When should card patterns be used?

I read a very interesting article on Medium recently by Rob Gill about a real world struggle with using cards. After a new feature launch on a sports news site, there was the usual amount of user backlash to change. However, some of the user feedback gave valuable insights about why they thought the new card layout was not working for them.

The real issue is the situation where the card design pattern was applied. Users missed being able to quickly scan news article titles. The card format included images that took up too much room and increased the work (scrolling) for users.

You can read the full article here: https://medium.theuxblog.com/when-card-ui-design-doesnt-work-f4343118d108#.f9fqrybjz …

It seems like cards are everywhere now. It is the new hotness. There is danger here though that those of us who have been designing for the web should spot pretty quickly. Innovate with a purpose not just because. Don’t do it because it is “cool” or “new”. Do it because it serves the user and the goal of the feature. I’m seeing a lot of “cards are the future of design”. No. I disagree.

Cards are a pattern, a way to solve a problem.

Every experience problem is not a nail in need of a “card hammer”.  You can find some interesting patterns here: http://www.mobile-patterns.com/

The Google Materials guide defines cards as “a sheet of material that serves as an entry point to more detailed information.” OK. That is pretty vague. It sounds like it should serve the same purpose as a list, right? I would add a bit more purpose to it “cards are a sheet of material taking up a moderate amount of space that serves as a preview of and entry point to more detailed information. Don’t use card patterns when users want to quickly scan a list of links.” Maybe that is just my grouchy designer side coming out.

Personally I think cards are awesome. They are pretty to look at, and give me digestible chunks of info when I am trying to decide if I want to dig further and open up a full article. They fall down when what we want to see are things like a list of links with college football game scores.

We need to account for the time it will take users to scroll through cards and how the information is presented. An individual card with a quick list of US Gold medals was nice during the Olympics. A series of cards that listed each sport result individually would be exhausting to scroll though.

Ok so I’m not slamming Rob here. I think his team did great work and I applaud him and really appreciate him opening up the process his team went through to change their designs to work better for their audience. What I learned from his article was that I should always go back to the goal of the user when considering a new feature, and when it is launched, collect data and be willing to make changes if the design is getting in the user’s way.

If you want to explore cards even further, there is an interesting article about the attractiveness of cards on Awwwards: Play Your Cards Right: Exploring the Cards Trend in Web Design

What do you think?