Do I need to include a call to action if the title of an event is also linked?

Question

I'm creating an events calendar for a client, in which I'm listing upcoming events.

Event "cards" in the list include the following:

• title
• date
• time
• location
• short description
• call to action to register for the event (only some have this)
• detail page with longer description, imagery, etc

My question is: if the event title is visually defined as a link, do I also need to include a call to action like "see event details" or something like that? Is linking the title a common enough design/user pattern that I wouldn't need the additional link?

I considered making the whole "card" a link to the detail page, but because there is an additional "register" call to action in place, I didn't want to add confusion.

Answer 1

The other two answers as they stand right now are good. I'd argue that you could make the entire "Card" a link to the item and then have a nice-sized button like "Sign up" or "RSVP" for the call to action.

I'd also design out a hover state for the entire card to show that it's clickable and give an idea that it's going to the detail page, but also keep the button at full opacity on top as well.

Like the other answers, it would be better to make suggestions seeing this visually, but that would be my recommendation.

EDIT: Didn't think about responsive... hovers aren't great on touch devices... It might be nice to have a small link to the detail page (and still have the entire card clickable) and then adjust to have the hover for non-touch devices.

Answer 2

It can be hard to visualize this without some type of example, however....

I'd do both, and see if it becomes visually redundant. A CTA is a great way to make the path clear, but at the same time, it can be frustrating to users when titles aren't clickable. Often times in e-commerce sites, users become frustrated when they can't click on just the titles of product categories (i.e. you can't just click on "shoes", you need to click on "shoes>men's shoes"...the same concept can be applied here.

If the "cards" are positioned next to each other, then CTA after CTA repeating the same information of "see more" can become unnecessary, providing the assumed path is through the title link. This is all going to lie on the hierarchy associated with the register and see more buttons.

Answer 3

Well, you have 2 actions here (register and see details), so at some point of the interaction flow, you'll need to include those 2 actions. You have several way to do it, the obvious one is to have a link fro each one of the actions. Not necessarily a button, just a link should be enough.

But of course, you have more options, and you have to consider the costs as well. For example, in your case you'll obviously want people to register. So teh easy way would be "let's add a nice CTA and have people register like mad". But in real world, most people will want to know more before registering to that event. So, what is the most important CTA here?

This is to explain the approaches I'd take:

• get rid of the "register" link or make it very subtle
• make the whole card clickable and open teh details card
• in the details card, include a very prominent CTA

About behaviors, try to explore Google's Material options, you can see a very nice example at https://www.google.com/landing/now/#cards . Other good examples are iOS apps Passbook and Facebook Paper. These examples should give you some insight on how to treat your cards