Corporate Memphis (alternative names: Alegria art , big tech art , flat art , or corporate artstyle ^[1] ) is an art style named after the Memphis Group that features flat areas of color and geometric elements. Widely associated with Big Tech illustrations in the late 2010s ^[2] and early 2020s, ^[3] it has been met with a polarized response, with criticism focusing on its use in sanitizing corporate communication, ^[2] as well as being seen as visually offensive, insincere, pandering and over-saturated, ^[1] though some illustrators have defended the style, pointing at what they claim to be its art-historical legitimacy. ^[4]

Origins [ edit ]

Flat art developed out of the rise of vector graphic programs, and a nostalgia for mid-century modern illustration . ^[4] It began to trend in editorial illustration and especially the tech industry, which relied on simple, scalable illustrations to fill white space and add character to apps and web pages. ^[2] The style was widely popularized when Facebook introduced Alegria, an illustration system commissioned from design agency Buck Studios and illustrator Xoana Herrera ^[2] in 2017. ^{[5] [6]}

The name "Corporate Memphis" originated from the title of an Are.na board that collected early examples, ^[2] and is a reference to the Memphis Group , a 1980s design group known for bright colors, childish patterns, and geometric shapes. ^[6] The style itself was inspired by a synthesis of elements spanning the 20th-century, including the Art Deco style of the 1920s, futurism in interior design from the Atomic Age , and color and patterns from the Pop Art movement . ^[6]

Visual characteristics [ edit ]

Common motifs are flat human characters in action, with disproportionate features such as long and bendy limbs, ^[3] small torsos, ^[7] minimal or no facial features, and bright colors without any blending. Facebook's Alegria uses non-representational skin colors such as blues and purples in order to feel universal, ^[5] though some artists working in the style opt for more realistic skin colors and features to show diversity. ^[2] However, such style has overall been criticised for tokenism and feeling inauthentic. ^[1]

Corporate Memphis is materially quick, cheap and easy to produce, and thus appealing to companies; programs such as Adobe Illustrator can be used to produce such designs rapidly. ^[1]

Reception [ edit ]

Once Facebook adopted the style, the sudden ubiquity of vector graphics led to a critical backlash. ^[4] The style has been criticized both professionally and popularly (including in myriad internet memes ) for being overly minimalistic, ^[1] generic, ^[11] lazy, ^[3] overused, and attempting to sanitise public perception of big tech companies by presenting human interaction in utopian optimism . ^[2] Criticism of the art style is often rooted in larger anxieties about the creative industry under capitalism and neoliberalism . ^[7] Some ^{[ who? ]} have argued that, despite the criticism, Corporate Memphis has unexpected depth and variety, and deserves to be understood on its own merits beyond an association with tech dystopias. ^[4]

See also [ edit ]

• Material design , a Google -derived design language linked to Corporate Memphis
• Frutiger Aero , a prominent design style preceding Corporate Memphis that embraced contrasting skeuomorphism
• Flat design
• Postmodern art
• Metamodernism
• Pop art
• Capitalist realism

References [ edit ]