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The year 2025 was one in which political and government design broke through to the mainstream. That’s thanks in large part to the new U.S. president, who fancies himself something of a designer-in-chief. “I consider myself an important designer,” President Donald Trump said an October White House dinner to raise money for his planned ballroom. Of outside designers, he said, “boy, the things they can recommend are horrible.” That doesn’t mean political design in 2025 was all Trump. Though his administration and allies used design to help push his agenda, protesters, politicians, and other political actors also developed a new visual language this year for a new political era. Here are six defining political design trends of 2025. [Source Photo: Jackpine Dynamic Branding] 1. Nationalism is on the rise, and worn on the sleeve Trump took office promising to expand U.S. territory, and that sentiment showed up early this year in merchandise. Trump’s campaign store sold a $43 mock-up of his “Gulf of America Day, 2025” executive order while his joint fundraising committees sold “Gulf of America!” and “Make Greenland Great Again” tees. [Image: courtesy Dada Projects] Up north, Canadians responded to Trump’s trade war and threats to make the country a 51st state with national pride of their own. The premier of Ontario wore a “Canada Is Not for Sale” hat and Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney leaned into patriotism for the visual identity and messaging of his winning 2025 campaign. Trump’s tariffs have also inspired a new generation of nation-of-origin “Made In” labels from Canada and Denmark. 2. Trump anti-design is now MAGA McBling Trump’s second-term administration brand is more intentional and designed to look more distinct. Trump updated his official portrait for his second term not once, but twice. (The newest iteration doesn’t use a U.S. flag in the backdrop, as is standard for public official portraits.) [Illustration: FC] His administration also changed its typefaces. Merriweather, the serif font of his first term that the January 6 committee used during its investigation into the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, is out. Instrument, a tall, open-source serif that’s on-trend among tech and consumer brands that use the font to look modern yet retro, is in. One of its designers, Jordan Egstad, told Bloomberg, “Using a freely available and open-source font to promote exclusionary policies is deeply ironic.” The administration’s brand was most memorably executed in the high-low staging of his speech at the McDonald’s Impact Summit in November. The slogan “The Golden Age” appeared in large, yellow Instrument Serif type at the top of a blue backdrop which was placed directly behind the president. The backdrop also featured a repeat pattern of yellow McDonald’s arches. The ultimate visual effect was a brand mash-up created by combining the official serif of the state with the logo of a giant multinational corporationand it put our McBling era reality star president very much in his element. [Source Images: Mathias Weil/Adobe Stock, Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images] At the White House, Trump has also used a script font common on wedding invitations (which could in theory read as “fancy” to the untrained eye) to label the exterior facade of the Oval Office and “The Presidential Walk of Fame,” a presidential portrait exhibit designed as partisan ragebait. 3. Serifs are insimply because they’ve become another political pawn While there’s no such thing as a Republican fonteven Trump’s campaign logos used sans-serif typefacesTrump’s administration seems somewhat partial to serif typefaces, or fonts with the small feet on their letterforms. [Illustration: FC] The State Department said this month it was switching fonts to the serif Times New Roman, a typeface developed for print newspapers that it previously used, rather than Calibri, a typeface developed for digital screen reading. Calibri was made State’s default font during then-President Joe Biden’s administration because it’s easier to read, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio characterized it as wasteful and like a diversity initiative, turning typography into yet another battle in the culture wars. 4. Government design gets a new focal point: the President Trump is working to put his stamp on government literally by having his name and likeness installed on buildings, which may be illegal. Lettering with Trump’s name has already gone up at the U.S. Institute of Peace and Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. [Photos: Alex Kent/Bloomberg/Getty Images, Mehmet Eser/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images, Harold Mendoza/Unsplash] Trump’s image also appeared on the facades of multiple federal buildings, including the department of Labor, Department of Agriculture, and Health and Human Services, at a reported taxpayer cost of $50,000. His face is also on annual passes for the National Park Service (NPS), which experienced budget cuts under his administration. And though he opposed legislation signed into law by former President Joe Biden that funded an Amtrak project in Washington state, Trump’s name went up on signage at the work site anyway. [Source Images: Mathias Weil/Adobe Stock, Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images] Even though U.S. law prohibits a president from appearing on U.S. currency until two years after their death, Trump allies are also pushing to put his face on a coin next year, and some believe there’s a loophole. The new National Design Studio (NDS) headed by Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia has also worked on projects like “Trump Card” immigration visas and “Trump Accounts,” or tax-deferred savings accounts for kids. 5. Protesters adopt a more urgent, and diffuse, design language Trump’s second term lacked a big opening protest a la the 2017 Women’s March, but demonstrations against Trump and his administration in 2025 soon developed their own visual language. Early protests focused their criticism on Elon Musk after Trump tasked him with running the short-lived DOGE, while No Kings protests brought the Revolutionary War aesthetic to the left after being popular on the right since the Obama-era Tea Party. [Photo: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images] In Portland, protesters dressed up in inflatable animal costumes to play up the nonviolent nature of their demonstrations while in Boston, protesters used historic buildings to project vintage type to tie their protest