<blockquote class="speech-bubble">
  <p>When will Apple release a MacBook Air 15" with Retina?</p>
  <cite>John Doe - Developer</cite>
</blockquote>
// This solution uses transforms and a caret mixin.
// What will yours be? Fork this pen and share
// your solution in this comments.

// This pen's solution is on line 91.


/// DEMO
/// ==========================================================
$bg:darken(#8CA8D8, 10%);
html,body{height:100%;}body{display:flex;flex-direction:column;align-items:center;justify-content:center;width:100%;background:$bg;}


/// REQUIRED
/// ==========================================================

$gutter: 20px;
$caret-unit: 25px;
$bubble-bg: #8CA8D8;
$bubble-color: white;
$cite-color: $bubble-color;


/// Opposite Direction
/// ==========================================================
/// Returns the opposite direction of each direction in a list
/// @author Hugo Giraudel
/// @param {List} $directions - List of initial directions
/// @return {List} - List of opposite directions

@function opposite-direction($directions) {
  $opposite-directions: ();
  $direction-map: (
    'top': 'bottom',
    'right': 'left',
    'bottom': 'top',
    'left': 'right',
    'center': 'center',
    'ltr': 'rtl',
    'rtl': 'ltr'
  );

  @each $direction in $directions {
    $direction: to-lower-case($direction);

    @if map-has-key($direction-map, $direction) {
      $opposite-directions: append($opposite-directions, unquote(map-get($direction-map, $direction)));
    } @else {
      @warn "No opposite direction can be found for `#{$direction}`. Direction omitted.";
    }
  }

  @return $opposite-directions;
}


/// Unit Removal
@function strip-unit($num) {
    @return $num / ($num * 0 + 1);
}


/// Triangle Mixin
/// ==========================================================

@mixin caret($point, $border-width, $color) {
  $opposite: opposite-direction($point);
  border: $border-width solid transparent;
  border-#{$opposite}: $border-width solid $color;
  border-#{$point}: 0;
  height: 0;
  width: 0;
}


/// Component
/// ==========================================================

.speech-bubble {
  filter: drop-shadow(-1px -1px 2px rgba(black, .10)) drop-shadow(1px 2px 2px rgba(black, .15));
  margin: 1rem;
  margin-bottom: ($gutter * 2);
  padding: 1.5rem 2rem;
  position: relative;
  font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', sans-serif;
  font-size: 1.2rem;
  font-weight: 400;
  background: $bubble-bg;
  color: $bubble-color;

  &::before {
    @include caret(bottom, ($caret-unit / 2), $bubble-bg);
    border-top-width: $caret-unit;
    content: '';
    display: block;
    position: absolute;
    left: 3rem;
    bottom: -$caret-unit;
    transform-origin: center;
    transform: rotate(90deg) skew(-(strip-unit($caret-unit))+deg) translateY($caret-unit / 1.5);
  }
}


.speech-bubble cite {
  position: absolute;
  bottom: -2rem;
  left: 4.5rem;
  font-size: 1rem;
  font-style: normal;
  font-weight: 300;
  letter-spacing: 0.5px;
  color: $cite-color;
}
View Compiled
Run Pen

External CSS

This Pen doesn't use any external CSS resources.

External JavaScript

  1. https://codepen.io/grayghostvisuals/pen/a08e0d79c150ff5030f9b6afaa137749.js