How Card Sorting Helps You Build People-Centric IA

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good navigation starts with good ia

and your IA is only as good as your understanding of your audience

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CARD SORTING

A method used to help design or evaluate the information architecture of a site

By asking participants to organize topics into categories that make sense to them

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CARD SORTING

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‣ Open vs. closed

‣ Online (remote) vs. in-person (moderated)

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OPEN VS. CLOSED

“Open” card sorting asks participants to write in their own category names.

“Closed” card sorting gives participants pre-named categories to sort content into.

‣ Test an existing structure ‣ Add pages to an existing structure ‣ Verify results of “open” card sorting

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ONLINE VS. IN-PERSON

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Online (remote) card sorting provides quantitative results.

In-person (moderated) card sorting provides qualitative results.

‣ What items are causing the most confusion? ‣ What alternatives are users debating? ‣ What do certain terms mean to users?

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IN-PERSON CARD SORTING

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In-person card sorting is especially useful when page terminology is highly technical, or could mean different things to different users.

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ONLINE CARD SORTING

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Online card sorting allows you to recruit a large number of participants and get quantitative information that lends itself to analytics. (Jakob Nielsen recommends about 15 users.)

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SIMILARITY MATRIX

Shows the percentage of participants who agree with each card pairing.

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DENDROGRAM

Shows the percentage of participants that agree with various groupings.

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PRESENTING TO CLIENTS

Participant-centric analysis shows the most preferred groupings by participants, based on their similarity with other responses.

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PRESENTING TO CLIENTS

Keep it simple. Provide actionable information. Prioritize recommendations.

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Optimal Workshop

Usability ToolsUserZoom

ONLINE CARD sorting tools

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6 Keys to

Success

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C A R D S O R T I N GNK

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6 Keys to

Success

1. BE CLEAR, NOT BRIEFIt’s better to use a longer phrase for a card than jargon or an unfamiliar product name.

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6 Keys to

Success

1. BE CLEAR, NOT BRIEFIt’s better to use a longer phrase for a card than jargon or an unfamiliar product name.

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C A R D S O R T I N GNK

2. LIMIT TOTAL CARD NUMBERToo many cards can be overwhelming and leads to mid-way abandons. Try to set a cutoff around 60.

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6 Keys to

Success

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C A R D S O R T I N GNK

1. BE CLEAR, NOT BRIEFIt’s better to use a longer phrase for a card than jargon or an unfamiliar product name.

2. LIMIT TOTAL CARD NUMBERToo many cards can be overwhelming and leads to mid-way abandons. Try to set a cutoff around 60.

3. KEEP IT ON ONE LEVELAll the cards/pages you include should be on the same level (participants can’t nest sub-pages).

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6 Keys to

Success 4. INCLUDE THE RIGHT AUDIENCESTest your target audience, not your friends (and don’t forget groups such as those who aren’t Internet-savvy).

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C A R D S O R T I N GNK

1. BE CLEAR, NOT BRIEFIt’s better to use a longer phrase for a card than jargon or an unfamiliar product name.

2. LIMIT TOTAL CARD NUMBERToo many cards can be overwhelming and leads to mid-way abandons. Try to set a cutoff around 60.

3. KEEP IT ON ONE LEVELAll the cards/pages you include should be on the same level (participants can’t nest sub-pages).

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6 Keys to

Success 4. INCLUDE THE RIGHT AUDIENCESTest your target audience, not your friends (and don’t forget groups such as those who aren’t Internet-savvy).

5. DON’T BE LEADINGPeople often mirror the terms you use for card names when coming up with category names.

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C A R D S O R T I N GNK

1. BE CLEAR, NOT BRIEFIt’s better to use a longer phrase for a card than jargon or an unfamiliar product name.

2. LIMIT TOTAL CARD NUMBERToo many cards can be overwhelming and leads to mid-way abandons. Try to set a cutoff around 60.

3. KEEP IT ON ONE LEVELAll the cards/pages you include should be on the same level (participants can’t nest sub-pages).

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6 Keys to

Success

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C A R D S O R T I N GNK

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6 Keys to

Success 6. USE THE RIGHT TOOLSCard sorting isn’t always needed. Sometimes tree testing or user testing can be more useful.

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C A R D S O R T I N GNK

1. BE CLEAR, NOT BRIEFIt’s better to use a longer phrase for a card than jargon or an unfamiliar product name.

4. INCLUDE THE RIGHT AUDIENCESTest your target audience, not your friends (and don’t forget groups such as those who aren’t Internet-savvy).

5. DON’T BE LEADINGPeople often mirror the terms you use for card names when coming up with category names.

2. LIMIT TOTAL CARD NUMBERToo many cards can be overwhelming and leads to mid-way abandons. Try to set a cutoff around 60.

3. KEEP IT ON ONE LEVELAll the cards/pages you include should be on the same level (participants can’t nest sub-pages).

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6 Keys to

Success

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Denver Center for Performing Arts: find “student discounts”

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SlickPlan DYNO Mapper WriteMaps

Site Mapping Tools

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T H A N K Y O U

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