The New Logo For Trivago Is Not the Public’s Favorite

Trivago recently came out with a new logo that’s a bold approach towards re-branding the entire company. The original logo was simply their name, spelled out, and highlighted in three different colors. Now, we have this ring symbolized right in front of the now mono-colored name. This new design, however, does not replace the iconic tri-color Trivago logo that we’re used to seeing. The new ring style logo will only be used for corporate.

Who knows what the point of this was, or what the intentions of the design team were. It seems to me that they’re going for this sort of three-dimensional logo. it helps identify the company in more than one way. Personally, I really like the way the colors blend together. Other than the fact that it’s clearly a ring, the way the colors come together in such an abstract way is sort of calming. And God knows we all need a little comfort when spending a ton of money on hotels that we won’t even get to spend much time in anyways.

 

They also took the same new logo and simplified it a little. Instead of the vibrant colors in the ring, they’ve made the lettering all white and added an orange background. I would assume that we’ll see many variations of this logo according to what market it’s in, but only time will tell. I mean, it would make sense to use a blue or something a little less violent than orange for someone shopping for a hotel room in the Bahamas. That being said, it’s a little bit more of a minimalist, modern view for the new design. Which, is refreshing for any company.

 

A lot of critics aren’t huge fans of the new look. Some people are calling it a bold move, but the visual affect just isn’t there. What do you think?

Don’t forget to visit Webdesignledger daily to stay in-tune with your design needs.

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Best Database Design & DB Engine Books For Web Developers

Understanding database design is no easy task. It requires a deeper knowledge of the SQL language along with how to structure data. Thankfully some very smart programmers have written countless books on this topic to help beginners dive into database management for websites. I’ve curated the best picks here in this list and they range […]

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from Vandelay Design http://www.vandelaydesign.com/best-database-books/

8 Excellent Design Resources for Your Creative Projects

Creativity is an untamed beast. It’s possible to have them in spades one way where endless ideas seem to flow out of your head. There are days when your mind like an empty well that’s run out of inspired ideas.

As designers, you have the responsibility of sustaining creativity at all times. What seems like a simple task for you can be daunting later on especially when the demand for unique design ideas remains high.

Therefore, you need to keep your creativity on your toes at all times. You need to find a way to find inspiration and creativity even if both seem impossible.

Below are excellent design resources to help keep your creativity high and provide high-quality work for your client sites or your own.

1. Co.Design

Owned by Fast Company, Co.Design combines the best that business and design has to offer. The result is an irresistible publication about UI & UX, product design, architecture, and the like.

Co.Design also hosts the annual Innovation by Design Awards that showcase the best talents in the industry that provide innovative solutions to business problems. The handpicked jury will judge all entries according to different criteria for 15 categories.

2. Visual Journalism

Visual Journalism pushes the boundaries of how to share and communicate information without outright saying it. As the name suggests, it discusses infographic news and think-tank pieces that encourage designers to take a more analytical approach to design and content.

The publication extensively covers the Malofiej Awards which is an award-giving body for infographic creators. Visual Journalist didn’t pull back punches when it comes to its opinion pieces where it criticized the 2013 gold winner about gun control.

3. PSFK

To narrow down PSFK as a site about design ideas is insufficient. In a broader sense, the business intelligence platform helps creative professionals foster ideas and critical thinking in industries such as AI, product experience, augmented reality, and more.

PSFK offers two types of membership – Purple and Premium. The former gives you access to the latest and exclusive newsletters and content from the site. It also lets you buy their research reports as you go. The latter includes everything in the Purple membership in addition to instant access to the site’s analysts and researchers as well as workshops and conferences.

4. Hipsthetic

If you’re undertaking a creative project and are in need of resources and freebies, then Hipsthetic is for you! The blog is chockful of design resources such as freebies for digital art, fashion, design, photography, and others. For instance, if you’re looking for design elements for a website or digital artwork you’re creating, you can download its free paper texture pack.

Other freebies offered by Hipstetic include fonts, mockups, wallpapers, templates, and more.

5. Creative Bloq

If you’re a designer or a graphic artist, then you should be very familiar with Creative Bloq. It is your one-stop shop for all things design and digital art. It covers a wide variety of topics related to creativity such as illustration, art, web design, 3D, and more. There are different types of content to read from the blog for free as well. You can browse from its hundreds of how-to tutorials, reviews of design-related products and software, and a lot more.

To help connect creatives from all over the world, Creative Bloq holds different events and conferences over the years such as Vertex (for 3D artists) and Generate (for web designers), to name a couple. The commitment of Creative Bloq to help people launch successful design career shows through these events.

