8 Minimalist Design Tips For Creating UI Cards

Created by Halo Lab | https://www.behance.net/gallery/140923543/Holiniq-Haircare-Website

With the rising popularity and usage of UI in modern life, you can say that every element of it also get highlighted. And surprisingly, it is not only about the UX or UI design but also about cards. Cards or a small box container that holds some information turn into an essential part of mobile and web design. Thus, you can find it in many styles and models. 

But it does not mean creating UI cards for your web is easy. There are many options that you can use. Nevertheless, sometimes it loses its purpose due to bad planning and only appears as a beautify. So, to avoid that effect, you might have to consider the minimalist design concept. Why minimalists? Remember the quote less is more.

The idea helps you highlight the main focus of the design, in this case, the UI and the cards. Going with the minimalist concept will assist you in making practical and easy-to-use UI cards, especially if you are going for a range of media. So, to help you further, try these design tips and make one that fits your needs. 

Understanding The Concept Of Cards in UI

So, the use of specific boxes that explain or show information is pretty familiar in the UI. It appears like a text box in your Microsoft words. However, the UI card is a component that will work as an action, interactivity, and contain content under one single subject or media. And one thing that you can consider is how the design can contain a range of different elements. 

To explain it simply, you will find the design element as a small box or rectangle that appears like an interactive object in the UI. You can click it to reveal more information, which mostly contains details such as creator, users, or anything. Therefore, it is safe to say that the minimalist cards will serve you an interview for more detailed data. 

So, when talking about visual design, the minimalist concept is pretty popular right now. It is also applicable to your UI elements. The visual point of the UI itself is pretty vast and ranging. There are ranges of different layouts, interactions, and animations you can add. However, the use of minimalist concepts will help create a better model for your design.  

Created by Kirill Sukhov | https://www.behance.net/gallery/120759171/Courson-Online-learning-platform

So, how does the minimalist design affect your process of creating UI cards? One thing that you can underline is the fast rules of the design of the card. In UI, you most likely have more than just one element. At the same time, you also need to pay attention to usability and readability. That is why a minimalist touch will solve all of those points. 

Before deciding what kind of design to make, pay attention to the feature. In other words, what kind of element do you want it to be. You can use it as a title container, which gives a clear separated box as the highlight. The use of elements will allow the design to lead people's eyes and attention.

There is also a feature that people tend to make, such as imagery. The minimalist design of UI cards can turn into one of the best additions to your project. In this kind of design, the function mostly allows the user to scale up and down to fit the top area of the container. Hence, it brings more touch and interactivity to your users. 

Created by Daria Kozachuk | https://www.behance.net/gallery/103934771/English-Learning-App-redesign

The other common use of cards is for a summary. People use the minimalist concept to blend with the overall UI layout. Thus, the summary cards are still associated with the rest of the content. The concept and the feature are also known as the synopsis of the unit. In some cases, you can also add actions that go along with the unit features.  

When you compile the four elements or features in one card, it has a certain sequence. The picture will be on the top of the Ui cards. It fits the length, while the second half of the element will be filled with the title, summary, and action. That is the minimalist design you can use to create UI cards. It works for almost every layout or media. 

The Principles Of Effective Minimalist Design 

To assure you that the element should use a minimalist design, it helps nail some principles. Underline the fact that you need to use the cards to make it easier for users to read and understand the information. That is why minimalist design creates focus on the content. However, you also need to consider these points for the UI design. 

1. Meaningful 

The point of meaning underlines the need to create an element that has connectivity with the rest of the UI design. Most of the time, people miss the idea of using cards just to add an interesting subject to it. However, your minimalist design for UI cards should help your user to make a decision or at least can make a reason for using it. 

2. Efficient 

Along with the meaningful point, you need to create UI cards that do not make people get confused. So, the key takeaway is to add essential information and the action. Don't overdo it or overload the UI. Or else, you will lose the idea of the minimalist concept and make the website hardly understandable.  

