Corporate Memphis & Why Everything Looks The same Now | ARTISTS BEWARE

[@pureorangeness]

I’ve gotta say, trying to become a graphic designer during this “blanding” era is so frustrating because every client wants the exact same thing and its frustrating to try and practice and grow and experiment when it’s all the same. Hopefully we’re at rock bottom and going up soon, but tech people thinking they’re creative people and influencing the cultural zeitgeist really feels like the death of unique, interesting art in the mainstream. Art is so valuable and society actively deprioritizes in favour of capitalistic gain, then wonders why everyone is so depressed and fed up with sanitized slop

[@onemorechris]

if it helps, i’ve been around long enough to know these things always swing back and forth. things will change and their will be a wave to ride. good luck :)

[@cassinipanini]

"tech people thinking they’re creative people" we found the source of the problem folks 😭

[@Mordecrox]

Meanwhile me who had to wage war with artsy types and until recently desperately wanted unity and conformity: "No! Not like that!" (I mean those who put aesthetics over utilitarianism to the point an essential resource is cut or we can't add or adapt stuff without "compromising artistic integrity with a jackhammer". I loved one such lady that actually acquired cable technician certs to know what we techs need under the hood so we have playing space without touching the Mediterranean arabesque fixture or whatever you call it.

[@virtualtulips7734]

yeah, this was me. i'm 21 now and grew up around all the weird design of the 2000s, and especially the trendy throwbacks to modernist aesthetics during that time, that was something i aspired toward... the first chink in the armor kind of came when i watched for 12-18 months after iOS 7 was revealed, and every company rushed to arbitrarily adopt the flat aesthetic. i walked around reading Thoughts on Design in high school sort of becoming more and more aware of how much the stuff i loved was so different from what i'd have to do even if i managed to claw my way into a graphic design career. i gave up and now i'm still emo and have been unemployed for three months

[@Aelffwynn]

​@Mordecrox I think this war between artsy types and tech people could be helped if we emphasized well-roundedness instead of money and/or "aesthetics." Absolutely everyone who wants to be a professional should be challenged to grow, both in technical areas AND creative. Right now, we have a lot of technical types who don't have the benefit of understanding art, and a lot of artsy types who don't benefit from understanding math or science. Even though they're required to take classes in the others' areas, they're usually dumbed down versions of those classes so that people can put all their effort into their chosen area and be lazy in the other. This is very, very wrong, imo. Because it leads to BOTH groups thinking the other one is stupid in a way, instead of fostering appreciation for the other group.

[@stackermuse]

Reminds me of an article: Instagram causes coffee shops all over the world look identical. Homogeny can feel safe.

[@Animefreak242]

Gentrification

[@pattheplanter]

@@Animefreak242 Generification.

[@Iquey]

Sort of... Sort of safe. Maybe every cafe should have a weird little corner that is in the back, that only you can find it if you're looking for it.

[@Breadcrochets]

Homogeny feels safe, and hegemony commits genocide

[@indfnt5590]

I call it “corporate memories.” We all have the same memories of the same places. That’s why it’s important to keep your own art and enjoy the small things with people you love.

[@sourmilke]

As an archi student, I also can’t help but feel how limiting modern architecture is. Not only in style, but in purpose as well. What you said about the apartment buildings can be said for other parts of the world too. From where I’m from, shopping malls (aside from the abundance of corporate/apartment buildings that we have as well) are what take up most of our city’s hotspots bc of how profitable they obviously are, becoming places to do anything and everything from doing groceries to hanging out with your friends. But even then, these spaces can become overly repetitive and suffocating. So many of these malls take advantage of the fact we can’t relax without spending for food or coffee to sit somewhere comfortable. Which is why it’s important to have diversity in third spaces (and just in case you haven’t heard of what a third space is: “Third space” or “third place” refers to places that are separate from home and work/school. Some examples could be museums, parks, and libraries), and that also means creating third spaces that are accessible to everyone that don’t become capitalistic pursuits. Having diversity in such spaces can become key ingredients to increasing not only a city’s inhabitants’ psychological/emotional health but are able to build tight knit communities and stronger bonds.

[@CatherineGraffam]

Totally agree. Unfortunately the recent wave of homogeny is just a new, and more globalized flavor of the mall invasion!

[@vylbird8014]

... so that's why my local mall has do little seating outside of the dining areas. It makes sense now: You want to sit down, you have to buy food.

[@BambiTrout]

It also seems like instead of building for a purpose, the buildings are made first, and then sold to whoever has enough money, and then rented to the people who actually need the space, so everything has to be as neutral and Jack of all trades-y as possible, because whatever you build has to be an office/apartment/shop/hotel/rehearsal space/etc. and as such, it compromises on ALL of them.

[@vylbird8014]

@@BambiTroutEven just housing has the same problem. Most of it gets brought up by landlords - sometimes individuals, but often property companies that manage thousands or tens of thousands of homes. They can afford to outbid individuals who want to own a home to live in, because the monthly rent they can take in can be easily twice the cost of a mortgage payment. It's one reason that governments are very afraid of taking any action that could /lower/ rents too much. If the rents fall to much too fast, some of those properties become net-losses for their owners - the cost of financing the debt becomes more than rent. Then renters get kicked out because their house just got repossessed by a bank or sold off to a developer.

