Importance of Card Design in Web Design and Development

Mobile devices are the rage of the day. You look around you and see almost everyone using his or her mobile to access data from all kinds of sources through APIs and SDKs. The card-style interface is perfect in terms of usability, and offers an extremely personalized experience; one that allows for the optimal display of an aggregation of many individual pieces of content – on screens that come in all shapes and sizes. Card designs have gained prominence in website designing. These rectangles, containing images and text have proved so successful in web design and development, that they have become a default option in order to strike a balance between aesthetics and functionality.

In this article, we will highlight the pros and cons, and list some best practices to follow while using card-layouts in web design and development.

Pros and Cons of Using Cards

• The responsive nature of modern websites makes cards easy to use. The rectangular shape of cards smoothly resizes to fit both horizontal and vertical orientations of mobile devices. This pattern provides a consistent user experience across different devices.
• Cards provide a perfect view of content from different sources, aggregated to fit a website framework. Card-layouts provide information in easy to scan blocks, providing the viewer the freedom to view content immediately, and as they wish.
• Cards perfectly align with different design concepts, even flat and minimalist ones. This allows for the arrangement of content in an extremely structured manner, such as magazine-style format.
• In card design, equality means the world. Every card carries equal importance. As a result, there is no need to rank all the content.

Cons

• This type of design can come across as a replica of Pinterest. The concept is so common, that it could appear overused or lacking originality.
• Cards require plenty of interactions and usability. There is a risk of visual confusion, especially if the site contains lot of information, and is data heavy.
• Developing a card design layout requires careful attention to details and absolute mastery of designing for smaller spaces. Each card must contain the perfect visual balance between images, text, and subtle secondary actions.

Cards Layout: Best Practices to make it Work

Make use of White Space: It is important to avoid a ‘cluttered’ feel. Do not get intimidated by space, rather make optimum use of the white space or negative space wisely.

Get Creative: You would think that cards are structured, but that does not mean cards need to be mundane. You do not need to be afraid to add something in order to personalize. However, avoid using concepts that are heavily used, use interactive animation, subtle colors or unique fonts instead.

Millennial or Baby Boomers; Target your Audience: Your cards interface should be effortless and easy to navigate. Make designing a user experience that appeals to your audience, your priority. It is important to set context in a way that helps the target audience consume the content you wish to present.

Use simple typography: ‘Simplicity rules’ especially when applied to typography. Try sans-serif typeface with medium weight for the card headline.

Future of Cards and Material Design

Card style is the future of design and is here to stay, especially considering the influence of Google ‘Material Designs’ on Android app design. Cards are highly interactive and structured by nature and one of the most rapidly developing design disciplines. It is undoubtedly the future of web design and development.