Spacing Over Cards

I like a lot of the redesign suggestions but how much of that is a result of cards vs no-cards. For example removing the tags and using colored words ("privacy") could still be a good move while keeping cards.

I'm not super educated as a UI designer though can someone help me better understand the distinction?

author here (not super educated either). That's part of the idea — when cards are removed it becomes obvious that tags become the most noticeable part while not being the most (or any) important one. When you look at the cards you see cards and _something_ inside them.

So maybe if this post was in less flame-provoking tone I'd suggest trying to add cards back and see if it makes it better. It might, on landings there is a good chance it will.