What is card sorting?
Card sorting is important because if something has the wrong label or is located in the wrong place then users frequently don’t find it or understand it.
The process is simple: we ask users to group together different items that are written on cards. We may get them to describe the groups or what they think is meant by the labels on the cards – and we carefully note the phrases they use.
We repeat this with many users until we’ve got enough data to analyse and make predictions about what will work.
We use sorting to find out how users relate different parts of a website’s content to each other. This user centred design approach helps us define the site’s information architecture.
Where does card sorting fit in to your project?
We often use card sorting in the early stages of a project to discover the way users prefer to organise and describe the information on your website or user interface.
By learning how they group items together we can build up a picture of both what they expect to find on and how they would go about looking for that information. We are then equipped with the knowledge and understanding to produce successful information architecture.
What tools do we use?
All you need to start card sorting is a deck of index cards. But we also use software-based card sorting to help us capture and analyse statistical data, and online surveys to help us with large-scale user research or remote user testing.
We choose the right tool to fit the complexity and time constraints of the project.
Card sorting benefits
- Card sorting works well as part of a usability audit because it provides a valuable insight in to the performance of your user interface or website.
- Appropriate and easy to use information architecture can be built around the results of card sorting.
- Card sorting is practical – it can be carried almost anywhere. We can do it using a portable user testing lab, via remote user testing tools, at user testing facilities within our offices or focus group facilities.
Who we work with
We’ve used card sorting with public sector clients, like Historic Scotland, and the Department of Health, with digital TV providers, like Sky, with mobile user interfaces, and with commercial clients such as Peugeot or Zurich.