Illustration · 2015–2023
Corporate Memphis
Flat characters with long, bendy limbs and small heads in rounded blob shapes, using warm off-white backgrounds and cheerful accent colours to feel approachable without being specific.
Live preview base style — press Wear
$2,100
Revenue, up 12% from last month.
| Customer | Plan | Status | MRR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northwind | Studio | Active | $1,240 |
| Acme Labs | Team | Trial | $0 |
| Kaldi Coffee | Studio | Active | $860 |
Use this style 16 tokens
- --bg
oklch(97% 0.02 88) - --fg
oklch(16% 0.025 50) - --muted
oklch(50% 0.025 55) - --surface
oklch(100% 0.01 88) - --surface-2
oklch(93% 0.022 84) - --border
oklch(88% 0.018 82) - --accent
oklch(64% 0.2 48) - --accent-fg
oklch(100% 0 0) - --focus
oklch(64% 0.2 48)
| Token | Value |
|---|---|
| --font-body | 'Nunito', ui-rounded, system-ui, sans-serif |
| --font-display | 'Nunito', ui-rounded, system-ui, sans-serif |
| --font-mono | 'Nunito', ui-monospace, monospace |
| --radius | 24px |
| --radius-sm | 16px |
| --shadow | 0 4px 20px -4px oklch(16% 0.025 50 / 0.1) |
| --shadow-lg | 0 20px 60px -10px oklch(16% 0.025 50 / 0.16) |
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Nunito:wght@400;600;700;800;900&display=swap');
:root {
--bg: oklch(97% 0.02 88);
--fg: oklch(16% 0.025 50);
--muted: oklch(50% 0.025 55);
--surface: oklch(100% 0.01 88);
--surface-2: oklch(93% 0.022 84);
--border: oklch(88% 0.018 82);
--accent: oklch(64% 0.2 48);
--accent-fg: oklch(100% 0 0);
--focus: oklch(64% 0.2 48);
--font-body: 'Nunito', ui-rounded, system-ui, sans-serif;
--font-display: 'Nunito', ui-rounded, system-ui, sans-serif;
--font-mono: 'Nunito', ui-monospace, monospace;
--radius: 24px;
--radius-sm: 16px;
--shadow: 0 4px 20px -4px oklch(16% 0.025 50 / 0.1);
--shadow-lg: 0 20px 60px -10px oklch(16% 0.025 50 / 0.16);
}Where it came from
Origin: Tech marketing illustration; Facebook's Alegria system by the studio Buck (2017)
The style grew out of flat illustration trends and was popularised by tech and SaaS marketing sites in the mid-to-late 2010s — Facebook's 2017 Alegria illustration system, created with the studio Buck, is its best-known source. Its combination of abstract human figures (no detailed faces or hands), warm palette, and non-threatening shapes made it easy to produce at scale and intentionally inoffensive. By the early 2020s it had become so ubiquitous — appearing on virtually every startup landing page — that its critics gave it the name "Corporate Memphis", a nod to the 1980s Memphis Group.
How to spot it
- Abstract human figures with simplified or absent limbs
- Large rounded blob shapes as primary compositional elements
- Warm off-white background with coral, teal, or lavender accents
- Flat fills with no gradients or shadows on the illustrations
Trade-offs
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Immediately friendly and non-threatening | Heavily overused — visually identical to thousands of other sites |
| Easy to produce at scale and with diverse representation | Communicates nothing specific about the product |
| Works well alongside product screenshots | Ages quickly as the trend matures |
In the wild
- SaaS and fintech marketing websites, mid-to-late 2010s
- App store illustrations and empty state graphics
- HR and people-operations tool interfaces
Use it when
You need friendly, diverse illustrations quickly — and distinctiveness is not a requirement.