Flat Design / Vector Minimalism vs Low Poly
フラットデザイン / ベクターミニマリズム / ローポリ
Flat Design / Vector Minimalism comes from UI Expression and Low Poly from Digital Art. One is style and the other technique. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Flat Design / Vector Minimalism
Reduces information to plain planes and color, portable across screens and media.
Low Poly
Leaves the few polygons and hard facet changes visible, using simplicity of form as the expression.
| Flat Design / Vector Minimalism | Low Poly | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 2010s– | 1990s– / revival |
| Family | UI Expression | Digital Art |
| Kind | Style | Technique |
| Cues | Uniform planes / Simple shapes / Few shadows / Clear color | Triangular facets / Angular contours / Flat shading / Few vertices |
| Best used for | Light, understandable explanation · Large sets of consistent figures | Scenes that must run light while still reading by silhouette alone · Backgrounds with many terrain and prop pieces held to one facet size |
| Type | A rounded sans-serif | Treat letters as facets too, extruded or laid flat on the surface |
| Composition | Simple silhouettes and clear hierarchy | Light from an angle where silhouettes read and facets separate depth |
| Material | Three to five colors; shadows only when they mean something | Flat shading, a fixed vertex budget, color assigned per facet |
| Caution | Figures easily become generic. Define your own ratios, lines and color rules. | Cutting vertices as the only goal removes the ones that defined the silhouette, leaving a lump nobody can identify. |