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]
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]
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]
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]