What is the meaning of card design?

When we design a new feature at Spotify, it will be used by people all over the globe, from North America to Sub-Saharan Africa, to Japan. Our markets have significant technological differences, and so, to design for them in a meaningful way, we have to infuse our design process with empathy.

Designing with empathy can be challenging because most of us at Spotify use the latest iPhones on speedy Wi-Fi or unlimited data plans, so our view of how our products perform varies greatly from those of our users in other parts of the world, who might be using older devices on spotty networks and expensive data plans. These are what we call “access-constrained users”, and to design features that work well for them, we have to gain a deeper understanding of their reality and perspective. It’s also important that we don’t fall into common performance pitfalls, such as designing a UI that doesn’t handle “no-connection” states gracefully, or fails to include options to disable moving content.

What are access-constrained users?

Access-constrained users generally fall into three categories: device, data, and network. As previously mentioned, they commonly live in disparate markets such as Sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Asia, and Latin America, with plenty of cultural and technological dissimilarities. For example, Malaysia scores highly on the Mobile Connectivity Index, whilst Sudan has a much lower score, and the average price of data in Pakistan is relatively cheap, while in Kenya it’s expensive. 

Despite their differences, however, there are several threads that connect users in these markets: 

• Device-constrained users will experience stuttering, freezing, and crashes much more frequently than users who are not device constrained. They’ll also spend more time waiting for things to load and may be more averse to exploring a service to find what they need. They’ll usually have smaller screens with low contrast, and are more likely to have their screen dimmed to conserve battery.

• Data-constrained users will be sensitive to content they perceive as data-intensive, such as moving images. They also tend to have reduced storage because their mobile is often their primary device and, therefore, has to store everything they care about.

• Network-constrained users spend more time waiting for things to load. They experience lots of network interruptions so if a feature cannot function properly under these conditions, they won’t be able to use it. 

If you want to learn more about access constraints, you can dive deeper in this post. 

If we only design for speedy devices, we also risk finding out late in the development process that our feature performs poorly on devices used in emerging markets — and at this point, it can be costly and painful to make significant changes. When designing for a global audience, we have to do better, which is why we developed Performance Context Cards and Performance Action Cards: tools for our teams (and yours) to use during certain stages of the product design process. 

Introducing Performance Context Cards

When designing for people who live across the globe from you, it’s important to understand how their context might be different, or similar, to your own. Performance Context Cards will help you connect with access-constrained users and give valuable insights into the device, data, and network constraints they’re facing, as well as help you ask questions that challenge your own perspective.

Across the world throughout history, people have used decks of cards. Their exact origin is hard to trace, though it is generally accepted that cards moved from the East to the West, with evidence of their use in China as early as the 9th century. The French lay claims to the invention of the tarot card deck for divination while Britain was the site of the first recorded recreational game.

With such a rich and diverse history, it’s crucial to remember that the symbols on cards are not quite universal. They have changed and adapted over time as a cultural indicator. Pips of goblets and sorcerers, stars and moons as well as birds and bells have all been used instead of hearts and clubs. The face cards have changed according to the society in which they printed.

Still, the symbols on cards offer logo designers clues as to archetypal influences, with hundreds of years of social signals locked within the suits and pictures of a standard 52-card deck. These symbols are evident in branding, as companies have done already.

Interpretations of Card Suits

Caption: A 1930’s deck of cards from Hungary.

The suits of cards, indicated by ‘pips’, are the symbols that most of us know as hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades. As mentioned, the pips changed according to culture and context, but one theory says that the standard suits on European decks represented the hierarchies of medieval society, with clubs (then batons) representing peasants up to hearts for the clergy.

Again, this has not been rigid. Diamonds may have been the top tier in French society, whereas spades are often the highest suit.

However, there are several other symbolic associations of the suits of cards. These will be more useful to companies and logo designers, who can draw on whichever interpretation fits their model and ethos. Some such models include:

• Seasonal Interpretations – Suits have been associated with seasons. Hearts for spring, clubs for summer, diamonds for autumn and spades for winter.
• Stages of Life – This one is a similar interpretation. Hearts are for early age, clubs for youth, diamonds for adulthood and spades for old age.
• Elemental – This one is a mystical interpretation, which associates suits with elements. Hearts are for water, clubs for air, diamonds for fire and spades for the earth.
• Characteristics – Suits have specific characteristics and personality traits. Hearts are for the home, love, emotions and vulnerability. Clubs are for education and intellectual musing. Diamonds are for career, security, responsibility and judgment. Spades are for wisdom, transformation, acceptance and spirituality.

Face Cards

Face cards remained largely unchanged in Europe for many centuries, though small changes have occurred. They are perhaps the most obvious example of hierarchy. In traditional decks, there are four real kings and queens depicted, one for each suit. The British even swapped the value of the king and queen according to who was in power while the Germans removed the queen completely and invented the jack.

The ace introduced later in 1765 and was originally an indicator that there was a tax paid on the playing cards. At that time, it was illegal to forge an ace. To this day, the ace is a prestigious symbol. For instance, PokerStars’ use an ace of spades, usually red but sometimes with variations of colour to create new meaning. In the recent 200 billionth-hand campaign, the symbol appears in gold, as if it implies riches and fortune. Other face cards are not used as much in logos.

Numerical Values

Playing cards also have numerical values, and from a numerological perspective, these can provide value for companies and logo designers, though it is beyond the scope of this article to examine their meanings in full. The meaning of each number tends to evolve from the last one. For example:

• Ace – Desire, hope and
• Two – Seeks the union of two halves.
• Three – Represents opportunity and choice, such as the fork in the road.
• Four – Satisfaction and stability.
• Five – Restlessness and change.
• Six – Adjustment and reflection.
• Seven – Stress followed by victory.
• Eight – Power and control.
• Nine – Surrender and new beginnings.
• Ten – Success and fulfilment but with the risk of collapsing in on itself (1 + 0 = 1).

The symbols and suits of cards are highly symbolic and revealing of cultural imprints and signals. As a result, logo designers can and have utilized these designs to transmit their company message in an impactful way.