Ribbons
A label fixed to the corner of a card, for the one thing about it that has to be read before anything else.
Corner
the plain form
Invoice
INV-0241
Ferrow Manufacturing · $18,240.00
Invoice
INV-0242
Ferrow Manufacturing · $18,240.00
Folded
a strip that runs off the edge
Invoice
INV-0251
Northwind Trading · $11,480.00
Invoice
INV-0252
Northwind Trading · $11,480.00
A tab on the edge
when the card already has a title
Ferrow Manufacturing
Pays in 21 days on average, never late in two years.
Kestrel Logistics
Slipped to 44 days on the last three invoices.
Where the label really belongs
A ribbon is loud on purpose, so it earns its place only when the status is the reason someone is looking at the card at all — an invoice that is overdue, an account that is locked.
For anything else, a chip in the card body reads better and does not fight the heading. Coffer uses ribbons on three screens and chips on the rest.