Most current and emerging technologies can’t actually be seen. That’s why the art department here at MIT Technology Review often depicts them with illustrations.
Take deep learning: what on Earth does that look like? Not only is it a complex concept to grasp (for me at least), but there isn’t yet a common visual vocabulary for it—no symbolic shorthand, the way an apple and mortarboard can represent education or a money bag and top hat conjures the banking industry.
Thankfully, we work with a world-class group of illustrators who help us bear the conceptual load. Their imagination and hard work are what makes our jobs as art directors possible. (Not to mention it’s also what makes our magazine and site look good.)
These are our favorite illustrations from 2016. Each of these pieces strike me as being a small miracle in itself. Now finished, in retrospect, each seems self-evident. But all were tricky to pull off. How would you draw, say, the Internet of things or gene editing?
Using Patient Fingerprints to Break Down Medical Record Silos
Illustration by Aisha Franz 
Hot And Violent
Illustration by Javier Jaén 
Twitter’s Artificial Intelligence Knows What’s Happening in Live Video Clips
Illustration by Gwendal Le Bec 
10 Breakthrough Technologies: Conversational Interfaces
Illustration by Tomi Um 
The Internet Is No Place for Elections
Illustration by Patrick Kyle 
The Road to Solar Fuels Hits a Speed Bump
Illustration by Jon Han 
As It Searches for Suspects, the FBI May Be Looking at You
Illustration by Daniel Zender 
Why Startups Are Struggling
Illustration by Yann Kebbi 
The Nauseating Disappointment of Oculus Rift
Illustration by Roman Muradov 
Moore’s Law Is Dead. Now What?
Illustration by Yukai Du 
AI Wants to Be Your Bro, Not Your Foe.
Illustration by John Malta 
35 Innovators Under 35 2016
Illustration by Morgan Elliott 
The Decline in Chinese Cyberattacks: The Story Behind the Numbers
Illustration by Other Means 
Why Kickstarter’s Glowing Plant Left Backers in the Dark
Illustration by Matt Panuska 
Capitalism Behaving Badly
Illustration by Jay Daniel Wright 
Customer Service Bots Are Getting Better at Detecting Your Agitation
Illustration by Oscar Bolton Green 
Drone Security Guard Scolds Intruders from the Sky
Illustration by Max Litvinov 
Elon Musk’s House of Gigacards
Illustration by Andy Friedman 
Ad Algorithms Might Choose You to Be a Paid Product Promoter
Illustration by Jan Buchczik 
What to Know Before You Get In a Self-driving Car
Illustration by Jean Jullien 
Security Experts Warn Congress That the Internet of Things Could Kill People
Illustration by Nick Little 
Mark Zuckerberg’s Long March to China
Illustration by R. Kikuo Johnson 
Who Will Protect You from Drone Surveillance?
Illustration by David Biskup 
10 Breakthrough Technologies: Robots That Teach Each Other
Illustration by Kristian Hammerstad 
The All-American iPhone
Illustration by Owen Smith 
Customer Headaches Could Curtail Apple’s Encryption Push
Illustration by Andrea Chronopoulos 
WeChat Is Extending China’s School Days Well into the Night
Illustration by Marina Muun 
Inside Vicarious, the Secretive AI Startup Bringing Imagination to Computers
Illustration by Sophia Foster-Dimino 
Can We Insure the Internet of Things Against Cyber Risk?
Illustration by Tim Peacock
