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If the designer is reading this thread. My fellow human, please swap out the corporate memphis landing page image with something that's less overused in web des

by mhitza 4y ago

If the designer is reading this thread. My fellow human, please swap out the corporate memphis landing page image with something that's less overused in web design today.

metadaemon 4y ago
May be a facet of the page they have no control over and is a bit besides the point
klabb3 4y ago
For people who don’t know, Corporate Memphis (aka Alegria, Homoglobo) is a style of illustrations that features extrahuman attributes, such as non proportional bodies and non-existing skin colors. It has been credited to Facebook, and was explicitly made to be modular (as in designers are replaceable). Obviously beauty is subjective, but to me this style has strong connotations of cynical corporations, eerie feelings of minimalist facelessness, toxic positivity and an anxious alignment with current political winds, clear enough to minimize scrutiny but vague enough to be entirely unactionable. The mood words are growth hacking and user engagement.
- userbinator 4y ago
  extrahuman attributes, such as non proportional bodies and non-existing skin colors In particular, huge bodies and tiny heads; it's the exact opposite of tiny bodies and huge heads, which also exists as a style, one that is rarer outside of Japan but definitely has an opposite connotation for me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibi_(style) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibi_(style)
- georgeburdell 4y ago
  I thought this style of artwork was quite common in the 90s in the corporate world?
  - klabb3 4y ago
    I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a reincarnation, such is the cycle of trends after all, but I’m pretty sure this iteration is fairy distinct. I would be super curious if you have some examples though. Are you thinking like clipart?
    - georgeburdell 4y ago
      Yes I think this style can be seen in clipart. I don’t have a great source but you can see the style in the examples in this article https://amp.smh.com.au/technology/microsoft-clip-art-is-dead-as-bing-takes-over-office-image-duties-20141202-11yaoz.html https://amp.smh.com.au/technology/microsoft-clip-art-is-dead...
tannhaeuser 4y ago
Not only that, there's also the Islamic/Hadith ban of depicting any person, making this a particular bad idea (if the reduction to role models in a corporate memphis style graphic isn't dehumanizing enough in itself).
- 542458 4y ago
  I’m not Islamic, but my understanding is that Islamic aniconism is generally restricted to representational art in religious contexts. Outside of that context there isn’t generally considered to be a prohibition. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam
andrewflnr 4y ago
...are we looking at the same image? https://cdn.w3.org/cms-uploads/Hero-illustrations/groups.svg https://cdn.w3.org/cms-uploads/Hero-illustrations/groups.svg ? I don't think that's "Corporate Memphis". A distant relative at best, but it's main similarity is being a little bit abstracted. I kind of like it, actually, as iconified people go.
slmjkdbtl 4y ago
I like when softwares have quirky logos / graphics with personality, like Linux, Plan9, openbsd, there's a bunch more but can't think of them on the top of my head
- mhitza 4y ago
  GNU Guile's one is pretty good IMO https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/ https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/
ravagat 4y ago
Yes please! There's no point in having the image/illustration too. Yes it would be dead/white space but thats not an issue at all

by mhitza 4y ago

If the designer is reading this thread. My fellow human, please swap out the corporate memphis landing page image with something that's less overused in web design today.

metadaemon 4y ago

May be a facet of the page they have no control over and is a bit besides the point

klabb3 4y ago

For people who don’t know, Corporate Memphis (aka Alegria, Homoglobo) is a style of illustrations that features extrahuman attributes, such as non proportional bodies and non-existing skin colors. It has been credited to Facebook, and was explicitly made to be modular (as in designers are replaceable). Obviously beauty is subjective, but to me this style has strong connotations of cynical corporations, eerie feelings of minimalist facelessness, toxic positivity and an anxious alignment with current political winds, clear enough to minimize scrutiny but vague enough to be entirely unactionable. The mood words are growth hacking and user engagement.

userbinator 4y ago
extrahuman attributes, such as non proportional bodies and non-existing skin colors In particular, huge bodies and tiny heads; it's the exact opposite of tiny bodies and huge heads, which also exists as a style, one that is rarer outside of Japan but definitely has an opposite connotation for me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibi_(style) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibi_(style)
georgeburdell 4y ago
I thought this style of artwork was quite common in the 90s in the corporate world?
- klabb3 4y ago
  I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a reincarnation, such is the cycle of trends after all, but I’m pretty sure this iteration is fairy distinct. I would be super curious if you have some examples though. Are you thinking like clipart?
  - georgeburdell 4y ago
    Yes I think this style can be seen in clipart. I don’t have a great source but you can see the style in the examples in this article https://amp.smh.com.au/technology/microsoft-clip-art-is-dead-as-bing-takes-over-office-image-duties-20141202-11yaoz.html https://amp.smh.com.au/technology/microsoft-clip-art-is-dead...

tannhaeuser 4y ago

Not only that, there's also the Islamic/Hadith ban of depicting any person, making this a particular bad idea (if the reduction to role models in a corporate memphis style graphic isn't dehumanizing enough in itself).

542458 4y ago
I’m not Islamic, but my understanding is that Islamic aniconism is generally restricted to representational art in religious contexts. Outside of that context there isn’t generally considered to be a prohibition. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam

andrewflnr 4y ago

...are we looking at the same image? https://cdn.w3.org/cms-uploads/Hero-illustrations/groups.svg https://cdn.w3.org/cms-uploads/Hero-illustrations/groups.svg ? I don't think that's "Corporate Memphis". A distant relative at best, but it's main similarity is being a little bit abstracted. I kind of like it, actually, as iconified people go.

slmjkdbtl 4y ago

I like when softwares have quirky logos / graphics with personality, like Linux, Plan9, openbsd, there's a bunch more but can't think of them on the top of my head

mhitza 4y ago
GNU Guile's one is pretty good IMO https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/ https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/

ravagat 4y ago

Yes please! There's no point in having the image/illustration too. Yes it would be dead/white space but thats not an issue at all