[@katzap4494]

I love your channel

[@tinykites5987]

The thing with the cheerfulness is that it feels like the ideal vision of an office or workspace. Yknow like a boss' fantasy of a happy little team of coworkers each with their own unique traits seamlessly working towards a goal and it making them happy and fulfilled. That it reminds me so much of how workforces get idealised by upper management is the bit that tips it into super weird for me. Thanks for your perspective - it's interesting to think about how familiarity is now a hot commodity.

[@dirkvoltaar]

This style “tends to share a “vague sense of harmony, unity, and happiness, which is very foreign to me.” 😂 Love you Cat!

[@greenjellybeanz]

It's sort of poetic how I remember such a fun place like the McDonald's restaurant building as a kid, with its bright red exterior and yellow french fry roof beams, then watching it morph into the corporate grey and white square building that it is now as an adult as I learn more about the company. Same with the Target shopping building, etc. Really bums me out - but at the same time, it's tragically poetic.

[@atleyf3500]

Like the physical manifestation of your disillusionment with the world as you grow up

[@invalidletterdept2662]

After noticing all of this over the last decade, the most depressing blanding happened in skateboarding and bmx. You use to see a wall of skateboarding brand stickers in 98-2000 and each logo was so bold and eye catching and unique and now every skate brand is a simple sans serif typeface logo. Any brand can switch with any brand’s aesthetic and no one could notice the change. In bmx you had Haro Bike’s bold, graffiti bubble letter type, Hoffman Bikes diy hand drawn type and logos, Mutiny Bikes bold, horror theme’d type and logos that are now the same streamlined, coffee shop minimal branding. It’s sad

[@clev7989]

Really? I haven't really ever gone to one of the major shops like zumies (I have a local one I got a board from a few years back, and they had pretty sweet stickers that are on my pc to this day) but if that's what they're selling, it stinks. It's especially strange since there's so much creativity with the deck bottoms

[@invalidletterdept2662]

@@clev7989 yeah the deck graphics have always been amazing and still are, but the general branding for a lot of companies have been streamlined big time. Shoe companies, decks, clothing brands. The main branding and logos have been streamlined for a lot of companies compared to the past. It’s kind of depressing cuz skate culture was so anti everything just to become what it claimed it wasn’t, if that makes sense lol

[@clev7989]

@invalidletterdept2662 it makes perfect sense, I've never been much of a skater, but punk (which appears to me to have considerable overlap) has a deep appeal in its anti uniformity and rejection of the norm. To see that thrown away for mass appeal would be quite unpleasant for anyone into those cultures.

[@user-yo5yr9yr2h]

Something that has frustrated me about the conversation about alegria in other videos is that they fail to mention where it came from. It came from editorial illustrators that didn't work in the corporate space. It wasn't always this very uniform style. It was a style developed by young illustrators that just happened to be co-opted by big tech. It really could have happened to any style. I feel bad for the really talented artists that developed this style without the intent of forcing the rest of the art world to conform.

[@compromiseddiction5961]

This is somewhat of a tangent to the topic of this video, but considering the modern social anxieties associated with Corporate Memphis I think it would be an amazing illustration style to use for a horror story.

[@hanthonyc]

Oh my god, that's so perfect. I can totally see illustrations of these vector-people working together in some sort of violent, bloody, supernatural context... and yet, the imagery wouldn't immediately register on first glance, since everyone visually skips past them. Reminds me when I saw someone's brilliant rendition of Saturn Devouring His Son, in corporate memphis style.

[@compromiseddiction5961]

I'll do you one even better. Think about an interactive visual horror novel themed around the idea of one of those very uncanny retail corporate onboarding video lesson series and interactive quizzes. Except the 'what you would do' scenarios get more and more horrific as the player gets closer and closer to finishing the onboarding process. The player gets to realize that there's an malicious entity behind the friendly looking graphics, and it's intent is to force the employee into (maybe literal) soulless corporate compliance if their new hire scores below a certain deviation percentage on protecting company profits at all costs@@hanthonyc

[@clev7989]

​@hanthonyc I just looked that up. Holy moly is that dark but clever

[@compromiseddiction5961]

I'm glad you think so! I think Corporate Memphis still has potential as an art style, but I think that part of what makes it interesting as a contemporary art style is the hidden social baggage and anxiety that comes from how societies interact with it now. Honestly, I'd love to see more indie artists subverting the style to make more deliberate social commentary. Particularly since so many companies specifically use it to avoid active conversations about hard topics. @@clev7989

[@GALL0WSHUM0R]

@@hanthonyc oh my god that's so good, and when I searched for that I found a Corporate Mephis-style Judith Beheading Holofernes 😮

[@gaerekxenos]

I accidentally ended up in an architecture design course and they talked about this somewhat. "What makes a space" and whatnot, and how generic fabrications make it feel like every place is the same regardless of whether you are near the equator or the north pole despite each place having different needs for building requirements (eg. flat roof houses are not a good idea in a place where it snows). Unfortunately, they use the same designs everywhere because it looks like it works, but they don't realize the scenario is different so they end up with some lackluster product that is problematic in places. The University I attended had an architect from Europe (UK probably?) and they planned a building that was suitable for there -- except this was California, so the structure was incredibly flawed and needed extra modifications such as blinds for shade because people were getting blinded and burning under the large windows, and we had the water feature that was planned completely disabled because loldrought...

