*This article has been updated since it was originally published in 2009*
This is the first in a 3-part series about card sorting, written by David Humphreys and Tania Lang. You can find the other 2 articles here:
Part 2 - Running a card sorting session
What is card sorting?
Card sorting is a user-centred tool that assists with designing a truly great information architecture (IA), or menu, for your website or software. It gives you insight into:
- how users group information including content and features, and
- terminology and menu labels that make sense to them.
Card sorting is one of the most useful tools in the UX toolbox. Anyone with a passing interest in usability has probably heard of it, but they might not know its true value in the UX design process.
The 'cards' are small pieces of paper (or virtual cards if done online) with words describing a piece of website content or feature. If your website helps people shop for groceries, your cards might have names such as 'Frozen chips', 'Special offers' or 'Recipes'. There are usually between 30 and 50 cards and, together, they should be a comprehensive representation of the key site content – or the section of the site being redesigned.
The cards are sorted into groups by users of the website. They create groups that are logical to them and then give each group a name.
Types of card sorting
- Open card sorts – The participants are given the cards with no established groupings or categories and are asked to create totally new groups that make sense to them. If you are looking at redeveloping your entire IA then this is the type of card sort you should be looking at doing first.
- Closed card sorts – The participants are given cards and a set of headings or groupings and are asked to sort the cards into these headings. You might use a closed card sort when you have already established the top level of your IA and want to do some further research on your 2nd level or you have evidence that your top level is working OK (say from usability testing) but users get lost in the lower levels of your IA.
- Moderated card sorting (in person) - Sessions are conducted in person at a venue convenient for the participants. The cards are printed.
- Unmoderated card sorting (remote) – Online card sorting can be conducted remotely using card sorting tools such as OptimalSort. The cards appear on the screen and the participants can move them around freely, just as they would with physical, printed cards.
The reason card sorting is such a powerful tool is that it is inexpensive and easy to do but gives great information about the way your users think and how they group information i.e. their mental model.
What are the benefits of card sorting?
Why bother with card sorting? Card sorting brings two main benefits:
- It gives you an understanding of how users group information and what sort of content they think belongs together. This helps you understand your user's "mental model". Users’ mental models are often very different to your and your stakeholders’ mental models.
- It gives you suggestions and ideas on the common sorts of terms that they use to describe that information and a starting point for navigation names and link labels. It helps you and your stakeholders realise that users often don’t use (or even understand) terms that you commonly use within your organisation.
When should you do card sorting?
Card sorting should be done before the design and development of the IA happens (or before you redesign an existing site IA). Use the results to help you make decisions about what to group with what and which menu labels are meaningful for users.
At PeakXD, we usually design the IA after all user research activities are completed so we have an understanding of who the site's users are and what content is important to them. That way, the cards used for card sorting can be based on actual user and business requirements as well as existing content.
This is the first in a 3-part series about card sorting, written by David Humphreys and Tania Lang. You can find the other 2 articles here:
Part 2 - Running a card sorting session