# 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. - Period: 2012–2022 - Where: North America, Global / networked - Origin: New York direct-to-consumer start-ups and their branding agencies (Warby Parker, Casper, Glossier, Away), spread through Instagram and e-commerce - Branch: Digital native - Also known as: Blanding, Millennial aesthetic, DTC aesthetic, Millennial pink branding, Blands - Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/dtc-blanding/ ## How it works - Set the wordmark in a lowercase or sentence-case geometric or neo-grotesque sans, lightly tracked and without a symbol. - Own one muted signature colour (millennial pink, sage, terracotta or butter yellow) and apply it in large flat blocks across packaging, site and ads. - Shoot products as isolated objects on seamless backdrops that match the brand colour, or as tidy flat-lays. - Let short, witty, conversational copy carry the personality instead of ornament or illustration. - Design for the phone and the unboxing: big type, generous white space and a small surprise printed inside the box. ## Its design choices Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then. ### Layout & composition - [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (defining) - [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (characteristic) - [Full bleed](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-bleed/) (characteristic) - [Cards & bento tiles](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/cards-and-bento-tiles/) (occasional) ### Space & hierarchy - [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (defining) - [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic) - [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (characteristic) ### Typography - [Geometric sans](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-sans/) (defining) - [Grotesque & neo-grotesque](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grotesque-and-neo-grotesque/) (characteristic) - [Lowercase only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lowercase-only/) (characteristic) - [Wide letterspacing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/wide-letterspacing/) (occasional) - [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (occasional) ### Colour - [Pastel](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pastel/) (defining) - [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic) - [Analogous harmony](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/analogous-harmony/) (characteristic) - [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic) - [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic) - [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (occasional) ### Form & shape - [Rounded & pill](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rounded-and-pill/) (characteristic) - [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (occasional) - [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (occasional) ### Surface & texture - [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic) ### Ornament - [Ornament-free](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornament-free/) (characteristic) ### Imagery - [Straight photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/straight-photography/) (defining) - [Flat vector illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-vector-illustration/) (occasional) ### Medium & production - [Web & CSS](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/web-and-css/) (defining) - [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (characteristic) - [App & OS interface](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/app-and-os-interface/) (occasional) ### Tone & intent - [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (defining) - [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic) - [Luxurious & glamorous](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/luxurious-and-glamorous/) (occasional) - [Calm & contemplative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/calm-and-contemplative/) (occasional) Avoids: Abundant decoration, Horror vacui, Ornamented display, Experimental & distorted, Fluorescent & neon, Complementary clash, Photocopy & distress, Authoritative & institutional Palette: #faf7f2, #f4cfc8, #d27c5d, #a9b8a1, #f2e3a8, #2b2b2b Typefaces: Circular (Laurenz Brunner, Lineto, 2013), Graphik (Christian Schwartz, Commercial Type, 2009), Apercu (Colophon Foundry, 2010), Custom lowercase geometric wordmarks Known for: Warby Parker (founded 2010); Casper mattress identity by Red Antler (2014); Glossier (launched 2014), pale-pink packaging and sans-serif wordmark; Away luggage (founded 2015); Cora (2016), white-and-sans packaging abandoned in its colourful 2022 rebrand; Burberry logo by Peter Saville with Riccardo Tisci (2018), the luxury cousin of the sans-serif convergence ## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to - Grew out of: [Minimalist Graphic Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/minimalism.md) (1965–present) - Influenced by: [Flat Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/flat-design.md) (2010–2016) - Influenced by: [Neo-Swiss Revival](https://stylogeny.com/styles/swiss-revival.md) (2005–present) - Led to: [Instagram Slideshow Activism (Social-Justice Infographics)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/instagram-slideshow-activism.md) (2020–present) - Alike in its design choices: [Roman-like Thai Typography (modern loopless Thai)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/thai-loopless-type.md) (1973–present), 61% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Material Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/material-design.md) (2014–present), 60% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Greek Tourism Modernism (EOT)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/greek-tourism-modernism.md) (1960–1974), 58% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Scandinavian Functionalism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/scandinavian-functionalism.md) (1930–present), 58% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Slow-Living Editorial (the Kinfolk Look)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kinfolk-slow-editorial.md) (2011–present), 54% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Corporate Memphis](https://stylogeny.com/styles/corporate-memphis.md) (2017–present), 52% alike ## Real works - [Glossier homepage ("Gentle, yet very serious.")](https://web.archive.org/web/20170720011300/https://www.glossier.com/): Glossier, July 2017 (archived 20 July 2017), Internet Archive Wayback Machine - [Casper homepage ("Better sleep for brighter days")](https://web.archive.org/web/20141012193137/https://casper.com/): Casper Sleep (identity by Red Antler), October 2014 (archived 12 October 2014), Internet Archive Wayback Machine - [Away homepage ("Thoughtful standards for modern travel")](https://web.archive.org/web/20180405235057/https://www.awaytravel.com/): Away, April 2018 (archived 5 April 2018), Internet Archive Wayback Machine - [Cora homepage ("A better month awaits")](https://web.archive.org/web/20180802091701/https://cora.life/): Cora, August 2018 (archived 2 August 2018), Internet Archive Wayback Machine ## Sources - Glossy, 'The fall of blanding: DTC labels rebrand to keep up with the era of maximalism' (2022) - Bloomberg Opinion, 'Welcome to your bland new world of consumer capitalism' (2020) --- From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “DTC 'Blanding' / Millennial Minimalism”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/dtc-blanding/