6. 99U

Similar to Creative Bloq, 99U is a great source of information for all levels of professional designers. Aside from the usual articles, the blog serves up a series of interviews with accomplished designers to help inspire you. It also features empowering videos about design delivered by main stage speakers from their 99U Conference which everybody can join and attend.

The Career section of 99U helps prepare people towards a sustainable and profitable career as designers. It has resources on how to get noticed by your target employees and hired by then, as well as get paid on time.

7. Trend Hunter

Creativity is ever-present in innovation. It doesn’t matter which industry you belong to – it is impossible not to fawn over products that push the boundaries of imagination and reality. Not to mention, the creativity that oozes from new products trickle down into the consciousness of others, which in turn help flow their creative juices.

Trend Hunter subscribes to this ethos by featuring innovative products from different industries and markets. Whether you’re into beauty, luxury, fashion, and tech, to name a few, the products will pique your interest and help grind your creative gears.

Aside from the products, Trend Hunter offers free assessment aimed to help you understand better what your innovation archetype is. The assessment also includes personal recommendations that help you realize your potential faster.

8. H&Co

There is inherent beauty in texts. People are accommodated to the written word as a conveyor of messages and ideas. However, looking at the bigger picture like the type designers from Hoefler & Co., texts can communicate beauty in itself.

The typography blog tackles issues that type designers face and ideas on how to share how texts are more than just words. From the blog, you can also get premium fonts for your projects to dazzle your clients and wow your audience with words.

Conclusion: design is everywhere

Judging from the sites featured above, it is safe to say that you can find inspiration even in places where you least expect it. Even for non-design websites from above, you can generate ideas for your upcoming projects. You can’t help but be inspired by the infectious creativity that shines through each site.

As long as you keep your mind open to new possibilities, you can productively channel your creativity with the help of these available resources.

Related posts:

How to Design Creative Websites – 22 Great Examples

Beautiful and Simple Logo Design Ideas for Your Inspiration

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from SpyreStudios http://spyrestudios.com/excellent-design-resources/

Using CSS Pseudo-elements and Pseudo-classes like ::before and ::after

CSS wasn’t always as flexible as it is today. By using CSS pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes, designers can target elements based on their dynamic states or positioning in relation to other elements.

Pseudo-Elements and Pseudo-Classes

There are two types of pseudo selectors: pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes. Either of these pseudo selectors is intended to select objects for styling based not on their name or attributes but their current conditions. Consider a:visited as a canonical example. This pseudo-class selects all links that have already been visited, but that state changes over time. More links get visited as the users spends more time on the page. The pseud0-class’s selection grows dynamically in response to user actions.

In modern practice, the difference between pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes isn’t obvious. Classes are based on an objects state, while elements are based on the objects position. Classes should be prefaced with a double colon (::) while elements get a single colon. It’s also possible to use a single colon for everything which is also supported by CSS 2. There are also far fewer pseudo-elements compared to pseudo-classes.

Standard Pseudo-elements

The standard pseudo-elements are as follows. Click each to learn more about its functionality:

• ::after
• ::before
• ::cue
• ::first-letter
• ::first-line
• ::selection
• ::slotted

Standard Pseudo-classes

The standard pseudo-classes are as follows. Click each to learn more about its functionality:

• :active
• :any
• :any-link
• :checked
• :default
• :defined
• :dir()
• :disabled
• :empty
• :enabled
• :first
• :first-child
• :first-of-type
• :fullscreen
• :focus
• :focus-visible
• :host
• :host()
• :host-context()
• :hover
• :indeterminate
• :in-range
• :invalid
• :lang()
• :last-child
• :last-of-type
• :left
• :link
• :not()
• :nth-child()
• :nth-last-child()
• :nth-last-of-type()
• :nth-of-type()
• :only-child
• :only-of-type
• :optional
• :out-of-range
• :read-only
• :read-write
• :required
• :right
• :root
• :scope
• :target
• :valid
• :visited

Our Favorite Examples

Using pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes, we can create some interesting styles with CSS. Here are some of our favorite examples.

Placing Content with ::after and ::before

After and before are used most effectively to place and generate content. With a snippet of CSS, you can place elements either after or before your selected object. Then, style and place the element to achieve the appropriate effect. It can be used to add contextual icons to text, print HTML next to links in your printing style sheet, or cleverly get around other styling problems. You can also style list numbers or create styled tool tips.