[@jagoda1895]

I will love any company with different, more maximalistic style. It is so rare nowadays

[@jff1073]

maximalism is great, but no matter what style a company uses, it's always gonna be in service of their bottom line in one way or another at the end of the day imo

[@clev7989]

​@jff1073 true, but since that what basically all companies do you might as well enjoy the ones that do what you as an individual like imo Though I suppose my comment isn't so much a rebuttal as it is a personal addition

[@shelleydenison]

Excellent video. Just wanna add a little bit of convo around the five over ones. I'm an urban planner, and we're always having conversations about how to meaningfully plan for and create cities that offer enough housing available across the entire income spectrum without just building the same buildings over and over and over again. It is totally true that using a design that already exists (and was probably designed based partly on optimizing material costs) is a lot cheaper than designing from scratch, and, theoretically, that means those kinds of housing units will be cheaper to buy or rent. Buuuut that doesn't actually happen all that much in practice; developers will market cheap af units as "luxury units" because they have stainless steel fridges and subway tile backsplashes and still make bank on them. Honestly, in my opinion, decomodifying (or at the very least significantly subsidizing) housing while also placing a lot of value on design and placemaking is the only real solution.

[@CatherineGraffam]

Thank you for your specialized perspective! I didn't go into how the buildings might affect the surrounding area just because I'm not really knowledgeable enough to make any claims, but your experience confirms some of my hunches!

[@vylbird8014]

We tried subsidising in the UK some years back, in a rather inept way - a flat subsidy payment to first-time buyers. This had exactly the impact you might anticipate: If you give people a wad of extra cash to buy a home, and price of homes rises by around the same amount. I suspect this was the intention: While the difficulty of affording a first home is a serious problem, for other people the home is their main lifetime investment and their retirement plan, so it would just anger a different group of voters if prices were ever to fall.

[@TMIvey-gk4mw]

I so deeply identified with this video. I’m in my 50s and grew up in Northwest Florida in a town that was all built during mid century modern and as soon as I graduated high school I persuaded my parents to drag us up to where at least there was some historic houses and interesting architecture. I describe myself as a maximalist librarian and I have an old queen and cottage I’m slowly fixing up.

[@gnowra]

IKEA I think is a big cause on the furniture side because they are so global and other brands want to copy their style. (Having said I’m not judging I usually can’t afford more than chipboard furniture either. )

[@CatherineGraffam]

I had a whole section about IKEA that I cut out, but yes this is true!

[@littlestbroccoli]

The "lacks sentimental value" part immediately put me in mind of IKEA, too.

[@UN_BOXT]

This entire video has given me a new level of respect for tumblr. The entire website feels like an elaborate shitpost sometimes i love it

[@davidkonevky7372]

The fact that they still let you change the HTML of your website? That's iconic

[@UN_BOXT]

@@davidkonevky7372 also their website themes! It adds so much more personalisation and colour in comparison to apps like instagram where its either light or dark mode (goth rave my beloved

[@hayana-sanjo]

Sadly, the site turns into a copy of Twitter. :(

[@Jawmsie]

Two things: Thing the first, I remember being at a marketing gig back in 2019 and seeing one of the company's designers like, languish at their desk putting together stuff for the place as they were grappling with this style. The place had been a little behind the blanding trend and was transitioning towards it. Every once in a while, on a lunch break, they'd work on their own ideas and it made seeing what they were forced to do that much sadder. Great analysis of this trend. It really rings true. Thing the second, I very much like your earrings. Leave it to an artist to accessorize well, I guess.

[@reesesapphire267]

i'm so glad someone else shares my feelings on 5-over-1s. like sure, denser housing is generally a very good thing for the health of cities. i agree with that. but when they all look exactly the same, marketed as "luxury condos/apartments", and the rents are often in excess of a thousand US$ per month... it just doesn't sit right with me.

[@rachelzenzile]

I have to say, I worked with Buck, on Facebook stuff, and they were using that style for YEARS prior. It was from original artwork that they did there. That was their brand - one stop shop from design to production.

[@kiaradoesart9682]

Your kitty giving you a kiss was the palette cleanser I needed today ❤😭

[@cuttlepods]

I came across your channel recently, and really appreciate your content around the inner workings of galleries and insights into what happens "behind the scenes" in the art business world. Keep it up! Cheers!

[@Plutoniumcube]

As an industrial design student, the brief tangent about Target home decor really stood out to me. In my education, there was so much discussion about Bauhaus modernism that the sort of design style that bred “Target decor” kind of seeped into my mind as what good design looks like. Although my tastes skew towards minimalism, this was a nice wake-up call to broaden my horizons and not be boring.

[@BrianWisti]

This solves a mystery for me. Why did those expensive West Seattle apartments we lived in have such terrible sound insulation? Why did they feel so solid when you stepped into the building, but so rickety when you actually settled into your new space? Five-over-one construction.

[@drawingmoo4109]

Illustrator/graphic designer here and dear Lord above you've articulated all my frustrations of the last several years in a very lovely and concise video. You GET it. Love that. I gotta say, I have been noticing some causes to hope: Maximalism has been gaining some ground. I pray it's not gonna get co-opted like graphic minimalism did ;-; but I also love the direction designers like Jessica Hische have gone in- check out her book covers if you haven't seen them already. I think we've got a shot at turning the tide as long as we keep trying to send the message that NO, no, we're not going to all fall in line and make the same art and consume the same art style, and we're not going to feed into the lie that megacorps and tech firms are friendly happy families on the same level as us. Fight the system. Make whatever you want. Note: I know this isn't practical for everyone as work, but, we're artists and we still get to have fun. We've got the creativity and the training to go HAM.

