Stylogeny combining Corporate Memphis × Corporate Identity Modernism

Try

Style combination · Contrasts

Corporate Memphis × Corporate Identity Modernism

Its successor trades abstract authority for rubbery friendliness; compare the two to decide how institutional or human a brand should feel.

From the research on Corporate Identity Modernism

Mix them and make something Corporate Memphis Corporate Identity Modernism

AtlasCorporate Memphis × Corporate Identity
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Corporate Memphis, their arrangement from Corporate Identity Modernism, the finish from Corporate Memphis. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

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.

Corporate Memphis Corporate Identity Modernism

Type from Corporate Identity Modernism
Colour from Corporate Memphis
Form from Corporate Memphis
Composition from Corporate Identity Modernism
Surface from Corporate Memphis

02

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Corporate Identity Modernism

Atlas

Inter Tight, standing in for Helvetica

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 Corporate Identity Modernism. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Corporate Memphis Corporate Identity Modernism

  • #ffffff ground · 36%
  • #2f2e41 ink · 14%
  • #ffc857 accent · 18%
  • #d7261e accent · 14%
  • #6c63ff accent · 10%
  • #0a4fa0 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #ffffff;
  --ink: #2f2e41;
  --accent-1: #ffc857;
  --accent-2: #d7261e;
  --accent-3: #6c63ff;
  --accent-4: #0a4fa0;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Hanken Grotesk", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

A brightly coloured illustration shows a person with a dark ponytail striding with one knee raised and arms spread, wearing a yellow shirt, purple trousers and teal shoes. The words “Move Brighter” appear above them on a white background scattered with colourful dots and curved marks. 2017–present · North America, Global / networked 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. A blue circle sits above two mirrored red tapered shapes separated by a widening white gap. Large, bold black lettering reading “Apex” appears underneath on a white background. 1955–1990 · North America, Western Europe, Global / networked Corporate Identity Modernism Modernist reduction applied to corporate communication. A company's whole public face (trademark, logotype, stationery, packaging, vehicles and signage) was unified by an abstract symbol, a single typeface and one colour, all policed by a graphic standards manual. Pioneered by Paul Rand, Chermayeff & Geismar, Unimark and Lippincott & Margulies, it made the reductive mark and the grid the visual language of multinational business and government.

05

More combinations

With Corporate Memphis

All 28 combinations with Corporate Memphis

With Corporate Identity Modernism

All 28 combinations with Corporate Identity Modernism

Every style combination