Created by Barış Akgün | https://www.behance.net/gallery/84591723/EQ-Magazine

3. Independent 

While you need to ensure the element can contribute and blend with the whole design, it should also be independent. In other words, it should stand alone without the need to rely on other cards' contexts. Thus, it saves to say that every box has a different focus and content that you should not divide into multiple boards. 

4. Transformative And Responsive

The idea of transformative and responsive goes hand in hand. With a limited place to place content, you should be smart on how to make it transformative. In other words, the minimalist design can transform to reveal more content. You can do it by flipping animation, scrolling, or many more features. But remember to always use minimalist ideas for it. 

The idea of responsiveness means you need to create UI cards that can adapt to the design. Some of the best examples are the resizing feature that helps the cards fit into the available space. The design is pretty popular for Ui, which tries to show image boards. The small thumbnail will scale up and appear bigger to give a proper response. 

Created by Pavel Tseluyko | https://www.behance.net/gallery/141604853/SaaS-Data-Control-Platform-UIUX-Web-Design-Mobile

5. Clear

The clear minimalist design means a work that is what it is. This is where the minimalist concept is better than others. You need to create cards that help users perceive what it will do and give. In this case, try to use Hierarchy or sequence for your text and image element. So, people will understand the connectivity between the images, title, action, etc.  

Other than those long principles, you also need to understand when to use the UI cards element. Remember that the use of minimalist design in this element is merely a visual point. However, the function and the usage itself should be done properly. So, when and what kind of website is best for using cards. 

If you have a large portion of the content on the website, you can try to use this UI trick. Cards help by adding a small sneak peek at the content. Thus, your user can browse the information faster and get the basic information from your minimalist concept. The design containing the picture, title, and small action will tell the user the surface. 

Created by Lolo Gladyz | https://www.behance.net/gallery/142852843/Itoju-Health-Mobile-App

Once they click or take action upon it, users will find more information. One of the best examples of how to create UI cards using minimalist design is Pinterest. The website wants the UI to be very simple and not make people overwhelmed with information. Therefore, they use images to show a collection of arts, pictures, or content. 

Another thing that you need to underline is the function. The cards are not an element where users compare one product to others. You can see the same ideas of minimalist design from thumbnails or large image viewing options on windows explorer. It shows the least information, but it captures the main information, which is the picture itself. 

The reason why the UI cards are not the proper design for comparison is the lack of information. It only shows minimal details for the data. It might only appear like images with a title or number. The minimalist design will also make it appear simpler. Thus, if you want to compare more information, try to use a grid or list. 

Created by Lera Yarmolik | https://www.behance.net/gallery/141546933/Mobile-App-for-health-tracking

The tips you need to make UI cards.

After you learn some of the basic information about minimalist UI cards, you can continue making them. Before you design the boards, please be aware that you need to pay attention to some of this information. These tips on creating UI cards will aid you in planning the best and most effective work for the website. 

1. Prioritize your Copy or text design 

There are many minimalist design ideas that you can choose for the boards. It is possible to make an interactive and responsive model that is mostly filled with images. However, there are times that you will need to use text or copy in it. If it does, try to always make it clear by prioritizing copy. Text copy will help people to easily understand the content. 

In the case of the copy, a minimalist design text is used to say anything that your reader needs to read. But at the same time, the text you will use on the board should be brief and explanatory. Put a short review that is made of 50-6- characters for a summary. After that, you can explain more about the content. 

Created by Mohamed Ali | https://www.behance.net/gallery/138393179/Homy-Furniture-UIUX-Design-App

2. Consider A Simple Typography for Clear Readability 

Minimalist concepts hit up almost everything, not only the visual point. In the case of typography, the design highlights the use of simple and familiar fonts. You can use sans-serif or something on the same level. Thus, your text cards are readable, even on a small or large screen. The small or large screen is also applied to the text hierarchy and styles.  

