Corporate Memphis × DTC 'Blanding'

Its illustration-led sibling; add a few flat vector figures when seamless-backdrop photography alone feels too cold.

From the research on DTC 'Blanding' / Millennial Minimalism

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.

From the research on Corporate Memphis

Mix them and make something Corporate Memphis DTC 'Blanding'

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Corporate Memphis, their arrangement from DTC 'Blanding', the finish from Corporate Memphis. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

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 DTC 'Blanding' / Millennial Minimalism

Type from DTC 'Blanding': Geometric sans
Grotesque & neo-grotesque
Colour from Corporate Memphis: Flat fields
Full polychrome
Form from Corporate Memphis: Distortion & exaggeration
Stylised figuration
Composition from DTC 'Blanding': Isolated object
Generous white space
Surface from Corporate Memphis: Flat

The type

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

Display · DTC 'Blanding'

Hello

Hanken Grotesk, standing in for Circular (Laurenz Brunner, Lineto, 2013)

Text · DTC 'Blanding'

The friendly, frictionless minimalism of 2010s direct-to-consumer start-ups, built for the phone screen, the Instagram feed and the unboxing. Lowercase geometric or neo-grotesque wordmarks, one muted signature colour such as millennial pink, sage or terracotta, seamless-backdrop product photography and chatty copy made mattresses, razors and suitcases look interchangeable, a sameness critics called 'blanding' before brands swung to colourful maximalism around 2021–2022.

Hanken Grotesk; DTC 'Blanding' used Circular and Graphik

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Corporate Memphis, with a counter-accent from DTC 'Blanding'. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Corporate Memphis DTC 'Blanding' / Millennial Minimalism

#ffffff ground · 36%
#2f2e41 ink · 14%
#ffc857 accent · 18%
#d27c5d accent · 14%
#6c63ff accent · 10%
#f2e3a8 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #ffffff;
  --ink: #2f2e41;
  --accent-1: #ffc857;
  --accent-2: #d27c5d;
  --accent-3: #6c63ff;
  --accent-4: #f2e3a8;
  --font-display: "Hanken Grotesk", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Hanken Grotesk", sans-serif;
}

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 minimalist shopping homepage shows a sage-green water bottle with a loop handle beneath the large terracotta words “good days” on an off-white background. Small navigation links, search and shopping bag icons, and a pink “shop now” button surround the central product.

2012–2022 · North America, Global / networked DTC 'Blanding' / Millennial Minimalism The friendly, frictionless minimalism of 2010s direct-to-consumer start-ups, built for the phone screen, the Instagram feed and the unboxing. Lowercase geometric or neo-grotesque wordmarks, one muted signature colour such as millennial pink, sage or terracotta, seamless-backdrop product photography and chatty copy made mattresses, razors and suitcases look interchangeable, a sameness critics called 'blanding' before brands swung to colourful maximalism around 2021–2022.

More combinations

With Corporate Memphis

All 28 combinations with Corporate Memphis

With DTC 'Blanding'

All 18 combinations with DTC 'Blanding'

Every style combination