Person of the Year: TIME
Plastered on the front page of the world’s largest weekly news magazine’s most popular issue of the year depicted not a dramatic portrait of a world leader or innovator, but instead two letters: A and I.
TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year awards took an unconventional angle this year when naming its awardee. As opposed to naming a single, highly influential world leader, politician or innovator, the magazine opted to make a blanket statement: naming “the creators of AI” as collective recipients.
Artificial Intelligence is undoubtedly one of 2025’s most pivotal areas of innovation worldwide—sparking divisive conversations about the ethics of its usage in workplaces, governmental spaces, academia, debating the implications on cognitive abilities and societal intelligence. However, through TIME’s delivery of such achievements through a blanket statement and misleading covers, the emphasis seemed to be on the tool itself as opposed to the brains behind it.
For instance, one version of the cover shows the letters AI disproportionally blown up compared to the workers’ rather small and insignificant text. By strategically placing those letters under “Person of the Year,” TIME Magazine misleads consumers to believe the tool itself is a separate entity from human control, which – to an extent – feeds into the fearmongering about AI being an intangible system for humanity to rein.
The second cover is a play on the infamous Rockefeller Tower’s ‘Lunch atop a Skyscraper’ image, and seems to compare the CEOs of large tech companies to the blue-collar workers. The playful image was originally taken to highlight the laborious contributions ordinary people had to society during the Great Depression, and functioned as a publicity stunt for the Rockafeller family. Similar to the early 1900s, day-to-day citizens are experiencing a financial lull, and low affordability rates.
By collating the high-net worth individuals to the complete opposite side of the spectrum socio-economically, TIME seems to purposefully bring the one percenters down to the level of commonman, painting a bitter irony where the billionaires who aim to eradicate human skill are depicted as the very laborers their technology may render obsolete. While the 1932 ironworkers personally bore a very terrifying risk of death during physical labor, modern architects sit comfortably as the societal and economic risks of their creations are borne to the public below.
Color of the Year
Pantone describes their color of the year, Cloud Dancer, as a color that demonstrates “sophistication and luxury.” This color, however, is just plain white.
Continuing with the theme of escapism, the decision to highlight this color felt like a blatant display of ignorance for the events happening in the world around us, and seems to suggest underlying implications about political climate. This past year has been far from bland, or luxurious, as the website suggests.
Political climates have faced extreme divisions this year, especially as the United States shifted into a new administration, and conflict in Palestine and South Africa grew particularly gory. That seems far from dull, as suggested.
Another word used to describe the theme that the color conveyed was clean, comparing it to fashion and monochromaticity. Much alike to the politics, the fashion industry this year was full of big moments and statements with several key moments from the season: including Bhavitha Mandava becoming the first Indian woman to open a Chanel fashion show, and designer Stella McCarthy establishing the most sustainable shoes made, the S-Wave sneaker.
Word of the Year
Just because someone spells it out, does not make a number any less of a number, and it definitely should not qualify it for being the Word of The Year.
Dictionary.com announced their Word of The Year for 2025 was Six-Seven, representing the popular internet sensation. Along with this, they also included words such as Aura Farming and Kiss Cam, referring to a CEO having an affair at a Coldplay concert.
It is clear that these words were chosen in attempts to pander to younger generations, however, it made it seem as though they were out of touch with what events actually took place in 2025. Is a CEO having an affair at a concert really one of the most significant moments of this past year?
Some words featured were not even relevant to this year’s trends. Tradwife was inspired by the TikTok creator Nara Smith, and her extravagant homemade meals. This, however, was more of a trend in 2024, proving that the word being featured was simply an attempt to make younger heads turn.
In comparison to previous Words of the Year, such as 2023’s, Hallucinate, and 2021’s, Allyship, these choices of words seem like a blatant slap in the face. They mock the climate of this past year.
Our “Of the Year”
Due to these severely disappointing decisions made by these companies of who/what to honor this year, we have decided to create our own recognitions for what we believe are more impactful representations of the overall year of 2025.
Person: Nicolás Maduro
We chose Maduro because 2025’s defining pattern was not necessarily on innovation or culture, but rather a socioeconomic phenomena of avoidance during rising political tensions worldwide. Major institutions have turned escapist, shaping reality into trends and capitalizing off embellishments — all while authoritarian power and corrupt governments continue to go without coverage. Maduro, as a symbol, embodies such a gap.
Like many other nations, Venezuela remained trapped in an economic freefall, political oppression, and forced migration to other nations for an extended period of time — yet the urgency of the situation was not truly apparent to the western public until the United States intervened (a pattern seen repeatedly with different countries throughout the year: Iran, Palestine, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, etc.). He represents the normalization of global authoritarianism, when suffering is sustained long enough that the media institutions — and quite frankly, Americans — become too numb to care.
Word: Gerrymander
If 2025 had a word that perfectly encapsulated the political climate in America in 2025, it would be gerrymander. While the media focused on cultural wars and viral moments, political power was wrangled within the background through diluted votes and elections. Outcomes were decided before ballots were even cast. From Governor Newsom’s signing of Proposition 50, to Texas’s redistricting fiasco as a result of current political pushes, representation is slowly becoming a technical illusion shaped by legal language rather than that of public will.
This past year has proved that control over the government no longer needs to announce itself in a spectacle, but instead hides in boundary lines most look past. The word shifts the perception of control from overt public suppression to policies that become harder to protest — and overall, reflects a significant rise in control those at the top have acquired in the past 12 months.
Color: Deep Purple
In a year defined by protest chants and political polarization, Deep Purple feels most intentional. Purple has long been the color of royalty, power and exclusivity — known for being once so rare and expensive that only the monarchs should use it. The historical weight makes the color an uneasy symbol for 2025; a year where global powers were challenged by those they govern; an open power imbalance concerning authority, and political figures that rule more like monarchs than as voices of the people. As a blend of red and blue, Deep Purple additionally reflects extreme polarization without reconciliation, signaling endurance of the status quo as opposed to changing the narrative.
