In 2013, Apple launched the iOS 7 system, from skeuomorphism to flat design, controversy like a tide, a wave of non-stop wave after wave, but even so, the skeuomorphic design has also become popular, and major technology companies appear in all corners of the world.
To this day, the crusade against flattening continues, not because of the recent rise of a new round of Reddit forums, to be precise, flat character illustrations made by facebook, Google, Slack and other technology companies.
▲ Character illustrations on Adobe, Tik Tok, Google pages. Image courtesy of Fastcompany
Simple lines, huge bodies out of proportion, brilliant colors, under the heavy use of technology companies, this kind of flat figure illustration is becoming more and more popular, and its popularity has even reached the point of annoyance.
Big tech companies fall in love with flat figure illustration
This abstract, flat character illustration emerged back in 2010, and Facebook was one of the first major companies to use such illustrations, and it established a special category for them.
Facebook calls it the Alegria style and establishes the core principle: the design style is based on flat geometric shapes, oversized limbs and non-representational skin tones, giving the illustrations of the figures a "universal feel".
▲Example of Alegria style illustration. Image credit: Facebook
Exaggerated limb proportions, simplified eyes and other human features, rich colors, are important features of the Alegria style.
In practical applications, these illustrations are often used in a variety of interfaces containing human-computer interaction, web pages, applications, posters, everywhere, a few strokes to outline a character, with the movement animation, vivid.
Now you open the pages of well-known technology companies such as Adobe, Google, Tik Tok, and you can see how common this kind of illustration is, and even they are not only satisfied with the Internet, but also the illustrations on large offline billboards and water glasses, all of which have Alegria character illustrations.
▲ Box with Alegria style illustrations . Image credit: Reddit
The love of Alegria character illustration by large technology companies has contributed to its large number of applications, and small and medium-sized companies have begun to follow the trend under the influence of large companies, from the network to the network.
To some extent, Alegria style character illustrations define the flat appearance of technology companies, and once people see similar illustrations, they can quickly associate them with technology companies, which also gives rise to various ridiculous names for Alegria winds - global homogenization (globohomo), enterprise technology wind.
▲ Image courtesy of Reddit
When a thing appears frequently, to the point of flooding, it is often easy to cause people to resent, Alegria style character illustration is no exception, the conspicuous large color block was originally used to highlight the liveliness of the character, but frequent appearance will make the visual effect too gorgeous, and it is easy to get bored after watching for a long time.
More importantly, not all companies and illustrators can control the scale of design, and many users on Reddit's forum have complained that Alegria style character illustration is too ugly, and it appears frequently like "visual garbage".
For example, this food illustration, perhaps based on the consideration of exaggerated characters' limbs, the character's arms are elongated a lot, looking like the powder in the bowl, looking very strange, and does not show the liveliness of the Alegria style.
As the number of spitpers increased, alegria even became a meme, what would it be like if character illustrations appeared in the real world?
The Reddit user put the answer to it in action:
▲ When Alegria illustrations come to the real world . Image credit: Reddit
Even in the field of professional design, there are also people who complain about Alegria style character illustration, the most common point of which is that the overpopular Alegria wind inhibits other creations, when everyone pursues the same style, the authorship and independence of the work are difficult to show, it looks like a similar ocean, grand but also cold.
Why is it popular?
Speaking of which, you may also be wondering, why has Alegria wind energy become a favorite of tech companies and is popular around the world.
In fact, flat illustrations based on geometric shapes first appeared in various art paintings, such as various simple figures in murals, and the lines were simple enough to make people feel the agility of the figures.
▲ "The Maiden of Avignon". Image courtesy of: wiki
The exaggerated limbs in the Alegria style, it is difficult to say that there is no learning from various abstract art paintings, such as the famous painter Picasso's "The Girl of Avignon", as few strokes as possible, coupled with exaggerated limbs and bright and moving colors, it is easy to make people feel good.
That's probably why Facebook gave the style the name Alegria, a word that means "happy" in Spanish.
More importantly, Alegria adapts to the rapidly changing communication environment in recent years, mobile phones, planes, computers, screens have become the main medium for people to obtain information, flat reading has become the main scene, simple and bright character illustrations are easy to remember, adapted to various proportions and even sizes of screens, easy to spread quickly.
In the wave of globalization, technology companies across the mountains and seas, into many countries and regions around the world, how to deal with different cultures is very important, Alegria style character illustration can just solve this problem, simple lines and large color blocks blur the character characteristics, no clear face shape only outline is the norm.
When the character erases its characteristics, it becomes much easier to integrate into the local culture, and in the Introduction to Alegria's Design Style, Facebook also emphasizes the "universal sense" of the characters.
▲ Spotify character illustrations
What do illustrators who make flat styles think of the popularity of Alegria's design style, and I asked my illustrator colleagues at the company, and she said:
- From the perspective of content display, the lively and rich colors, coupled with the use of exaggerated lines, are both artistic and interesting, which is one of the best ways to illustrate
- From the production point of view, due to the simple lines and the use of large color blocks, it is relatively faster to make a map, adapting to the fast-paced development trend of technology companies
▲Image from: Facebook
The potential for excellent visual display, adapting to the development trend of big tech companies, and the ease of dissemination in the flat world have contributed to the popularity of Alegria style character illustrations, and the increasing penetration of technology companies into daily life has also brought it from the Internet to life.
Find depth in popularity
Popularity is an important reason why Alegria style illustration is disliked, the quick and easy to copy feature allows it to quickly occupy many countries and regions around the world, it is normal that the novelty is no longer favored, and there are indeed many abuses.
As mentioned earlier, although the lines are simple, the exaggerated body structure is not suitable for all situations, which also causes some not-so-good Alegria character illustrations to appear in the public eye, deepening people's dislike of the style.
▲ Illustrations that are too flashy may cause visual fatigue. Image credit: Reddit
This does not mean that the popularity of alegria is worthless, but there are also many professional illustrators who have tried to prove it, illustrator Michele Rosenthal has been illustrating since 2007, and at first she made most of her character illustrations for children's picture books, even if these illustrations have a distinct Alegria style feature - huge human body parts.
The child's innocent nature allows them to quickly understand exaggerated illustration characters, and in various enlightenment picture books, exaggerated illustrations can attract children to look at it well.
Around 2012, Rosenthal began receiving orders from tech companies, and the style of the final production didn't change much, and tech companies wanted to provide a sense of familiarity.
It makes illustration a profession feasible.
▲ Illustration of the 2021 Year in Review by Rosenthal
Rosenthal said that the popularity of Alegria and the development of technology have made it easier to use computers to produce vector-based, geometric character illustrations, and the continued needs of technology companies have spawned corresponding professions rather than the artistic expression of a few artists.
What's more, there are still some illustrators who pursue depth and self-expression in the ocean of popularity, not only for clients like tech companies, but also for their own productions.
Rosenthal, like many illustrators, has set up his own portfolio website with both company-oriented works and individual works, such as this "The Early Riser", which is also simple lines supplemented by large color blocks, which accurately describe the difficulty of getting out of bed in a very interesting way.
▲ Image courtesy of Rosenthal
Popular products are always updated, people are always seeking "fresher", which is also a question that authors always have to ask when they get up every day: how to create something fresh without repeating yesterday.
It is this pursuit that gives birth to those classics that span time.
Title image from: Facebook