This document discusses card sorting, a user-centered design method for improving a system's findability. Card sorting involves having participants sort cards with content or functionality labels into logical groups. This provides insights into how users naturally organize information. The document outlines the card sorting process, including deciding what to learn, choosing an open or closed sort, selecting content, inviting participants, conducting online or in-person sorts, analyzing results through quantitative and qualitative methods, and integrating findings. Card sorting is recommended when designing or redesigning a site to understand user mental models and ensure navigation matches their expectations.

1. Card Sorting
Help people find what they’re looking for
WORLD INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE DAY 2014

2. Mental Model

3. Mental models are deeply held internal images
of how the world works, images that limit us to
familiar ways of thinking and acting. Very often,
we are not consciously aware of our mental
models or the effects they have on our behavior
Peter Senge

4. Acting As Mental Model

5. Problem!
Are these people
finding what they
came for?
Yes or No
How do we know?

6. Card Sorting
o A card sort is a user-centered
design method for increasing a
system’s find ability.
o The process involves sorting a
series of cards, each labeled
with a piece of content or
functionality, into groups that
make sense to users or
participants.

7. With card sorting you can
• Build the structure for your website
• Build the structure for your navigation
• Decide what to put on the pages
• Label categories and navigation

8. When should we do it
Card sorting is a user-centered, formative
technique. It should be used as an input to:
o designing a new site
o designing a new area of a site
o redesigning a site

9. I’m pretty sure I know how to sort
things in a way that will make scene
to our site Visitor
No! you probably don’t

10. There are different ways to sort
information
And the best way may not be you were thinking

11. Fruits?
Banana
Pineapple
Tomato
Broccoli
Carrots
Bell pepper
Apple
Peach
Vegetables ?
Avocado
Rhubarb

12. How Can We Do It?
i. Decide what you want to learn
ii. Select the type of Card Sort (open vs. closed)
iii. Choose Suitable Content
iv. Choose and invite participants
v. Conduct the sort (online or in-person)
vi. Analyze Results
vii. Integrate results

13. What are you wanting to learn?
o How do our users expect the information
to be organized and categorized?
o What terminology and labels do they find
confusing and what better terms can we
use?

14. How Can We Do It?
i. Decide what you want to learn
ii. Select the type of Card Sort (open vs. closed)
iii. Choose Suitable Content
iv. Choose and invite participants
v. Conduct the sort (online or in-person)
vi. Analyze Results
vii. Integrate results

15. Open Card Sorting / Close Card Sorting
Discover
In an open card sort,
participants create their own
names for the categories.
What is your Goal?
Validation
In a closed card sort,
participants are provided
with a predetermined set of
category names.

16. CHOOSE
METHOD
o Moderate
o Un moderate

17. How Can We Do It?
i. Decide what you want to learn
ii. Select the type of Card Sort (open vs. closed)
iii. Choose Suitable Content
iv. Choose and invite participants
v. Conduct the sort (online or in-person)
vi. Analyze Results
vii. Integrate results

18. It depends But:
you do an audit of the key content
that will be on your site
you create a card for each section
you present the stack of cards to a
participant and ask them to sort
them into groups that are
meaningful to them.
SELECTING CONTENT
Cards come from where?

19. How Can We Do It?
i. Decide what you want to learn
ii. Select the type of Card Sort (open vs. closed)
iii. Choose Suitable Content
iv. Choose and invite participants
v. Conduct the sort (online or in-person)
vi. Analyze Results
vii. Integrate results

20. o Who are your target audience?
o How can you find them – Email? Social network? Or …
o Do they need to gifts for involvement?
Invite Participants

21. Sample of invitation
o Dear <Name of customer contact>,
o Session Description : <Name of company> is continually focusing
on user experience to ensure that …
o What: This user experience research session will focus on how an
end-user would organize the navigation components on <Product
Name> …
o Who: who should be participant in this session & their involvement
gift is ….
o When: The session will take approximately 1.5 hours during
December 4-19 (during one of the days)…
o Where
o How: Short explain about session

22. How Can We Do It?
i. Decide what you want to learn
ii. Select the type of Card Sort (open vs. closed)
iii. Choose Suitable Content
iv. Choose and invite participants
v. Conduct the sort (online or in-person)
vi. Analyze Results
vii. Integrate results

23. Online Card Sorting / Offline Card Sorting
More Participants
Less cements
Un Moderated
Less Participants
More cements
Can be Moderated
What is your Goal?

24. Lead the face-to-face session
Why questions
•Ask them, Why do they think this or
that?
Explain session clearly
•There is no right or wrong answers,
we just want to know what you
think
Minimize interruption
•Encourage the participants to think
loud

25. How Can We Do It?
i. Decide what you want to learn
ii. Select the type of Card Sort (open vs. closed)
iii. Choose Suitable Content
iv. Choose and invite participants
v. Conduct the sort (online or in-person)
vi. Analyze Results
vii. Integrate results

26. Analyzing
o Prepare your data for analysis ( you can find more Box and
arrow’s version | Rosenfeld media’s version)
o Analyze qualitative information based on user
comments.
o Analyze quantitative information
o Pull together your findings in a report to share with your
team and stakeholders.

27. Look at
o Open Card Sorting:
- What groups were created
- Where the cards were placed
- What terms were used for labels
o Close Card Sorting:
- Users understand the categories & can find information
- Content fits well in categories with not too much overlap
- Category names match users mental models

28. Correlation

29. Similarity Matrix
Each card is compared to each other card. The higher the number, the
more similar the cards and displays the percentage that any one card
was grouped with another card.

30. Want to learn more?
• Interactiondesign.org
• Usability.gov
• Box and Arrows
• Nielsen Norman Group
• Optimal workshop

31. Thank You For Your Attention
Any Question?
ASMA KAROOBI
WIAD 2014 – IRAN
ir.linkedin.com/in/asmakaroobi