Isometric Tech Illustration × Low Poly Illustration

Faceted meshes with perspective against parallel-projected boxes in three flat tones.

From the research on Isometric Tech Illustration

Mix them and make something Isometric Tech Illustration Low Poly Illustration

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Low Poly Illustration, their arrangement from Isometric Tech Illustration, the finish from Isometric Tech Illustration. 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.

Isometric Tech Illustration Low Poly Illustration

Type from Isometric Tech Illustration: Geometric sans
Colour from Low Poly Illustration: Flat fields
Gradients
Form from Low Poly Illustration: Angular & zigzag
Geometric primitives
Composition from Isometric Tech Illustration: Isolated object
Illusion of depth
Surface from Isometric Tech Illustration: Flat

The type

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

Display · Isometric Tech Illustration

Signal

Inter Tight, standing in for Geometric and neo-grotesque web sans-serifs set flat beside the drawing, such as those of the SaaS interfaces the illustrations sit in (a working recommendation: the style has no settled typographic canon)

Text · Low Poly Illustration

A digital illustration and game look in which subjects are built from a visible mesh of a few flat-shaded polygons, so that animals, faces, vehicles and landscapes read as hard-edged facets with no outline or texture. Around 2012 the polygon budgets of early real-time 3D became a chosen style, in Timothy J. Reynolds's Cinema 4D illustrations and then in indie games such as MirrorMoon EP (2013). Triangulation tools such as Trianglify then carried it into 2D vector art, posters and web backgrounds.

Jost; Low Poly Illustration used Faceted display faces that replace every curve with straight segments, such as Ray Larabie's Alphii (Typodermic, 2006), which in the foundry's words 'does not imitate a mesh or toolpath; it shares their economy' and A clean geometric sans set flat beside the faceted picture, so the letters stay legible while the mesh carries the image

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Low Poly Illustration, with a counter-accent from Isometric Tech Illustration. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Isometric Tech Illustration Low Poly Illustration

#f1e8d0 ground · 36%
#163a4f ink · 14%
#e8704f accent · 18%
#ffb648 accent · 14%
#3fa58a accent · 10%
#5b6cff accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f1e8d0;
  --ink: #163a4f;
  --accent-1: #e8704f;
  --accent-2: #ffb648;
  --accent-3: #3fa58a;
  --accent-4: #5b6cff;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Jost", sans-serif;
}

The two styles

An oversized, faceted yellow light bulb rises from the centre of an isometric blue platform with connected block buildings, turquoise cube-shaped trees and a small staircase. Bold blue and turquoise lettering at the upper left reads “BRIGHT IDEAS” against a pale background.

2015–present · Global / networked Isometric Tech Illustration Small diorama worlds of devices, servers, desks, factories and city blocks drawn on one isometric grid (about 30 degrees; pixel work uses a 2:1 step, about 26.6 degrees) with no vanishing point. Each volume has one flat tone for its top and two for its sides, on a white or pale ground, so it reads as three-dimensional without lighting or rendering. Used for hero images, onboarding, icons and explainers, it gave flat design back its depth while keeping its clean vector surfaces and its technological optimism.

A faceted geometric illustration shows a hiker with an orange backpack standing on a rocky cliff above a winding river, evergreen forests, and mountain peaks. A large pale sun hangs over the valley beneath the word “FURTHER.”

2012–present · Global / networked Low Poly Illustration A digital illustration and game look in which subjects are built from a visible mesh of a few flat-shaded polygons, so that animals, faces, vehicles and landscapes read as hard-edged facets with no outline or texture. Around 2012 the polygon budgets of early real-time 3D became a chosen style, in Timothy J. Reynolds's Cinema 4D illustrations and then in indie games such as MirrorMoon EP (2013). Triangulation tools such as Trianglify then carried it into 2D vector art, posters and web backgrounds.

More combinations

With Isometric Tech Illustration

With Low Poly Illustration

Every style combination