against Trump to American history. For the first Sun Day, a day of climate action in September, the designers of the logo left it half unfinished so participants can engage in the act of finishing it themselves. In 2025, pussyhats and “protest is the new brunch” signs feel like ancient history, and protesters have turned to more urgent messages to stand against Trump’s expansion of presidential power. Protest signs at some Tesla dealerships before Musk left DOGE used the image of him saluting at Trump’s inauguration against him, and “No Kings” protests challenged opposition to the administration into some of the largest single-day protests in U.S. history with a logo of a crown with an X through it. Brunch can wait. 6. Zohran signals a new era of Democratic design: colorfully optimistic Not since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 campaign for a New York U.S. House seat has a political brand captured the public imagination like New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s. [Images: Zohran for NYC] The ubiquitous “Zohran for New York” logo and visual identity didn’t use any blue, the standard color in Democratic Party design, and the quirky letterform of its bespoke typography matched the warm tone of his in-person moments and social video strategy. Hand-drawn by designer Aneesh Bhoopathy and inspired by lettering from city signage and Bollywood movie posters, the logo felt authentic and New York, and it captured the excitement of Mamdani’s come-from-behind campaign. This wasn’t a campaign designed to look like politics as usual, and Mamdani used type creatively to reinforce his campaign message, like “freeze the rent.” Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo responded to Mamdani’s surprise Democratic primary win by rebranding to a logo and message that emphasized his experience, but New Yorkers who recalled his time as governor didn’t want more. As Democrats look to Election Day 2026, the Mamdani brand and communications strategy is an example of how to campaign in a new landscape in part shaped by the biggest political design trends of 2025.
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There are two sorts of people in this world: Those who think it sounds like fun to brave the elements for hours on end to watch the ball drop at midnight in Times Square on New Years Eve, and then there’s the rest of us. Its become a time-honored tradition for millions of people to crowd into a few blocks of New York to celebrate a new year, and some new features await revelers this year. A larger ball will be dropped in the annual countdown to midnight, weighing in at 12,000-plus pounds and adorned with 5,200 crystals and LED lights. And theres some special red, white, and blue confetti among the nearly three tons to celebrate the countrys 250th anniversary. But with temperatures in New York forecasted to be near-freezing, many people will be perfectly happy to take in the festivities in their cozies at home. As an added bonus: You may catch one of those memorable and meme-worthy moments from a boozed-up host or performer. Performers this year run the gamut of musical genres and generations, from Chappell Roan to Diana Ross and Jason Aldean to 50 Cent. While channel surfers can easily switch between various programming, the festivities are as easy to stream if you’ve cut the cord. Weve rounded up some of the options to ring in the new year at home. TIMES SQUARE WEBCAST If you want a commercial-free way to feel like you’re in the thick of things, the free live stream from the organization that puts on the annual ceremony may be your best bet. The Times Square Alliance begins live streaming at 6 p.m. ET for the ball lighting and continues throughout the evening. This years stream will feature backstage access and interviews with some of the performers and other celebrities who will be in Times Square throughout the night. You can check out more details about the stream and a full schedule here. While you can live stream from a browser, at TimesSquareNYC.org, the same feed will also be available on the organization’s YouTube channel. If you’re more captivated by the ball drop than anything else, then head to TimesSquareBall.net ahead of time for some live cams of the ball before it’s dropped and gather some fun facts to delight your fellow New Year’s Eve revelers. NYE COVERAGE ON CABLE OR BROADCAST TV If you’re nostalgic for the days when Dick Clark helped you cross that threshold from one year to the next, his spirit lives on in many ways. Most major television networks have some sort of coverage planned for the festivities, from New York and beyond. ABC: Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest begins at 8 p.m. ET. While Seacrest will be helming much of the evening’s broadcast from New York, he’ll get an assist from Chance the Rapper in Chicago and Rob Gronkowski and Julianne Hough in Las Vegas. You can also stream everything on your favorite platform or at ABC.com. CBS: New Years Eve Live: Nashvilles Big Bash, hosted by Bert Kreischer and HARDY begins at 8 p.m. ET. Instead of the ball in Times Square, you’ll be treated to the Nashville Music Note Drop on this network, along with a lineup of country music artists scheduled to perform throughout the evening. As with previous years, you can also stream this event on Paramount+. CNN: New Years Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen begins at 8 p.m. ET. If you want to make a day of it, you can tune into CNN throughout the day for around-the-world coverage before the boozy duo kicks things off in the evening from Times Square. You can expect to hear a lot of hyping about the networks new streaming subscription platform, where you can catch all the action in addition to its apps. Fox: Jimmy Faillas All-American New Years Bash begins at 11 p.m. ET. There are hour-by-hour specials beginning at 9 p.m. ET but they mostly focus on a retrospective of the past year rather than a concert of sorts. The programming will also be available to stream online. NBC: A Toast to 2025! hosted by Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager begins at 10:30 p.m. ET. After bowing out of New Year’s Eve coverage last year, the network is back this year with a two-hour event that reunites this duo. You can also stream this event through the Peacock app. PBS: From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2026. If youre not feeling woozy from the night before, you can tune into something a bit more highbrow on New Year’s Day with the annual concert from the Vienna Philharmonic at 8 p.m. ET. This event will also be available via streaming online or the PBS app.