Created by Маргарита Левина | https://www.behance.net/gallery/125621001/Balance-Boards-Web-Design-Online-Store

3. Adding Relevant Image To attract and explain the content

Since there are many ideas and models for UI cards, you might want to use images in them. Whatever you want to add to it, please remember to use relevant imagery. Minimalist design does not mean you cannot use images or anything. But, even other ideas will state the same principle of using relevant images. 

So, when you create UI cards, try to be selective and smart for the image. The use of images, videos, or graphics will be the first thing users will notice. So, your graphic is the element that leads your user's attention and eyes. However, you need to ensure that the image helps communicate the message or the meaning of the information at a glance. 

As an example, you want to use a minimalist touch for your company UI. Using cards to explain to the employees is the best way to give brief details about the company. So, you can use the person's picture before adding the title as the name. When users want to read more information about the person, they can click it to go on the directed page or reveal more data. 

Created by Vivian Niu | https://www.behance.net/gallery/77224367/Smart-Home-Dashboard

4. Indicate The Interactive Elements Clearly

When you create UI cards, the design contains some more interactive elements, be sure to make them easier to recognize. Minimalist design that you can use to help it is by using a color switch for the button or scroll page. A little bit of color helps people realize that there is an interactive element in it. Then, they can take actions based on your instructions or content.  

If you are looking for a minimalist touch that works in many works, try the use of visual dividers. It is a pretty simple move in which you separate individual regions in cards and make clear sections with different content. You can make it visible or hidden. You can take a look at reservation cards with a clickable time button to interact.  

Created by Nikita Alimpiev | https://www.behance.net/gallery/142276063/uKNITedmarket-online-yarn-store

5. The Parent To Child Transition To Give Detailed Information 

One of the good transitions for your minimalist design UI cards is the Parents to child idea. It is a term in which the main visual only shows a tad bit of detail. After certain actions, users can reveal more information without going away from the cards. In this case, the idea is closely related to transformable components, such as scaling up or down. 

The point is to transform and reveal additional content from the boards. You can adapt it to many UI project that has a lot of information in them. However, be careful about using it. Make sure the animation and the content are easy to understand. One of the best examples you can use is flipping the cards to reveal details.

Created by Anastasiia Hashynska | https://www.behance.net/gallery/140739133/Yoga-App

6. Giving Shadow To Show Content

Suppose you want to create UI cards to highlight and make them visible the best way to do it is by adding a drop shadow. The shadow details under the boards or elements make it appear popped up or 3D. It has the same effect as how you make button designs. A simple minimalist touch will tell users that the element is clickable or interactable. 

It also applies to you who have a lot of cards to show. To nail the minimalist design and create a unified look throughout the whole project, ensure you put the same visual properties. If you add shadow and flipping animation, do the same for the board's collection. Thus, people will not get confused with your work.  

Created by Risang Kuncoro | https://www.behance.net/gallery/117549353/Recipe-App-Concept%09

7. Use The Same Familiar Gesture 

As said in the previous point that you need to apply the same visual properties for everything. It works the same as your gesture. Some UI designs might need some unique gesture to make certain actions. However, those who are unfamiliar will get confused. So, try minimalist and familiar gestures such as tap, click, swipe, etc. Apply for other elements. So users won't get confused in your UI. 

Created by Anastasia Dianova | https://www.behance.net/gallery/129297279/Limerick

8. Don't Use Scrolling Interaction On Mobile Device

This tip on creating UI cards is specifically for mobile device design. Yes, you can use minimalist touch in many ways, including color contrast and animation. But, try to avoid using scrolling interaction within cards. One of the reasons is the limited action to do in the device. Using scroll only risks unexpected action. So, be clear and simple by clicking, tapping, or zooming on your UI. 

Created by Syful Islam | https://www.behance.net/gallery/130534399/Medical-Consultation-Apps

Final Words

The idea of UI design, in particular, can range and get more creative over time. In this case, you can see how many UI apply card elements for their work. It can add layers of information, interactivity, as well as function. However, using minimalist concepts brings you more flexibility and applicability. That is why you can try using it as one of your projects.