As a university student living in the tech-saturated, AI-obsessed hub known as the Bay Area, I am no stranger to the minimalist graphic style now ubiquitous across every major technology company. While this geometric style—known as Corporate Memphis or Alegria—has its merits in scalability, every app, landing page, and web ad began to blur into the same rounded, disproportionately limbed sameness. My eyes were starved for inspired designs. That is, until I stumbled across the East Asian Graphics Archive.

The East Asian Graphics Archive, or EAGA, was founded in 2023 by creatives Makisa Bronson and Melisah Seah. Open-source and community-led, the EAGA strives to celebrate and preserve East Asian visual culture through the intentional curation of a contemporary graphic design archive. Their expanding collection features digital art, computer graphics, typography, print, and more.

As a collection-based archive, EAGA’s archival strategy invites a more intentional, leisurely appreciation of art than the typical glance and scroll. Every piece is paired with a brief curatorial note, alongside links to the featured artists’ pages for further perusal. Furthermore, EAGA’s collections challenge stereotypical notions of “East Asian” design; rather than highlighting designs for the mass-market appeal of “aesthetic” ethnic content, they treat the graphics and their creators as artists in their own right. Each collection is a brightly colored, whimsical investigation into the ways designers are translating contemporary culture into graphics.

Take their Lunar New Year collection, titled “Shades of Abundance,” for example. As one of East Asia’s most important holidays, the red-and-gold visual language of Lunar New Year is as familiar as breathing to many communities. “Shades of Abundance” pushes traditional narratives and asks how these nostalgic motifs can be reinterpreted in fresh, contemporary ways.

The curation of any archive is a daunting task, especially one that strives to create its own archival practices outside of Western conventions. But the EAGA meets this challenge with whimsy and creativity, creating a platform that doubles as a playground for those with Corporate Memphis-sore eyes.

Cover image: Designs from Korea, China, and Japan featured in the EAGA’s first collection “The Genesis.” Image via SUPERSALADSTUFF, At Design, Shun Ishizuka.