Style combination · Contrasts
Corporate Memphis × Dark Tech Minimalism
Dark tech minimalism displaced Corporate Memphis on SaaS sites; reintroduce one illustration only if the page genuinely lacks warmth.
Mix them and make something Corporate Memphis Dark Tech Minimalism
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 Dark Tech Minimalism
- Type from Dark Tech Minimalism
- Colour from Corporate Memphis
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Dark Tech Minimalism avoids full polychrome: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
- Form from Corporate Memphis
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Dark Tech Minimalism avoids stylised figuration: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
- Composition from Dark Tech Minimalism
- Surface from Dark Tech Minimalism
02
The type
Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.
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 Dark Tech Minimalism. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.
Corporate Memphis Dark Tech Minimalism
-
#ffffffground · 36% -
#2f2e41ink · 14% -
#ffc857accent · 18% -
#a855f7accent · 14% -
#6c63ffaccent · 10% -
#ff7f6eaccent · 8%
As CSS
:root {
--ground: #ffffff;
--ink: #2f2e41;
--accent-1: #ffc857;
--accent-2: #a855f7;
--accent-3: #6c63ff;
--accent-4: #ff7f6e;
--font-display: "Inter", sans-serif;
--font-text: "Hanken Grotesk", sans-serif;
}04
The two styles
05
More combinations
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.
With Dark Tech Minimalism
- Generative & Dynamic Identities Pairs well · Run a generative shader or particle field behind the hero to replace stock imagery with live, on-brand texture.
- Neo-Brutalism Contrasts · A section of bright, outlined neo-brutalist boxes can break a monotonous dark page or signal an indie side project.
- Neo-Swiss Revival Pairs well · Borrow neo-Swiss grids and big, tightly tracked grotesque headlines to give dark product pages editorial structure.
- Newsroom Data Graphics & Scrollytelling Contrasts · The dark dashboard shows unannotated metrics in tiles for people who already know what to look for; the newsroom chart sits on white and tells a general reader in words what the data shows. Add a finding title and one annotation when a dashboard has to explain itself.
- Glassmorphism Pairs well · On near-black grounds, a single glass pane with a 1px light border and a soft glow adds depth without clutter.
- Bento Feature-Grid Design Pairs well · Set the tiles on a near-black ground with hairline borders to get the dark SaaS variant of the same mosaic.
- Rave & Acid House Graphics Contrasts · Both live on black, but one whispers and one shouts; borrow a single neon gradient to wake up a restrained dark interface.
- Synthwave / Outrun Contrasts · Both live on dark grounds, but dark tech minimalism keeps gradients faint and drops nostalgia and ornament; switch to it when the neon sunset would shout over the content.