Card Sorting

Card sorting is a way to involve users in grouping information for a Web site. Participants in a card sorting session are asked to organize the content from your website in a way that makes sense to them. Participants review items from your Web site and then group these items into categories. Participants may even help you label these groups.

Card sorting helps you learn how users think about your content and how they would organize the information on your website. Card sorting helps you build the structure for your website, decide what to put on the home page, and label the home page categories. It also helps to ensure that you organize information on your site in a way that is logical to your users.

There are two types of card sorting techniques:

There are two types of card sorts: an open card sort and a closed card sort. In an open card sort, participants are asked to organize the cards into groups that make sense to them and then name each group. In a closed card sort, participants are asked to sort items into pre-defined categories.

The following describes the benefits of each method:

• Open Card Sort: An open card sort is typically done when you want to learn how users group content and understand the terms or labels users call each category.
• Closed Card Sort: A closed card sort typically works best when you are working with a pre-defined set of categories and you want to learn how users sort content items into each category. A closed sort works well after an open sort. By conducting an open card sort first, you can begin to identify categories of content. You can then use a closed card sort to see how well the category labels work.

When should card sorting be used?

• Designing a new website
• Designing a new area of a website
• Redesigning a website

How does card sorting work?

After you select one or more participants who closely resemble your user population, you should:

• Give each participant a set of index cards. Each card should include one topic from your Web site.
• Ask participants to group the cards in a way that makes sense to them. Many participants start by placing the first card on the table and then look at the second card to see whether it belongs in the same group or if it deserves its own category - and so on through the set of cards.
• After participants have grouped the cards, you can ask them to name or label each group. For example: Links, Home Page, Contact Information, etc.