Style combination · Contrasts
Claymorphism × Corporate Memphis
It does the same friendly job in tech marketing with flat vectors; render the figures as volumes to escape the over-familiar flat look, or go back to flat when 3D production is too slow or icons must work at tiny sizes.
01
What each style brings
Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.
Claymorphism & Soft 3D Corporate Memphis
- Type from Claymorphism
- Colour from Corporate Memphis
- Form from Corporate Memphis
- Composition from Claymorphism
- Surface from Claymorphism
02
The type
Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.
Display · Claymorphism
Pop
Bagel Fat One, standing in for Rounded sans-serifs with soft terminals, such as Nunito (Vernon Adams) or VAG Rounded, only for the most childlike or playful products: they echo the inflated shapes but add to the toy-like feel that the minimal type is meant to balance
Text · Corporate Memphis
The flat vector illustration style that became the default visual voice of big tech in the late 2010s: faceless, ethnically non-specific figures with elongated limbs and tiny heads, drawn in bright flat colour among blobs, leaves and confetti. Codified in Buck's Alegria system for Facebook (2017) and spread by open libraries such as unDraw and Humaaans, it was later named, half-mockingly, after the Memphis Group.
Hanken Grotesk; Corporate Memphis used Circular and Airbnb Cereal
03
The colours
The ground and leading colours come from Corporate Memphis, with a counter-accent from Claymorphism. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.
Claymorphism & Soft 3D Corporate Memphis
-
#ffffffground · 36% -
#2f2e41ink · 14% -
#ffc857accent · 18% -
#6c63ffaccent · 14% -
#ff7f6eaccent · 10% -
#3ec7b0accent · 8%
As CSS
:root {
--ground: #ffffff;
--ink: #2f2e41;
--accent-1: #ffc857;
--accent-2: #6c63ff;
--accent-3: #ff7f6e;
--accent-4: #3ec7b0;
--font-display: "Bagel Fat One", sans-serif;
--font-text: "Hanken Grotesk", sans-serif;
}04
The two styles
05
More combinations
With Claymorphism
- Neumorphism Contrasts · Neumorphism presses monochrome controls out of a same-coloured surface with paired outer shadows; claymorphism inflates them into separately coloured objects that cast one drop shadow, so switch to it when soft relief loses contrast and every control starts to look like a button.
- Kawaii Design Pairs well · Kawaii's oversized heads, minimal faces and scattered sparkles translate directly into clay volumes; use its character rules for mascots and emoji so the 3D figures stay simple and readable at small sizes.
- Glassmorphism Pairs well · Set opaque clay icons on or behind frosted glass panes: the blur gives the toys a layered backdrop, and the solid objects anchor translucent cards that would otherwise drift.
- Y2K Futurism Contrasts · Both float rounded 3D renders on pale grounds, but Y2K is chrome, liquid metal and translucent candy plastic sold as the future; keep claymorphism opaque, soft and cute, with satin or matte surfaces and at most a soft highlight, and borrow chrome only for a retro-tech joke.
- Neo-Brutalism Contrasts · Neo-brutalism's black outlines and hard, unblurred offset shadows are the crisp counterpart to clay's soft blurred ones; borrow a solid outline for focus states when the inflated cards need sharper edges.
- Low Poly Illustration Contrasts · Both float one rendered object on a pale ground, but clay is inflated, rounded and softly shaded while low poly is cut into hard facets with stepped tones; choose clay for warmth and touch, low poly for crispness and a constructed, mineral feel.
- Biobrand (Organic Biotech CGI) Contrasts · Both float soft 3D forms on pale grounds, but clay is opaque, cute and interface-bound, while the biobrand is translucent, intricate and biological; use clay for friendlier app icons.
- Isometric Tech Illustration Contrasts · Soft, inflated 3D forms against crisp axonometric blocks: the same toy worlds, rendered rather than projected.
With Corporate Memphis
- Polish Poster School Contrasts · Polish poster metaphor and painterly ambiguity show how much illustration can say once it stops being generic.
- Risograph & Indie Print Culture Pairs well · Add riso grain and two spot inks to the figures to escape the over-familiar SaaS sheen and give them printed warmth.
- DTC 'Blanding' / Millennial Minimalism Pairs well · Its photo-led start-up sibling: pair Corporate Memphis figures with blanding's pastel ground and geometric sans when a brand needs both people and product.
- Brutalist Web Design Contrasts · Brutalism's raw honesty is the opposite of this friendly gloss; reach for it when a brand needs credibility over cheer.
- Memphis Design Contrasts · The original's real colour clash, irony and Sottsass or Du Pasquier patterns are the foil to generic confetti blobs; borrow one genuine Memphis pattern to give the illustration an edge.
- Rubber-Hose Revival (Cartoon Mascot Graphics) Contrasts · Both draw stretched figures in flat colour, but the revival gives each brand its own outlined, nostalgic mascot where Corporate Memphis uses interchangeable faceless people.
- CalArts Style (Rounded Cartoon Character Design) Pairs well · Both use flat fills and simplified figures; borrow its pastel UI-illustration palette, but keep faces and expressions, which Corporate Memphis drops.
- Data Humanism Contrasts · Both aim to feel warm and human, but Corporate Memphis draws generic faceless figures for mood, while data humanism draws the specific data of specific people. Replace stock warmth with a drawing of real data when a brand needs sincerity.