[@von186]

i'm so jealous of designers who were working in the 90s, because they go to do so much more different stuff with their work. nowadays its all so boring, but if you don't adhere to the standards, you get in trouble. super frustrating

[@etaientclair]

I'd love to hear you talk about same-iness in illustration trends as well, the sort of Loish-ification or CalArts-ification of everyone's art styles is starting to wear a little thin, at least to me.

[@henryglennon3864]

Architect from [near] Portland, Maine here. Good call out on the section on architecture, and the 5_over_1. A couple of notes from this side of the industry. 1. Another major reason all new buildings look the same is because of the mass production of building materials themselves. In medium and large scale projects, each material and product in a building must be certified to several quality and safety standards, which is good for public safety; but bad for diversity of selection, because this process is [A] expensive and [B] means that buildings are built from an ever shrinking grocery list of prefab components, which can only be assembled a half dozen ways. 2. There were only ever six mega-corporations in North America that produce building components, and they've merged into maybe two, depending on how specialized the component is. 3. Building interesting things that draw from local history and architectural tradition costs more than not doing that, in time, and skilled labor; both in construction and design. The fact of the matter is that a ring-tailed lemur can assemble a Holiday Inn, but it takes an actual craftsman to build even the least complex classical facade, let alone design and draw the damn thing. Most of us architects are SHOCKINGLY bad at actually drawing.

[@CatherineGraffam]

Thank you for this addition! It is something I wanted to touch on but didn't for the cohesion of the video. Some of this is new info to me though! God do I hate that building on Washington Ave Ext!!!

[@YukaAkemi]

I have watched many vids abt corporate Memphis and I will literally still watch ur vid, i love hearing ur take on art even if it’s a topic others have already done ! Your commentary and background in art are always one if my favs, you have an artists perspective to these topics

[@CatherineGraffam]

Thank you so much! I talk negatively about a lot of art related things but its because I truly love it and hate when it's used for harm.

[@CptKosher]

While interning at Society of Illustrators around the summer of 2018, I noticed this style pop up a lot in the student submissions for their annual student art competition (mostly for the editorial category). I didn't really understand why it was so prevalent at the time, but now I'm certain many schools were pushing their students to adopt the art style since it would likely lead to jobs. One of my art professors around the same time mentioned to me how it may be popular now but in 10 years when that style (referring to corporate memphis) goes out of fashion, what are those artists left with? I don't think its inherently wrong to follow a trend (especially if it leads to work), but I don't think its worth it if it means its a detriment to finding your own voice in art.

[@luisdavidllense2293]

Blanding in home-staging during the recovery bounce of the 2010s was all about how neutral you can get your house for sale to look. During my stint as a real estate agent, I've noticed that the charming homes that were left imbued with the previous owners' personality were swiftly rejected by potential buyers, whom would ultimately favor what I came to call the 'blank canvas' homes that were obviously being flipped by some clever cash-grabbing opportunist/ private equity firm. Clever enough to buy up the distressed property at a massive discount, put a new coat of earth-tone neutral paint on the walls, and re-sell it for twice (or more) its value. Thanks to the blanding trend (and in large part the fantasies sold on HGTV), buyers would often gravitate towards these obvious grifts. But FOMO and social proofing are what suckers are made of in the end. This, of course, also helped reinvigorate the housing bubble that we are still experiencing today. It seems that nothing was learned from the 2008 crash.

[@littletinyegg]

I will be using the term "meat space" to talk about the real world going forward, thank you

[@shelleydenison]

same!

[@littlestbroccoli]

This is a loooong standing term in the tech realms. Please use it with that knowledge.

[@littletinyegg]

@@littlestbroccoli ohhhhhh for sure, wouldn't want to appropriate the tech realm

[@shelleydenison]

@@littletinyegg their culture is not a costume. /s

[@koketsok1513]

so I will give a perspective form a motion design position "Dont animate the grain,dont give it depth,think shape and implied motion" From an animation and corporate perspective the corporate people style ,I have come to call "post-geo/ cultural asymmetry"(as they really dont want it to be specific to any region and want it to feel like you can find this anywhere"change the language and its the same"kind of deal) is a pretty fun style,you reliable get customer(mostly startups) who want that google/facebook look.The one thing I have noticed is the emphasis on non-specific they want people ,but they dont want culture or any indicators that the person has a history,they want the illustarted/animated person to perform tasks,but nothing specific just a motion that implies a task is being done. The best vibes I can guess these companies want it "non representational communications"they want the feeling of community,but not the bagge,they want to shine al light on what they can do,but not really anything the questions the status quo. They want shapes to represent people without having to pick a side,or to acknowledge that their is a side ,80% of my job while designing/animating this figures is removing personality and well "focus on shape"because the message needs a shape,but they dont want to acknowledge the message is for people so what is a message when the people its meant for has no shape,well its just corporate.anything hat does not deliver the message in a simple,non intrusive,no representative,non apology way is seen as noise. pays well tho

[@shannonm.townsend1232]

You read my mind, and answered many of my questions about our hellscape. Possibly not unrelated, I live in a mini-McMansion that is nearly Bauhaus-ian lin it's lack of any ornamentation but nonetheless thoroughly disgusting/soul-killing due to careless, almost absurdist design and shocking lack of even casual workmanship. A final unsettling detail is that many of the build features seem slightly smaller than adult scale, and despite things like high ceilings, including a lot of dead interior vertical space, give the impression of a play house, or a Potemkin house. .

