Corporate Memphis

Widely associated with Big Tech illustrations in the late 2010s[1] and early 2020s,[2] it has been met with a polarized response, with criticism focusing on its use in sanitizing corporate communication,[1] as well as being seen as visually offensive, insincere, pandering and over-saturated.

[3] Flat art developed out of the rise of vector graphic programs, and a nostalgia for mid-century modern illustration.

[citation needed] Once Facebook had adopted the style, the sudden ubiquity of vector graphics led to a critical backlash.

[3] The style has been criticized professionally and popularly (including in myriad internet memes) for being overly minimalistic, generic,[6] lazy,[2] overused, and attempting to sanitise public perception of big tech companies by presenting human interaction in utopian optimism.

[1] Criticism of the art style is often rooted in larger anxieties about the creative industry under capitalism and neoliberalism.