Why Your Cards Need a Footer for Metadata

Data design for faster scanning

List format is a popular way to display data, but it’s not ideal for cards. Users need to scan cards to find what they’re looking for fast. If all they see is a list of data, it’ll be hard for them to recognize what makes each card different.

Every card has a hierarchy of data. There’s the primary data and then metadata. Primary data is the content itself, while metadata are details that describe the content to give it more context.

Instead of displaying metadata in a list format, you should put it in the footer of the card. The footer makes it easier for users to distinguish the content characteristics influencing their selection.

For example, if the user wants to buy a car with low mileage and high MPG, a card footer would make this metadata easier to scan. With little effort, the user can scan multiple cards and identify all the cars that meet their criteria. In a list format, the user has to read each line to compare.

Even a horizontal list is hard to scan without a designated footer. This example shows the number of guests, bedrooms, beds, and bathrooms for each stay in a horizontal list separated by bullets. When you display this metadata in the footer of the card, it’s much easier to scan.