A helpful metaphor for mobility design and usability: the card

Mobile begs us to rid ourselves of the page metaphor, which has actually carried over from books to web (quite successfully although not wholly so). If we need a metaphor to replace pages, a close visual one that might bear some fruit for designers puzzling over mobile design and usability might be: cards.

Let's take a closer look at how the card metaphor helps you think about design and usability for mobility. There are a variety of types of cards people use. Three that come immediately to mind are: business cards, playing cards, banking and credit cards. These metaphors all work for mobile.

Designing a mobile interaction? Be the card people find useful and usable.

Be the card that people want in their hand - available just when they need it - whether they are playing, making a decision or conducting business.

Designing in each of these spheres may in fact bear insights into how to build your mobile interface.

Some ways in which metaphors to various cards provide insight:

• A playing card is useless without a full, finite deck.
• A business card should have a simple, easy-to-remember pitch and full, easy contact info.
• A banking or credit card must be highly personalized and very secure.

In any case, cards allow you to shift quickly from one piece of relevant information to another. You can play cards, conduct business and perform transactions, carrying all these cards in your hand at the same time.

And ask yourself about other kinds of cards there are. (Index cards? Cheat sheets? Memory cards? Tarot cards?? Others?) What type of card is your mobileinteraction most like and what is it about that kind of real world card that can best be carried over the usable design of your mobile interaction?

Please remember that 'cards' is only a helpful metaphor, for now.

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