Card sorting for better information architecture. Card sorting is a user experience ux research method used to help design or evaluate the information architecture of a product, website, or app. It involves giving participants a set of cards and each each representing a concept asking them to group or organize them in a way that makes sense to them.
I am explaining Card Sorting by giving a simple and easy example.
For example
You’re redesigning the navigation of a university website. You want to know how students expect to find information.
Step 1: Create Cards
Each card represents a piece of content. For example:
– Admissions
– Course Catalog
– Tuition & Fees
– Research Labs
– Student Clubs
– Library
– Faculty Directory
– Career Services
Step 2: Ask Users to Sort
You give these cards to students and ask them to group them in a way that makes sense.
Users created the groups like this..
Academics
– Course Catalog
– Research Labs
– Faculty Directory
– Library
Student Life
– Student Clubs
– Career Services
Admissions & Fee
– Admissions
– Tuition & Fees
Step 3: Analyze Results
If most students create similar groupings, you can design your navigation accordingly:
Final Website Menu Example
– Academics
– Student Life
– Admissions & Costs
Card sorting is a simple yet powerful method to design clear and user-friendly information architecture.
