Issue Cards
Issue Cards are a custom deck in which each card carries a single prompt about the topic at hand, such as an insight, a picture, a keyword or a short description. Documented in the Service Design Tools collection, the cards are spread on a table so that an interviewee or a small group has something concrete to pick up, talk about, add to and rank. They give structure to a conversation and open lines of thought that a plain question list tends to miss.
Facilitation script
- 1
Welcome the participants, explain what the cards are for and how the results will be used. State that cards can be changed, added or thrown out.
5 min - 2
Spread the deck face up. Ask everyone to read the cards quietly and to pull towards them two or three that stand out.
5 min - 3
Go round the table. Each person shows a chosen card and tells a concrete story that explains the choice. Ask follow-up questions and let others add to the same card.
15 min - 4
Hand out blank cards and pens. Ask what is missing from the deck, which cards are worded wrongly and which do not apply. Have people write, edit and discard.
8 min - 5
Ask the group to order the remaining cards from most to least urgent. Step back, let them move cards and listen to the arguments.
8 min - 6
Read the top of the ranking back to the group, check that it reflects their view, photograph the table and say what happens next.
4 min
Tips
Listen for the stories people tell while handling a card; the ranking is useful, but the reasons are the research material.
Always include blank cards and treat what gets written on them as the most valuable output, because it shows what your deck missed.
Test the deck on a colleague first and remove any card whose wording suggests an answer.
Common pitfalls
Writing cards that contain your own conclusion or a solution, which leads participants and gives you back your own assumptions
Bringing sixty or more cards, so people spend the session reading and never get to the conversation
Leaving out blank cards, which limits the discussion to what the team already knew
Recording only the final ranking and not the stories behind it, leaving a list of keywords that nobody can interpret a week later
Letting one confident participant arrange the cards for the whole group, so the ranking reflects a single view
Variations
In a one-to-one interview the deck works as a discussion guide the interviewee steers by choosing the order of cards. For groups above ten, hand a copy of the deck to each table and compare the rankings in plenary. Remote sessions can use cards on a shared whiteboard, with participants dragging them into ranked columns. The Service Design Tools page describes a co-design workshop for the non-profit T.Ospito at Niguarda hospital, where keyword cards such as family, routine, finance and exercise helped caregivers talk about their priorities.
Where it fits
When to use it
You have early research or desk findings and want the people concerned to confirm, correct and rank them
Participants find the topic abstract or sensitive and talk more easily about an object on the table than in answer to a direct question
A group keeps returning to the same two or three talking points and needs prompts that widen the conversation
You interview several stakeholders and want their priorities to be comparable afterwards
Participants are not used to workshops and need a low-threshold way to contribute
When not to use it
You know too little about the topic to write meaningful cards; start with open user interviews or contextual inquiry and build the deck afterwards
You want to learn how people group and label content for a navigation or information structure; that is a card sort
The group has to generate solutions; issue cards surface and rank problems, so follow with How Might We questions or a brainstorm
The topic is personally distressing for participants and the group setting gives them no privacy; use individual conversations with a trained interviewer instead
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Issue Cards?▾
Issue Cards is a facilitation tool from service design: a custom deck in which each card shows one issue related to the topic, as a keyword, image, insight or short description. The cards are laid out in an interview or workshop so participants can discuss, amend and prioritise them. The deck is made for the project and is not a product you buy.
How many issue cards do I need?▾
Fifteen to thirty cards suit most sessions. Fewer than ten gives too little to choose from, and more than about forty turns the session into a reading exercise. Add at least five blank cards.
What should be written on an issue card?▾
One issue per card, phrased neutrally and briefly. Keywords, photos, simple drawings, quotes from research or one-sentence descriptions all work. Avoid judgements and solutions, since the point is to hear how participants see the issue.
What is the difference between Issue Cards and a card sort?▾
A card sort asks people to group items into categories so you learn their mental model, usually for information architecture. Issue Cards are conversation prompts: the aim is discussion, additions and a priority order. The materials look alike but the questions you ask and the data you keep differ.
How long does an Issue Cards session take?▾
The source does not give a duration. Thirty to sixty minutes is realistic for one interviewee or a group of up to ten, depending on the number of cards. Preparing and testing the deck beforehand usually takes longer than the session itself.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Service Design Tools.