[@kinglarry3727]

I loved the comical distain in your face at the intro when you said “happiness”

[@SirisLayer]

Genuinely loving these videos. I feel like some of this can also be said about Animation. I am myself victim to this, as my art is often inspired by Ghibli and Anime I enjoy. But I am always excited when I see an animated show or film that actually looks and feels actually different but doesn't comodify the art to be still aesthetically pleasing to the viewer. I can't express how vital it was for me to not watch only TV/major cinema production animation, but animated shorts from film festivals and animation from creators who made their work outside of regular production parameters.

[@katie_a1075]

As a self taught mixed media artist I had no idea what this style was or it’s origins but I see it everywhere. This was so educational and insightful!

[@Lunaruaria]

The smash your finger into a car door makes me love this so much 🤍💜🖤💛

[@llynhunter]

Sometimes the algorithm gets it right. This is my first time watching one of your vids - and the KZbin suggestions on my home page sent me here. I'm primarily a professional storyboard artist for animation and listen / watch KZbin while I'm working. Thanks for the information and the commentary and I will be checking out the rest of your content. Also, I used to do a ton of CCG's in the early 2000's in acrylic. The gaming industry wants all its artwork slick and photoshopped, so I have had to change my style and medium to fit. Before computer, illustration was wide ranging in styles. it has become very homogenized in the past 15 years, but then illustration by nature is driven by capitalistic intent. (P.S. love your black drop earrings and your kitty & pup).

[@Mag_1418]

I'm an artist who works in this style, and it irks me when someone says it's soulless, when I pour my soul into it. And I wouldn't exactly call it "easy to produce", it still takes technical skill and knowledge of art theory. My question is what comes next? While I like working in this style, I don't see it staying relevant for much longer. Not sure where to go from here.

[@EllenBrown-v6c]

I lived in one of those 5 over 1 apartments and the wall leaked every time in rained. I thought this was such an interested video, though. You put words on a lot of visual nuances in our world that I’ve been noticing but not able to describe well. Also, your eye makeup is perfect and I looked at it the whole time

[@SIQN-]

Just wanted to say that you popped up in my recs. Thanks KZbin!! I’m catching up with your videos and essays, and I want to say something about a quick aside you said in an old video. You basically mentioned your mullet haircut, and that is what feeds my comment. I love the hairstyles you have going on through your vids. They’re always super cute. Anyway, there’s my random comment.

[@SIQN-]

Wanted to follow up and say I’m really enjoying your videos. Looking forward to your future ones. :)

[@davidkonevky7372]

This is why I was so happy when Burberry changed their logo from their awful rebranding from 2018 with that pattern nobody used to their old illustration looking logo and serif font. It really felt like the first time a rebrand did more good to the brand than just plain old homogenization

[@Marlodrama]

Thank you for drawing these strings together. This ish is SO dystopian and its everywhere.

[@howaboutnooo00]

Algorithm suggested me this video of yours! Very good dissection and connection of surrounding blandness. Like, I remember my reno crew being shocked that I want color in my flat, not gray floors or metro tiles in my kitchen. They even tried to talk me out of pink walls but nooope. Color, goddammit. Subscribed :)

[@JonGarcia]

Perhaps I'm jaded over my many decades in graphic design, but this doesn't feel different from anything that came before-it's just how trends are. Something creative breaks through an existing saturated trend and then everyone else wants that and the new trend saturation cycle begins anew. It's not intentionally insidious, but it can come down to business cost savings and general ease of use & execution-for the business owners and the designers. I think it starts with people just like to copy things they like. When a trend is new, designers are just as eager to play with it as business owners are and try their own spin on it (with varying degrees of success). Corporate Memphis truly is best described as the current modern clip art. It helped to break away from the horrendous office stock photography because it allowed designers in all companies some additional creative control & expression. It's a style that is far easier to execute and manage assets for than actual photography. It also can be extremely customized to align with your brand. However, most designers and their employers are not capable of successfully turning trends into completely unique brand executions, which just adds to the homogenization and eventual saturation. In general, it's hard as hell to sell any brand or ad concept that doesn't feel familiar (or trendy-ish at minimum). Your clients are rarely different from their customers in that they want reassuring security in what they're putting their time & money into. For the client, it's risky to sell off-trend. For a buyer, it's risky to buy off-trend. Very few people are up for risk. People in general like the familiarity of trends until it's supersaturated to them personally. (Once that happens, let it rest for at least 5-10 years before resurrecting it as nostalgia-bait, but that's a different discussion.) Regardless of any design trend, best to remain focused on your target audience and keep your voice and brand expression as honestly authentic as possible. (Sometimes that may mean following a trend in a homogenous way, and that's not always a bad. Being "basic" can be honestly authentic.)