As example, consider placing text delimiters between navigation list elements:

.nav li:after {
  content: " * ";
  position: relative;
  top: 2px;
  left: -1px;
}

Creating Drop Caps with ::first-letter and :first-of-type

To produce interesting text styling effects, you can use the ::first-letter pseudo-element to select the first letter in a given element. But you don’t want that to apply to every instance of a paragraph in your text. You could apply a special class to your drop cap paragraph, but that’s hardly semantic and also annoying to code. Use :first-of-type to target only the first paragraph element on the page, ensuring your drop caps only appear in the first paragraph

p:first-of-type::first-letter {font-size: 1.5em;}

Styling Lists with :nth-child()

The nth-child selector is extremely flexible, capable of selecting an arbitrary number of child elements and following user-defined patterns. The selector takes a formula within its parentheses, allowing for an extremely specific method of determination. It follows the format (an+b) which isn’t as cryptic as it appears at first.

• a is a multiplier, multiplying the value of n by its own value.
• n counts up from zero. The first child element has an n of 1, the second has an n of 2, the third has an n of 3 and so on.
• b is an integer that adds to or subtracts from the result of the an multiplication.

Alternatively, the specifications odd and even can be used in place of an+b to select odd and even children of the parent element.

For example, :nth-child(2n) will select every even element. :nth-child(2n+1) will select odd elements, and :nth-child(3n) will select every third child element. Specifications can also be made directly: :nth-child(4) will select the fourth child element.

Conclusion

To learn more about pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes, visit Mozilla Developer Network’s robust list.

Coding Buttons in CSS

How to Change Default Text Wrapping with HTML and CSS

3 Features Every CSS Navigation Menu Must Have

 

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from SpyreStudios http://spyrestudios.com/using-css-pseudo-elements-and-pseudo-classes-like-before-and-after/

The Colorful World of Marta Cerda Alimbau DOTW#4

Marta Cerda Alimbau is that type of designer whose work is appreciated not only by the expert eye but also by the uninitiated people who simply stumble upon her work. You’ll find yourself scrolling through her pieces of work, trying to understand hidden messages and genius ideas. The talented designer combines personal fonts, complex shapes, and vivid colors in a way that lets you recognize her work from afar. This is why we believe that Marta Cerda Alimbau deserves a place in our Designer of The Week Series. Without further ado, we invite you to get to know Marta better by reading our interview with her.

WebDesignLeger: Tell us about you (a short bio).
I am an Amsterdam based independent artist, type designer, illustrator and art director. At the end of 2008, after working in agencies and studios between Barcelona, Düsseldorf, and Munich, I won the ADC Young Guns and decided to found my own studio. Since then, I work for arts, culture and advertising clients abroad, and my main body of work is focussed on the boundaries between typography and illustration. I also lecture about design at creative conferences and universities internationally.

WebDesignLeger: How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Marta Cerda Alimbau: Expressive, awkward, persistent.

WebDesignLeger: When did you discover your passion for design?
Marta Cerda Alimbau: Well, this is something that came little by little, at least in my case. Since I was a kid that I could isolate myself by drawing. Hours went by so quickly and it allowed me to express things I couldn’t say. Now it’s different, but the final effect on me is kind of similar.

WebDesignLeger: Where does your inspiration come from?
Marta Cerda Alimbau: Depending on when my inspirations are organic and change with time. But I usually look backward at the history of design for inspiration.

WebDesignLeger: What do you think are the most important 3 skills for a designer?
Marta Cerda Alimbau: I think it’s more about the attitude than the skills. The skills, you can learn them with patience. The attitude is something deeper, and harder to change. So for me, the three more important attitudes are being curious, hard worker and perseverant. All these mixed with a good eye for the type and art direction. the

WebDesignLeger: How do you stay updated with what is new in the design world?
Marta Cerda Alimbau: Instagram is now for me the best source to know what’s going on right now.

WebDesignLeger: Who are your favorite 3 designers?
Marta Cerda Alimbau: Herb Lubalin, Takenobu Igarashi, and Roger Excoffon.

WebDesignLeger: What kind of people do you love to work with? 
Marta Cerda Alimbau: I love to work with great art directors and to team up with them, it’s the best way to learn and move forward. They give good references but also give room to develop yourself, and have a good knowledge of the direction their client needs to take.

WebDesignLeger: How do you handle stress and pressure?
Marta Cerda Alimbau: I start working really early in the morning, around 6 am. There’s silence and I can focus a lot. And I can look at my day with no rush. Also, I don’t accept new projects if I am not sure I will be able to give them my 100%.

Marta has worked with many influential brands, fact that made her name notorious among the important contemporaneous designers. If you’d like to contact her or to check more of her amazing work, make sure you follow Marta on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, and Behance.

Make sure you stay updated with our DOTW series and latest posts by visiting our blog daily.

 

                              

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from Web Design Ledger https://webdesignledger.com/the-colorful-world-of-marta-cerda-alimbau-dotw4/