Interaction #33. The Card Stack Manager

People ask me sometimes what inspires me to come up with interaction ideas. My answer: the real (non-digital) world. I believe we, as humans, are meant to interact with physical things. Knobs, toggles, those light switches in your room, typing on physical keyboards (have you noticed how Apple increased the key height on a MacBook to make it feel more satisfying to type?). There’s also a reason some vehicles are still sold with stick shifts although it’s been long proven that automatics have far more superior gear shifting. It all feels weirdly good to interact with. Some of it is subconscious.

While technology has definitely made a lot of things simpler for us, I believe bridging the gap between the digital and physical worlds is still one of the most important UX practices.

Now, ever since I started messing with interfaces, I’ve been kind of fascinated with cards as a UI element. A card stack is such a simple way to serve users tons of information and make them focus on one portion of it at the time (so as not to overwhelm them). And just how incredibly physical a card stack is. Imagine having one in your palm right now. I bet it is very easy for you to bring up that mental sensation since, chances are ,you’ve probably had the experience of holding one in your hand. It’s very relatable. We, as designers, want our work to be relatable, because that’s how simple yet understandable products are built.

Imagine if the whole app was just built around a card stack? Yes, Tinder and some other apps are aspiring to that concept. My experience at Tinder as a Lead Designer@Revenue has only contributed to my love for physicality in product design.

But what if we took it a step further? What if the majority of actions and places you can navigate to was driven ONLY by your manipulation of the card stack? Swipe right, left, down, and up.

← Left to put a card into a “Dismiss” pile

→ Right – to put a card in an “I like it and give me more cards like that” pile

↑ Up to add a card to a “My cards” pile

↓ Down to simply access the “My cards” pile

That’s it for today friends.

Hit that like/follow button and I will see you again on Tuesday 😉