Corporate Memphis × Risograph

Add riso grain and two spot inks to the figures to escape the over-familiar SaaS sheen and give them printed warmth.

From the research on Corporate Memphis

Mix them and make something Corporate Memphis Risograph

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Corporate Memphis, their arrangement from Corporate Memphis, the finish from Risograph. 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 Risograph & Indie Print Culture

Type from Risograph: Hand-lettering
Grotesque & neo-grotesque
Colour from Risograph: Limited spot colours
Fluorescent & neon
Form from Corporate Memphis: Distortion & exaggeration
Stylised figuration
Composition from Corporate Memphis: Isolated object
Generous white space
Surface from Risograph: Misregistration & overprint
Grain & noise

The type

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

Display · Risograph

Hello

Inter Tight, standing in for Neo-grotesques set large (e.g. Akzidenz-Grotesk, 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

The colours

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

Corporate Memphis Risograph & Indie Print Culture

#f4f1ea ground · 36%
#3255a4 ink · 14%
#ff48b0 accent · 18%
#ffc857 accent · 14%
#f15060 accent · 10%
#6c63ff accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f4f1ea;
  --ink: #3255a4;
  --accent-1: #ff48b0;
  --accent-2: #ffc857;
  --accent-3: #f15060;
  --accent-4: #6c63ff;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", 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.

Large pink lettering reading “PLANT CLUB” sits above a blue cat looking upward among potted houseplants and trailing vines. Bright yellow and pink offset shapes and grainy ink textures cover the cream background.

2008–present · Global / networked Risograph & Indie Print Culture A contemporary culture of zines, art books, posters and prints made on Japanese Risograph stencil duplicators, whose soy-based spot inks (fluorescent pink, yellow, blue, teal) are laid down one drum at a time. Designers embrace the machine's limits: translucent overprints, slight misregistration, grainy coverage and coarse halftones give flat illustration and type a warm, handmade vibrancy at low cost.

More combinations

With Corporate Memphis

All 28 combinations with Corporate Memphis

With Risograph

All 43 combinations with Risograph

Every style combination