Iain Macarthur Turns a Silicon Valley Feud Into an Illustrated Medieval Tapestry for WIRED Magazine

How a visual language inspired by a tapestry from 1070 captures a 2026 story about encryption keys

WIRED’s Big Story this week is a long profile about the bitter split between two developers behind GrapheneOS and its predecessor CopperheadOS. The feature illustration, by London-based Iain Macarthur, does not look like a feature illustration about a privacy-focused mobile OS. Two mounted knights clash in the center of a horizontal frieze, one on a black horse with a dollar-sign shield, the other on a white horse bearing a shield with a large black keyhole. A body lies face down between them. Two castles burn at either edge of the scene. Archers in the corners are loosing arrows at both combatants. The whole scene is contained inside a red-and-black heraldic border.

Tom Haugomat Uses Your Brain to Fill in the Blanks

Only two airplanes appear in the Paris illustrator’s new piece for Robb Report. But somehow you know that the sky is full of them.

The article this image accompanies is about how private aviation firms handle the air traffic-jam conditions at marquee sporting events. Last year’s Masters brought more than 2,050 business aircraft into the region. The 2026 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off June 11 across sixteen host cities in three countries, is shaping up to be one of the busiest events in private-aviation history. Tom Haugomat’s job was to illustrate that. His solution is to draw almost none of it.

Bratislav Milenković Draws Three Creatives into a Social Timeline for The Guardian

Bratislav Milenković illustrates Daisy Morris’s case for collaboration over algorithms for The Guardian’s “Goodbye Burnout, Hello Balance,” a series sponsored by Adobe Acrobat Studio. Three figures are suspended inside an electronic system and a yellow ribbon scrolls past them like a social timeline. The left figure points at a framed green starburst: something has gone viral. Milenković turns the feed into a conversation, where you can chase the loudest voice or find your own.

Adrián Astorgano Captures that Awkward Moment at the Self-Checkout for The Washington Post

For a Washington Post opinion piece arguing that Connecticut should limit self-checkout lanes, Adrián Astorgano freezes the moment of hesitation. A shopper clutching his basket, caught between a grid of kiosks glowing with red Xs and a lone cashier giving him a slightly unimpressed look from her register. Red light from the nearest screen catches the edge of his hoodie like an icing of guilt. Staging it all with a clean isometric composition makes the awkwardness worse.

Carmen Casado Illustrates How to Start a Garden for The Guardian

The Guardian's April How to Start column is about planting a vegetable garden. Carmen Casado's illustration hits news stands right as most of the Northern Hemisphere is asking the same question. Vegetables float against a blue sky, tools rest on coral soil, a worm curls by the trowel and in the upper corner a mouth bites a tomato. Arranged like step-by-step instructions but with the steps out of order, the illustration is a sensory sampling.

Simone Noronha Lights Up Zara Larsson for The New Yorker

For The New Yorker’s profile of Zara Larsson on her Midnight Sun tour, Simone Noronha pulls in close, a tropical flower tucked behind Larsson’s ear, the airbrush blooming behind her like a gel light catching the back of the stage. The whole frame glows from somewhere just off-camera. You can almost hear her voice captured in this illustrated moment.