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.

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.

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.

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.)

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

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