Card Sorting
Description
Card sorting. Card sort exercises are one of the best ways to learn how your users would use information. There are two basic varieties of card sorts: open and closed. Open card sorts allow participants to cluster labels for existing content into their own categories and then label those categories (and clearly, card sorting is useful when designing organization systems as well as labeling systems). Closed card sorts provide participants with existing categories and ask them to sort content into those categories. At the start of a closed card sort, we can ask users to explain what they think each category label represents and compare these definitions to our own. Both approaches are useful ways to determine labels, although they’re more appropriate for smaller sets of labels such as those used for navigation systems.
What did we do
We were tasked with organizing navigation terms for a school program’s website, including Program Objectives, Concentrations Available, Accreditation Information, Curriculum Highlights, Student Organizations, Current Projects, Admission Requirements, and Alumni Profiles. Our objective was to strategically group these terms into intuitive and user-friendly navigation menus.
After done with grouping ours, we compared our result with the other.
Our approach to creating categories was more instinctive and focused on grouping by function, while the other group leaned towards grouping by a more general approach. It was interesting to see how our mental models complemented each other—we learned a lot about our individual priorities and thought processes.
My Group’s result
The hardest part was deciding where to place items that seemed to belong to multiple categories or none at all. Comparing with another pair’s categories highlighted some shared patterns, like grouping by functionality, but also showed how subjective the process can be. There were definite overlaps in broad categories, but the finer details often diverged based on personal preferences and mental models.
This card sorting activity made me realize how much thought must go into organizing content for usability on sites I use daily.
The predefined categories often aligned with ours but sometimes felt restrictive, especially when items didn’t fit neatly into them.
These insights highlight the importance of creating a clear and flexible hierarchy that aligns with user expectations. By accommodating outliers and balancing user needs with logical organization, the structure can become more intuitive and inclusive, ultimately enhancing the overall user experience.
References:
Rosenfeld, L., Morville, P., & Arango, J. (2015). Information architecture: For the web and beyond (4th ed.). O'Reilly Media. Chapter 6: Designing the labels.
