Card Sorting: Best Practices and Tips
What is Card Sorting?
In the card sorting approach of UX research, participants arrange the individual labels written on note cards into groups based on standards that make sense to them.
By identifying the organizational structure of the domain knowledge of the target audience, this technique helps to build an information architecture that meets user expectations.
To learn how users categorize and view information, a card sorting study technique might be utilized.
This approach is used when a team wants to arrange and categorize website material in a way that makes sense for the target audience.
Card sorting creates a strong foundation for information architecture (IA), and a strong IA enables the creation of navigation systems that meet user expectations.
Card sorting aids in understanding consumer expectations so that you may create a website and product that satisfies those expectations. By displaying the information in a style that is simply accessible and findable for the user, creating structure in the material utilizing data obtained through card sorting encourages a smoother connection between the user and the system.
Card sorting uses cards to accomplish what its name says. According on the content you wish to include on your website or app, you will first choose a range of subjects. Each card will have a distinct topic written on it. You will then shuffle the cards into a random sequence and give them to the user to sort into piles.
Use of Card Sorting
- What should be displayed on the website?
- What parts should be created, and what information should they contain?
- What is the best way to get information to a user so they can find it and complete a task?
A technique for evaluating a website's information architecture is card sorting (IA). IA looks at a variety of different aspects of how a user interacts with a product. How do users locate stuff to read after looking for it? What are the best ways for you, the designer, to properly communicate the information so that others can access it easily? Using the information from a card sort, a designer can produce an intuitive and user-friendly website.
Card Sorting Process
1. The collection should contain between 40 and 80 items that correspond to the site's primary content.
Each topic should be written on a separate index card.
2. Give the participant the cards once they have been shuffled. Request that they examine each card individually and group cards that belong together into piles. There can be large and little mounds.
It's acceptable for a participant to set a card aside if they are unsure of it or don't understand what it symbolize. Instead of grouping cards at random, it is preferable to have a set of "unknown" or "unsure" cards.
3. After the participant has successfully grouped all the cards, provide her blank cards and instruct her to jot down names for each group she formed. The user's mental representation of the topic space will be exposed in this step.
4. When the user performs the original sorting, consider asking them to think aloud. In addition to providing detailed information, this method also requires a lot of time for analysis
Different Types of Card Sorting
Open card sorting requires test takers to develop their own category labels and arrange the elements in the order they want. To understand how people categorize items and provide labels to those categories, this kind of sorting is employed.
Open Card Sorting
Users are requested to arrange the cards into categories that make sense to them. After that, they are instructed to give each of the groupings they have made a name and a label. This approach is frequently used to organize products on a website, construct new information architectures from scratch, or organize current or new information architectures.
Closed Card Sorting
Users are prompted to sort the content and category cards into the appropriate categories after receiving both of these types of cards. This technique is typically used to add new content to an existing website or to acquire more insights following an open card sort.
Moderated Card Sorting
The chance to get qualitative understandings into the users' justifications for their groupings at this stage is really significant.Whenever necessary, you can enquire, check your understanding, and inquire about particular cards. As needed, you can ask questions, seek clarification, and inquire about specific cards. In order to gain insight into your card sorts, we recommend moderating them if your schedule and budget allow it.
Unmoderated Card Sorting
Involves no interaction with a facilitator and users grouping content independently using an online tool.
Generally speaking, it is quicker and less expensive than moderated card sorting because it doesn't necessitate speaking with every user. As an addition to monitored card sorting sessions, unmoderated card sorting can be helpful.
Imagine, for instance, if the research team decided to conduct a card sort with 60 participants—20 for each of the three separate audience groups—in a study that involved very distinct audience groups.
In this situation, running 60 moderated card-sorting sessions might be costly.
Instead, the team might opt to conduct a mini study with 5–10 moderated sessions for each audience group, followed by card sorting without moderators for the remaining sessions.
Paper Card Sorting
The classic method of card sorting is with paper. Users are required to construct their own groups on a huge workspace, with topics listed on index cards. The main benefit of using paper cards for sorting is that there is no learning curve for study participants; all they need to do is stack paper into piles on a table. Users can freely shift cards around or even start over in this forgiving and adaptable procedure.
People can also control a lot more cards on a huge table than they can on a computer screen, which frequently can't display everything in a single view.
Digital Card Sorting
Users drag and drop topic cards into groups using digital card sorting software or a web-based tool. This method typically provides the simplest for researchers since it can analyze all the findings from the participants and tell which items were most frequently grouped together, the category names users selected, and the possibility of two items being matched together.
Benefits of Card Sorting
Cheap and Easy: Card sorting studies are straightforward and affordable to set up for everyone involved.
Quick to Execute: A number of kinds can be carried out quickly, producing a sizable amount of useful data.
Users are Involved: Studies offer understanding into the psychology of users for website content and logical content categorization.
Establishes a Solid Basis: Card sorting is an effective way to examine label quality and to build a solid foundation for the structure of a website or product.
