7 ms·
Redesigning the hotel icon
- jinushaun 14y agoIt's still a bed, which is still hard to see from afar.
- hrush 14y agoWe hope that it's a clearer bed than what we originally started with. With respect to seeing it from afar -- the contexts in which we are using the icon is for desktop and post-PC device user interfaces. Interfaces which aren't usually used from afar. Most users who are exposed to this icon will be looking at it from just two to three feet away.
- lalapu 14y agoAll the other icons you are using are clear, but that one does not look like a bed.
- lomegor 14y agoI think it doesn't matter if it's a bed or not, just that the icon is recognizable in small sizes. I think they did a good job in that sense.
- bbrian 14y agoIt's also the letter H.
- MaxGabriel 14y agoThis new icon is definitely much easier to see at lower resolutions, nice work. Can you talk about the choice of using the bed icon versus a hotel-building icon that e.g. Hipmunk uses? http://www.hipmunk.com/hotels http://www.hipmunk.com/hotels
- hrush 14y agoMaxGabriel -- this is a bit of a subjective choice. We chose to go with the "bed" approach over the "building(s)" approach for two reasons: 1. We think the extensive usage of the original bed icon in wayfinding signage around the world makes it something that most users have already "learned". Most people take that icon to be representative of hotels since they've already seen it so many times. 2. We debated the building approach, but we thought it may get confused with the "home" icon. And we didn't want to use icon+text in our design at this stage. We think the buildings approach gets even more confusing without a text label. As I said, however, it's a bit of a subjective choice...
- christiangenco 14y agoThe hotel-building icon to me looks too ambiguous. Is this representing a city? An apartment complex? An office building? I think the bed icon clearly demonstrates what you use a hotel for - a place to sleep. This encompasses hotels that aren't several stories tall as well.
- hrush 14y agoOur thoughts exactly -- it's not an icon that has any inherent meaning, which we thought made it too vague for usage without a text label.
- petepete 14y agoWe came to that conclusion too and originally had the silhouette of a bed rather than the exterior or a hotel building[1]. Our client[2], however, had different ideas. And no, I have no idea why flight plus hotel equals desert island with palm trees... [1] http://i.imgur.com/VJKiI.png http://i.imgur.com/VJKiI.png [2] http://www.onthebeach.co.uk http://www.onthebeach.co.uk
- bonzoesc 14y agoIt means "package vacation" which for lots of people means "Caribbean island and it doesn't really matter which one."
- 14y ago
- estel 14y agoIf we wanted to use it, is your new bed icon released under an open license?
- hrush 14y agoWe hadn't thought of releasing the icon, but we're quite happy to do that for the community to use. We'll try and do that shortly.
- radley 14y agoYou're better off with the park service icon. The new design is unnaturally squared off at the foot and the spacing between the sleeper's body and bed results in ambivalence and muddiness.
- carb 14y agoI agree. I think their new design looks more like a tractor than a person in a bed.
- dan_b 14y agoIt's a good thing they got rid of that chap's arm, or they would have got a cease and desist from HostelWorld.com http://blog.keepmebooked.com/2011/09/what-happened-to-our-mans-right-arm.html http://blog.keepmebooked.com/2011/09/what-happened-to-our-ma...
- nerd_in_rage 14y agoJust use text.
- unfletch 14y agoThere's really something to this. The original symbols needed to be universally understood because they were intended to be used on signs, which are obviously a static medium. The web and apps can be tailored to the observer's language preference. Maybe a universal symbol isn't necessary here.
- hrush 14y ago@nerd_in_rage -- we originally started with purely text as an approach. You can see one of our older blog posts here where we talk about the simplicity and clarity afforded by "Just use text": http://blog.cleartrip.com/2007/03/10/a-picture-says-a-thousand-words/ http://blog.cleartrip.com/2007/03/10/a-picture-says-a-thousa... Over time, however, we changed our minds a little bit. And we were driven, in no small part, by the rapid shift to web consumption on post-PC devices. We explained our thinking in another blog post: http://blog.cleartrip.com/2011/01/20/testing-an-all-new-navigation-design-in-small-world/ http://blog.cleartrip.com/2011/01/20/testing-an-all-new-navi...
- scoot 14y agoAnyone else think the stairs down and escalator down icons need to flipped horizontally (direction of travel left-to-right?). As it stand's there's little to distinguish up and down, and it doesn't "read" naturally.
- jrockway 14y agoYes, I had exactly the same thought. The corollary is that these icons are as bad as text; sure, they work great for left-to-right reading Americans that designed them, but what about everyone else? (My favorite is the "parking" icon. How does a big P help someone who calls a parking lot a "駐車場"? The P icon looks like, "welp, nobody that came to the meeting came up with a good idea, so let's just implement a shitty idea instead." "Sounds good, Bob! Man we're dumb!")
- pyrotechnick 14y agoThe redesigned icon has the added benefit of subconsciously conjuring thoughts of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx_of_Giza http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx_of_Giza
- jpswade 14y agoSeems more like a re-render than a re-design...
- Sniffnoy 14y agoMaybe worth noting that there isn't actually a "hotel" pictogram -- rather it's the "hotel information" pictogram with the information part cut out.
- inspiredworlds 14y agoIts very hard to show a hotel as an icon, particularly as a building. We did it by showing a building with signage of a bed (showing a similar design to the cleartrip icon). People are used to seeing a bed and making the association. So going with a simpler icon without the building also conveys the same meaning as a hotel. this blog post shows the subtly and intricate details required in good design and UI.
- jrockway 14y agoWith all the backlash over Gmail's icons, why not just use text?
- no_more_death 14y agoBecause said backlash is a tempest in a teapot? Because the eye resolves (clear) icons more easily than text?
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]