[@SoraiaLMotta]

Globalization aesthetics homogeneity it's also part of this process. It's really boring seen photos of huge city around the world and seeing the same type of buildings, casual wear, American fast food chains, pop songs. I'm on the side of cultural quota for movies, streaming etc because is really an up hill battle to produce own local or nation cultural piece (or product) in direct competion with holywood blockbuster with army sponsorship. Or even in nation productions for mostly american streaming services, the storys and aesthetics must fit with in the catalog / and values, it's not an "american prodution" but american payed and made in "quota country". building up again the egg and the chicken cycle of influences. another great take Cat. Thanks for sharing.

[@violetplacencia9916]

thank you for taking 6 months of your time to make this video, I can tell this was hard to make and I appreciate it. Thanks to you I learnt something new :D I hope you have a nice day and keep growing your creative journey.

[@fredpeterson75]

Cat I'm not any sort of art professional, I just watch your videos for entertainment, but I just wanted to say thank you for putting a name to the style I have always loved, the Memphis Group stuff. I never knew that before. I just knew it when I see it.

[@brianh9358]

This monotony of design I think really started to take hold with the adoption of flat design for websites. It was like overnight everything had to be flat design - icons, drawings, video characters (i.e. Vyond contemporary characters), power. Humans basically feel more comfortable following what is accepted - even if it is a really bad path to follow. I do believe that we can blame Apple for the acceleration of flat design in 2013 with IOS7.

[@thedanyrus]

Amazing video, I saw this style when I was younger and was fascinated because I saw it everywhere, corps love it and I thought it was the right way to do, I've changed my mind nowadays not because of the video but the lack of creativity in these kind of trends.

[@lily_lxndr]

This was such a good one, I’m glad you weighed in

[@CatherineGraffam]

thank you!! that means a lot coming from you!

[@lily_lxndr]

@@CatherineGraffam ☺️☺️

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

6:09 b Vibe uses this a lot in their educational materials and ever since I learned about what it was I couldn’t unsee it

[@sockpant]

Im in the commercial/animation industry and i really enjoyed this take on corporate memphis and design in our world. never really though about how websites look monotonous these days! even when making an art portfolio, I shy away from making it look unique to also sanitize my own presentation as an artist.

[@ainselart]

I really appreciate the quality of your content. I hope you are doing well, you are doing a great job ! I learn a lot with your videos and I believe the subjects you share are important. Greetings from France.

[@CatherineGraffam]

Thank you! I am still recovering from surgery but I am doing well!

[@cindymotsinger]

Damn this is a perfect description of the vague hate I have of design trends.

[@werehog88]

"Corporate Memphis Cat isn't real, she can't hurt you" The thumbnail: 😃 In all seriousness, excellent video!!

[@aerocyte3359]

love this video 100%. corporate memphis feels so disingenuous to me. as you've stated, there's this weird mismatch between the cute, colorful aesthetics and the unsavory reality of the corporations behind them. it feels like it's lying to my face.

[@bobbyspeaker]

I love your take on this. Thank you for calling out that the style is nice, it’s the context and intention that’s the issue. Other videos seem to tend to attack the style itself which didn’t feel fair. Thanks for your addition to the conversation!

[@autokrohne]

Trends in commercial design came and go regularly. They are driven by clients .who want something that “looks like that”, and by young designers struggling to stay “on top of the latest trend”. There is often a degree of sameness in graphic design. Someone comes up with a unique approach to “stand out from the crowd”. If it’s successful - by winning awards or selling more products - then everyone starts to copy it. Because it’s what is “happening now”. In my years spent as a graphic designer and art director, I saw it happen over and over again. The same thing happened with websites and social media. Those who still use a style from the past are often derided for being “so behind the times.”

[@serily4524]

you are insane in the head, companies are lazy and want money, thats why this artstyle, cheap boring easy, nothing yo do with trends or clients

[@ms_ch]

thank you for this video i always had many bothering feelings towards these issues but didn't had the proper knowledge to explain the specifics on why to all of those (terminologies, history of art movements, knowing what's happening abroad) now i not only know better how to put into words but also know WHERE these issues come from (besides the obvious capitalism) much enlightening, very educational

[@earthygurl88]

I noticed it in books first. Florals and weapons around words must be fantasy, abstract faces must be contemporary fiction, person facing away from the camera must be historical, cartoon people must be romance, I hate it.

[@vylbird8014]

And animals usually mean it's for children. Sometimes this visual language is helpful to readers trying to assess the genre of a book while browsing. Twice now I have listened to audiobooks without looking at the cover at all, only to be surprised by gay erotica mid-story. Of course if I'd look at the cover and seen the topless well-muscled hunk of a man I would have known what to expect. Turned out they were actually decent enough stories, so that all worked out very well.

[@glitchsister]

those 5 over 1 apartments are just a sign to know what side of the street food is more expensive on, one side will have a single waffle and an over cooked egg with no salt for eight dollars, and the other side you can get five waffles, blueberry syrup, bacon and a coke for five dollars, with a discount, as long as you say hello first

[@lorafrisch8395]

In the south Bronx, NY the Port Morris neighborhood has a building that looks like a pre-fab and it is advertised as having luxury rentals.

[@nysaea]

Great essay, corporate memphis always made me uneasy for reasons I couldn't put my finger on, but that you've expertly articulated in 20 mins. Thanks for the great work! (also, if I may, I love your makeup)

[@Meri_Luo]

This art style is very familiar to me from magazine and web illustrations but I had no idea about it's name or origin or why it's so widespread, so for me this video was very helpful! I have been thinking of reaching out to magazines to offer my illustration services but this art style is one of the reasons I've been feeling discouraged. It seems that all magazine illustrations these days are made with this art style and that has made me think there is no place for my style. But this video made me think that maybe it's actually a strength that my style is different and clients will start to notice that people want to see something different and not just these weirdly colored flexible characters.

