{{Short description|Flat, geometric art style associated with Big Tech}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} thumb|Illustration in Corporate Memphis style from Humaaans design library

'''Corporate Memphis''', commonly referred to as '''Alegria art''', is an art style and design aesthetic named after the Memphis Group that features flat areas of color and geometric elements. Widely associated with Big Tech illustrations in the late 2010s<ref name=":1" /> and early 2020s,<ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine |last=Gabert-Doyon |first=Josh |date=2021-01-24 |title=Why does every advert look the same? Blame Corporate Memphis |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/corporate-memphis-design-tech |magazine=Wired UK |language=en-GB |issn=1357-0978 |access-date=2021-02-10 |archive-date=2021-08-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210822144506/https://www.wired.co.uk/article/corporate-memphis-design-tech |url-status=live }}</ref> it has been met with a polarized response, with criticism focusing on its use in sanitizing corporate communication,<ref name=":1" /> as well as being seen as visually offensive, insincere, pandering and over-saturated. Other illustrators have defended the style, pointing at what they claim to be its art-historical legitimacy.<ref name=":3">{{cite magazine |last=Frey |first=Angelica |date=10 January 2022 |title=Facebook made a certain type of illustration ubiquitous—but it's time to stop knocking it |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90711508/facebook-made-a-certain-type-of-illustration-ubiquitous-but-its-time-to-stop-knocking-it |magazine=Fast Company |access-date=18 December 2022 |archive-date=19 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219062732/https://www.fastcompany.com/90711508/facebook-made-a-certain-type-of-illustration-ubiquitous-but-its-time-to-stop-knocking-it |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Origins == Flat art developed out of the rise of vector graphic programs, and a nostalgia for mid-century modern illustration.<ref name=":3" /> 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.<ref name=":1" /> The style was widely popularized when Facebook introduced Alegria, an illustration system commissioned from design agency Buck Studios and illustrator Xoana Herrera<ref name=":1" /> in 2017.<ref name=":5">{{cite web|url=https://buck.co/work/facebook-alegria|title=Facebook Alegria|accessdate=19 November 2021|archive-date=19 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119195942/https://buck.co/work/facebook-alegria|url-status=live}}</ref>

The name "Corporate Memphis" originated from the title of an Are.na board that collected early examples,<ref name=":1" /> and is a reference to the Memphis Group, a now-defunct 1980s Italian design group known for bright colors, childish patterns, and geometric shapes. 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.

== Visual characteristics == thumb|upright=1.3|Corporate Memphis style artwork featuring characters with blue, orange, and purple skintones Common motifs are flat human characters in action, with disproportionate features such as long and bendy limbs,<ref name=":2" /> small torsos,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Posture |first=Julien |date=2022-01-13 |title=What the Think Pieces About "Corporate Memphis" Tell Us About the State of Illustration |url=https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-the-think-pieces-about-corporate-memphis-tell-us-about-the-state-of-illustration/ |url-status=live |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=AIGA Eye on Design |archive-date=2022-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528081908/https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-the-think-pieces-about-corporate-memphis-tell-us-about-the-state-of-illustration/ }}</ref> 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,<ref name=":5" /> though some artists working in the style opt for more realistic skin colors and features to show diversity.<ref name=":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.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

== Reception and use == Once Facebook adopted the style, the sudden ubiquity of vector graphics led to a critical backlash.<ref name=":3"/> The style has been criticized professionally and popularly (including in myriad Internet memes) as too minimalistic, generic,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Quito|first=Anne|date=October 26, 2019|title=Why editorial illustrations look so similar these days|url=https://qz.com/quartzy/1728767/why-editorial-illustrations-look-so-similar-these-days/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208044929/https://qz.com/quartzy/1728767/why-editorial-illustrations-look-so-similar-these-days/|archive-date=2021-02-08|access-date=2021-02-10|website=Quartz|language=en}}</ref> lazy,<ref name=":2"/> overused, and attempting to sanitize public perception of big tech companies by presenting human interaction in utopian optimism.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Hawley|first=Rachel|date=2019-08-21|title=Don't Worry, These Gangly-armed Cartoons Are Here to Protect You From Big Tech|url=https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/dont-worry-these-gangley-armed-cartoons-are-here-to-protect-you-from-big-tech/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210822143019/https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/dont-worry-these-gangley-armed-cartoons-are-here-to-protect-you-from-big-tech/|archive-date=2021-08-22|access-date=2021-02-10|website=Eye on Design|language=en-US}}</ref> Illustrator Julien Posture argues that criticism of the art style is rooted in larger anxieties about the creative industry under capitalism and neoliberalism.<ref name=":0"/> Others have argued that Corporate Memphis deserves to be understood on its own merits separate from the corporations which regularly employ it.<ref name=":3" />

Writing in ''The Globe and Mail'', Jen Gerson criticized the new 2023 Canadian passport design by likening it to the Corporate Memphis art style.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gerson |first=Jen |date=May 12, 2023 |title=Opinion: Yes, Canada's new passport really is that bad |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-yes-canadas-new-passport-really-is-that-bad/ |access-date=April 1, 2025 |work=The Globe and Mail |language=en-CA |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230515213459/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-yes-canadas-new-passport-really-is-that-bad/ |archive-date=May 15, 2023 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== See also == {{Commons category}} * Material design, a Google-derived design language linked to Corporate Memphis * Frutiger Aero, a prominent design style preceding Corporate Memphis that embraced contrasting skeuomorphism * ''Going Under'', a 2020 roguelike video game that is depicted entirely within the Corporate Memphis art style * Hyperreality * Postmodern art * Metamodernism * Capitalist realism * Global Village Coffeehouse

== References == {{reflist}}

{{Western art movements}}

Category:Advertising Category:Art movements Category:Design Category:Graphic design aesthetics Category:Illustration Category:Internet aesthetics Category:Minimalism Category:2010s in art Category:2020s in art