik Roper
Why CAPTCHAs have gotten so difficult
Artist: Alex Castro
Skin City
Artist: Deborah Lee
Move the World
Artist: Zoë van Dijk
Machine of Loving Grace
Artist: Benjamin Currie
The Trauma Floor
Artist: Corey Brickley
The World Wide Web turns 30: our favorite memories from A to Z
Artist: Alex Castro
Why companies want to mine the secrets in your voice
Artist: Cathryn Virginia
The armchair psychologist who ticked off YouTube
Artist: Alex Castro
Foxconn is confusing the hell out of Wisconsin
Artist: William Joel
How the Game Boy found a new life through emulation
Artist: Alex Castro
15 game streaming services you can try before Google Stadia arrives
Artist: Alex Castro
Redline
Artist: William Joel
Why’d You Push That Button
Artist: Martina Paukova
Apple and Amazon cut a deal that upended the Mac resale market
Artist: Alex Castro
It’s easier to donate your body to science than your medical records
Artist: Mark Pernice
Metadata is the biggest little problem plaguing the music industry
Artist: Alex Castro
Bodies in Seats
Artist: Corey Brickley
How William Gibson’s long-lost Alien 3 script became 2019’s most intriguing audio drama
Artist: Alex Castro
One year after Trump’s Foxconn groundbreaking, there is almost nothing to show for it
Artists: Amelia Holowaty Krales & Michele Doying
The Mormon Church vs. the internet
Artist: William Joel
Deaths and injuries don’t slow Uber Eats’ rapid expansion in Mexico
Artist: Alex Castro
Instagram ‘tag cleaners’ are fighting against digital vandalism
Artist: Alex Castro
They said you could leave electric scooters anywhere — then the repo men struck back
Artist: Jude Buffum
It’s Sentient
Artist: Ana Kova
Welcome to Lower Duck Pond, a fake town of 82,000 people
Artist: Meredith Miotke
Split Screen
Artists: Alex Castro & Michele Doying
YouTube shows have become a secret weapon for rising politicians
Artist: Selman Design
Faraday Cage
Artist: Alex Castro
Death Stranding: an explainer for Hideo Kojima’s inscrutable new PS4 game
Artist: Alex Castro
The everything town in the middle of nowhere
Artist: Laurent Hrybyk
How one company you’ve never heard of swallowed tens of thousands of text messages — then spit them back out
Artist: Alex Castro
Pirate Radio
Artist: William Joel
Dial Up
Artist: David Huang
The Last Stand
Artist: Alex Parkin
One of PlayStation’s most important studios makes games about loneliness
Artist: Alex Castro
How to fight lies, tricks, and chaos online
Artist: Alex Castro
PlayStation 25th anniversary issue
Artist: Alex Castro, Photography by Richard Parry
Emotional baggage
Artists: Grayson Blackmon & William Joel
The environmental impact of a PlayStation 4
Artist: Alex Castro
32 moments that made the decade
Artist: Alex Castro
The Terror Queue
Artist: Corey Brickley
New Away leaks reveal employees worked without heat, struggled with headaches and nausea
Artist: William Joel