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

@10:53 if you look at the Red Raven Hostel in the Haight in SF they completely blanded it out. It used to be interesting. I'm a local. I'm upset at what they did to it ESPECIALLY in an arts district. @12:57 i literally viewed one of these during a rainstorm in Oakland, CA. The ceiling was leaking, there were no closets. I have never been so horrified. 😮

[@TheStitchWitchPodcast]

As an independent artist and small business owner , I try to design my products to suit my artistic vision and is true to what I think the world would benefit from, not what would make the most sales. unfortunately, that is what has caused me to be on the brink of shutting down. I dont think it's bc the art style is offensive or unappealing even. it's just saying SOMETHING, and people honestly would rather not be sold or hear anything in particular. I think so much of society has become aesthetically monocultural that it's almost a choice to veer away from that path. as an aesthete myself thats just SO sad and tragic, as aesthetic diversity like you said, is such a beautiful thing to love and cherish. unfortunately money talks and some of us just cant afford to make the art we think needs to be made... we have to make the ugly minimalist packaging that people are willing to buy.

[@rubenvasquez8592]

Creating visual art for the sole purpose of proffit is not necessarily deseptive. When you started the whole capitalism frame, I imediately thought of Sanrio's Hello Kitty, she's a design created with the sole purpose of making people buy merchandice; but hello kitty doesnt feel deceiving, even though it is a very minimalist, abstract product of maximiced cuteness.

[@blakelay]

Off topic but I love what you did with your makeup and hair! It looks so cute!

[@moço_aquele]

With regards to interior design, while I do agree that a lot of people have settled on bland decor, minimalism still has it's appeal. It doesn't need to be lifeless or soulless. I personally prefer it over maximalism because as someone with bad asthma, it's a lot a easier to keep things clean and dust free that way haha, not to mention I find the simplicity to be soothing.

[@onemorechris]

it works. which is frustrating because it’s cheap and easy. a lot of this kind of thing works even when we can see through it too. great video, hitting all the points.

[@MurrayJones-od2gd]

I go to school in Portland, and It hurts my soul every time a big condo go up, overshadowing the beautiful historic buildings next to them. They always stick out like a sore thumb.

[@AndrewTaylorPhD]

I think the thing for me about this art style is that while there are a lot of really great images that use it, it's also quite easy for garbage corporations to run off a few imitations in no time flat and the result is a *lot* of pictures that just look like someone can't do figure drawing and coloured it purple to cover it up

[@xingcat]

My niece just went looking for apartments in Portland, ME this past month (as she just graduated college), and it's honestly a bit disturbing, how much it's starting to look so much like the gentrified suburbs of every other state in the nation. I think I react strongly to this "blanding" of architecture and design partially due to growing up in New England, which has so many places so close together that started at slightly different times, so the architecture styles are wildly different, and now it all looks like office building strip malls, soon to be inhabited by Mattress Discounters stores. Also, it's so sad to me that bold, innovative designers like Memphis Group, which, I, having gone to college in the 80s, studied as a new, emerging style, suddenly become every Taco Bell interior in the 90s, and graphic design, which was so grungy and edgy in earlier years (due, in large part, to the fact that typefaces for things like zines or posters) is all just kind of the same, shallow pool of assets that are so similar because they're right at everyone's fingertips.

[@mrstiffanyalexandrashain4489]

Hello from Portland ME also. ❤ Glad the algorithm sent me to you, my phone must be listening to me angry swear about the current graphic design class I’m taking. Lol

[@Chris-xc6fd]

11:15 jeeeeesus i remember the first time I saw one of these, I genuinely thought it looked cool, then the next 20 apartment buildings that went up in my town looked exactly the same; now it's just god damn depressing

[@SpaceBandit666]

Please consider doing a video on consignment stores! I just left one after they started charging us credit card and building rent fees on top of us already paying for space rent in the store. The owner told me “but everyone else is okay with it!”

[@Jacob-gg1ng]

Coming from an eastern european immigrant family where a main complaint about soviet architecture was that it was so homogeneous, its really interesting to see the same thing happen in a western, capitalist form. I guess its reflective of the way that all institutions have corresponding ideologies to legitimize themselves but i also wonder if it’s something specific to the kinds of institutions that have developed under an industrial / post-industrial mode of production. I hope in the future we can create new institutions that function to propagate the ideologies of the people and its artistic expression in its many forms. In that sense i always prefer the styles of soviet architecture and art as thats at least its stated purpose even if it became homogeneous but yeah.

[@estellesuarez27]

This was an excellent analysis! Your video popped up randomly in my feed.

I aspired to be an illustrator, even received my MFA in Illustration at SVA in 2015. Unfortunately for me, this was prime "Corporate Memphis" time. My style being realistic digital, had only few avenues, i had some gigs, but nothing like the people who did corporate memphis or alike, which was widely adopted even in the editorial world, not just corporate one.

[@irvingwashingtonable]

Have you played Going Under? It's so on the nose with its parody of tech evangelism and worker exploitation that I couldn't actually finish it, but the imitation of Corporate Memphis for its character art is totally spot on.