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In cities across North America, the best and most exciting public spaces can increasingly be found near the water. Park spaces on and along seashores and riverfronts are in a kind of renaissance right now, with large and small cities alike opening major waterfront parks over the past few years. 2025 was especially active. Cities brought big, ambitious park designs to the water’s edge, adding valuable recreation space, ecological services, and engines for urban regeneration. Here are four of the best waterfront parks that opened in 2025. [Photo: Randall Phillip Williams/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus] Seattle’s Waterfront Park More than 15 years in the works, Seattle’s new park is a true reconnection of the city with its water. Once separated from downtown Seattle by the double-decker Alaskan Way Viaduct highway, the waterfront has been painfully and expensively restitched into the city after traffic was rerouted into a $3.35 billion tunnel and the surface level reconfigured as a boulevard. The park is a 1.2-mile long linear space along Elliott Bay with tendrils that spread perpendicularly into the city grid. It also connects tourist attractions like Pike Place Market, the Seattle Aquarium, and Pioneer Square with historic docks, new playgrounds, and a bicycle and pedestrian lane that wraps around the bay. After being officially open for just over a month, the park won one of the most prestigious prizes in urban parks. It stands to rewrite how the city interacts with and embraces its scenic shore. [Photo: Vid Ingelevics and Ryan Walker/courtesy Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates] Toronto’s Biidaasige Park What was once an industrial wasteland immediately adjacent to downtown Toronto has been carefully transformed into a re-naturalized waterfront park that’s laying the foundation for a dramatic urban redevelopment. The first phase of the nearly 100-acre Biidaasige Park opened in 2025 and has undone more than a century of environmental damage. Industrial development in the area led to a large-scale filling project, turning the mouth of the adjacent Don River and its surrounding wetlands into a channelized outpouring surrounded by concrete. A design by the landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates tore out much of that concrete and allowed the river to reclaim its historic course, while building a new island where much of the park’s recreation amenities now stand. The team designed the park and the re-naturalized wetland to prevent flooding that has increasingly affected the area. The $1.4 billion project persevered through several delays since its origins in 2007, but is now becoming one of the city’s most used public spaces. Next, the city will build out more park space, as will an urban element of the project. Soon there will be upwards of 15,000 people living on the island, adding to the park’s already substantial user base. [Photo: Battery Park City Authority] New York’s Wagner Park The terraced walkways and broad grassy field on the recently rebuilt Wagner Park at the tip of Lower Manhattan are low-key feats of urban flood protection. The park’s site has been engineered by AECOM to double as an 18-foot-tall flood wall, protecting the edge of New York City from storm surges and rising sea levels. Most people probably won’t realize that the park now sits 10 feet higher than it once did, thanks to elegantly sloping walkways that climb up from the water to a grassy peak. Hiding beneath that grass is another part of the park’s flood protection: a 63,000-gallon stormwater cistern that can hold the onrush of rainwater during a big storm before slowly releasing it into the city’s system once the heaviest rains have passed. While the park’s flood protection elements are what make it a model to follow, it’s also a space designed for people to use. A new community space and pavilion make room for events, and a native garden brings additional green space to a dense part of the city. With front row views of the Statue of Liberty, the site’s natural attraction can now outweigh its natural risk. [Photo: Nadir Ali for Detroit Riverfront Conservancy] Detroit’s Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park Covering 22 acres and connecting a key stretch of a 5.5-mile continuous walkway along the Detroit River, the new $80 million Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park fills several important gaps in Detroit. Running along a downtown-adjacent stretch of the river that has seen increased investment in its once contaminated edges, the park adds more space to a growing riverfront walk, while also adding to a 27-mile trail loop that runs through the city. The park also brings recreational space to a part of the city where quality public open space is lacking. Also designed by landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the park turned a lackluster industrial-site-turned-grass-field into a regional destination, with world-class playgrounds and recreational facilities, and a unique natural water element that redirects flows from the river to create a rare water habitat that urban visitors can experience up close. Filling a crucial missing piece of Detroit’s Riverwalk, the park is situated with sparkling views of the city’s downtown and its two international bridges, and was designed for both active and passive uses, and intended to draw crowds from across the region and across the age spectrum. “We wanted the park to have things in it that the range of members of a family would need to have to go to the park and spend some serious time there,” Van Valkenburgh told Fast Company ahead of the park’s opening. Luring crowds and solving urban problems, this space will serve as a precedent other waterfront parks look to follow.
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