What playing cards can teach us about User Experience
How centuries of refinements made the deck an icon of design and functionality
Everyone has an everyday object they’d like to redesign or improve. It could be a pair of headphones, a zipper closure, or the lid on a milk carton. However, there’s one artifact I’ve seen artists and designers reimagine hundreds of times without necessarily trying to “improve” its usability: playing cards. My impression is that the design feels so well-suited that it doesn’t require a new proposal. New aesthetic interpretations emerge, but the core design details that make cards so good for gameplay are rarely altered. I love taking a closer look at “crystallized” designs, so I dove into some research on the visual and graphic evolution of playing cards.
Which Deck Are We Talking About?
In theory, a deck is any set of illustrated and numbered cards. But one particular type likely comes to mind for most people: the French-suited deck, the most popular worldwide.
It’s common to look at well-designed everyday objects and assume they’ve always existed in their current form — especially when the same version has been popular for many years. In the case of the playing card deck, the most widespread design today has remained unchanged since the 1880s. But it took centuries of evolution to reach this point. Playing cards are small objects, yet I’d argue they hold a high density of visual and usability care, even if the term “usability” didn’t exist when they were conceived.
How Long Does It Take for a Design to “Crystallize”?
It’s believed the first sets of playing cards originated in 10th-century China, with early versions representing money — hence the numbers and some of the symbols, such as the Diamonds suit (originally “coins”). At the time, they were printed using woodblock techniques.
Playing cards grew in popularity, spreading beyond Asia and being introduced to Europe by Arab merchants in the 14th century. Over the years, design changes in Europe brought us to the modern standard. Here’s a brief comparison between the oldest known European deck, the Flemish Hunting Deck (now housed at the Met Museum), and today’s standard deck:
- Late 15th century: Suit symbols were simplified, presumably to cut costs and facilitate mass production. This, along with advancements in graphic printing technologies, made decks more affordable.
- 1693: Numbers were added to the card corners, enabling players to see their entire hand at a glance when fanned. This feature became popular in the 18th century.
- 1745: Symmetry in court cards was introduced, allowing players to recognize them regardless of orientation and ensuring equal visibility for opponents seated across a table.
- Rounded corners: While the earliest decks were oval-shaped, many later ones were rectangular with sharp corners, which wore out more quickly and could unintentionally reveal a card’s value or be used to cheat. Rounded corners eventually became standard.
- Back designs: Ornate patterns on card backs were introduced to make it harder to identify cards through lighting or markings, such as scratches, which could be used to cheat. This feature gained popularity in the mid-19th century. Today, some decks even use layered card stock with black adhesive to block light and ensure values remain hidden.
All these design changes depended on the technological context of their time and the input of countless individuals involved in production — none of whom were referred to as “designers,” as that label only emerged much later. What these design changes have in common is that they arose from observing card usage and identifying problems or difficulties faced by players, such as wear and tear or opportunities for cheating.
Nowadays, we experience so many design changes in our daily interfaces (social media especially, but also in public services) that seem to have been made unilaterally by designers — redesigns no one asked for and few appreciate, some of which are even reverted (like that time Instagram inexplicably changed feed scrolling to horizontal). It was refreshing to look at such an ancient artifact and realize its improvements were genuinely user-driven, addressing players’ needs over time.
The Joker: A Recent Addition
The Joker card is a relatively recent addition to the standard deck, introduced by Samuel Hart in the 19th century. As a result, its design is the least standardized in the deck. This variety makes it a collectible card type, with the largest collection in the world belonging to Tony De Santis, who owns over 8,000 unique Joker cards.
Experimental Formats That Didn’t Stick
Round playing cards have existed since the 15th century, with several manufacturers producing them in the late 19th century. Despite their unique look, this format never gained widespread popularity.
In 2008, designers Alvaro Guillermo and Meire Vibiano challenged the traditional rectangular card design by proposing a "Brazilian deck".
Guillermo explained:
“The unique design, with narrower dimensions and a more rounded shape, makes the cards easier to handle. Games like Buraco, for example, require players to hold a large number of cards. The larger suits and numbers, combined with a matte finish and subtly colored white background, prevent light reflection and make the cards easier to read.”
This project was created to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Portuguese royal family’s arrival in Brazil, with redesigned suits representing crowns.
While these experimental formats didn’t achieve significant popularity, I admire the attempt to rethink such a classic artifact, and I’d love to see more projects like this. Or could it be that some things are so well-designed they can’t be improved?
Sources:
Baralho Brasileiro: um brinde diferenciado
Circular playing cards are a style that never caught on