[@NinasNon-Sense]

Oh gods, those buildings. We've got some in my tiny historic city as over priced student flats. They look awful. They're covered in some weird rust effect cladding that has since just turned into rust.

[@TwinRiver100]

0:48 love your hair style for this.

[@amaianita]

i wanted to comment that "actually 5 over 1 are good for america cause affordable housing and everything is in close proximity which is good for walkability" but if they're marketed as luxury apartments it's not good. on the other hand i compare this to the apartment where i lived in russia and they just. look better and feel better in every way. i didn't live in a commie block btw, i lived in a newly build apartment block that was basically 20 over 1. it was insanely bad. and expensive. and they delayed the time we should've moved in by 3 years. large housing developers are demons and they're everywhere

[@MilanKazarka]

Tbh, one other trend to humanize is the overuse of fun emojis in serious emails/messaging. It's a shortcut that if overused will lose its purpose.

[@vylbird8014]

Corporate leadership loves to promote a bit of casual, team, almost-family atmosphere among the workforce. It encourages them to slave harder and sacrifice more for the company.

[@alessandrasmith339]

I would just like to point out that all those 5 over 1 buildings are (even in cities where rent should be lower) either $1300 a month for Section 8 (which is absolutely ridiculous. Tenants generally still have to cover half of that rent themselves and its completely unethical to charge someone three quarters of their paycheck just for a space to live) or $2500 a month for a one-bedroom if you make just a little bit more than what you should be making to qualify for subsidized housing. Staying alive and staying housed is keeping people poor.

[@ihspan6892]

Very interesting observations. It was a pleasure to watch. Thank you!

[@luvuberrymuch49]

I don't hate the style, I just hate that the marketing for everything is "you're a human, right? Here are some humans! They all look so weird and different..... maybe one of them is you? Look at them using our product! Humans can use our product! pleasebuypleasbuypleasebuypl-"

[@LauraBow]

I guess this explains why people are so interested in the styles from past decades. Actual style was allowed back then...

[@DavidHadar2]

Great video. Corporate Memphis (I learn the term today) is as you suggest in other words still as style. Whereas other trends are seen as no style, as default, just how we do things. That’s why it’s easier to pick out and if you are correct will disappear soon.

[@ZZ-qy5mv]

I'll need to know more about them, but I don't mind 5 over 1s based on their average looks alone. I look at them from the perspective of having lived in Taipei, which has a lot of 5 story, bland-looking condos. Those buildings are uninspiring, but I loved the quality of life there. It makes a bigger difference what's around these 5 over 1s as well as how well they're constructed.

[@sluggybunny]

the five over one buildings plague where i live. my area had old art deco buildings but now everything is being replaced with those same style apartment buildings. they're also pushing out all the older & poorer residents and blocking access to accessible grocery stores and transportation (they literally torn down the bus stops) that style of building to me is violence, i have a knee jerk angry response to seeing it now

[@SpringNotes]

That's sad to hear 😑

[@adrianghandtchi1562]

12:44 that was my same concern as well, they would’ve been better off originally as the affordable housing that they were supposed to be, but their pricing is so insane that who the hell wants to live there? I would imagine that most of the units are vacant and if they aren’t well, I don’t know what else there could be.

[@jonhoops1]

I guess everyone is too young to remember the Yellow Submarine, seems like a big influence on this style.

[@mariawillam7404]

Thank you, that's a very helpful video! I love the fact you make such a reliable content ❤

[@pipeliner8969]

I first saw Google with this art style and then it started to be everywhere

[@djmannik]

used to work in a print shop dealing with architects planning 5 over 1 after 5 over 1 and it killed my soul a little luxury condo after luxury condo I want to die

[@Yashendwirh]

Is it like, a continuation of the vibe that was the Global Village Coffeehouse aesthetic?? It kind of reminds me of a tertiary palette to all that red, ochre, yellow and turquoise, but it's flat, where GVC had some shading that looked like it was chalk or stucco textured

[@CopperBoom42]

specifically in responce to the last "you know?" in the outro - I really, really, really do fucking know

[@cabin_quilt]

My family has been in the south bay area since long before the tech boom and I have unending ire for the whole blanding minimalism movement that's taken over there. My birth city is unrecognizable from how it was just 15 years ago and has been sucked of all its history and culture. Families who had been there for generations like mine can no longer afford to live there, and I'm left feeling like I don't have a hometown at all anymore. On google maps I recently took a look at my childhood home and was shocked to see it painted dark gray, the decorative elements of the fence shaved down to flat rectangles, any character or warmth the home used to have turned into this flat generic corpse of a house. Instead of being a place where people live and interact with each other, my birth city feels like a cold revolving door for hopeful techbros to rent in and commute through with no sense of community or history or culture. I'm hoping that when I move to the pacific northwest (like so many others who grew up in the bay area but can no longer afford to live there) I'll be able to finally put down roots and feel like I have a culture and community to belong to. Right now I just feel rootless.

[@chrishickory7907]

12:50 😂 THIS hits very hard for me, I live west of Pittsburgh, not a wealthy area, yet the land is littered with HOA neighborhoods with homes that barely have any furniture and new apartment complexes after another, WHO THE HE[[ IS RENTING/BUYING THESE??!! Pittsburgh is NOT Los Angeles