Card Sorting
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Card Sorting is a user research method used to help design or evaluate the information architecture of a website or app.
How I use it
Card sorting is a wonderful tool to use especially when designing a information heavy website. As designers we naturally form our own mental model for the information architecture of an app or website, I have found card sorts are an excellent mechanism for obtaining a view into other people’s mental models. Seeing how they associate trail, park, and point of interest differently than you is exactly the feedback a designer needs to be aware of to make sure they are aren’t getting too centered on their own mental model.
Card sorting provides such a wealth of insights. I have done them as both a “Closed” card sort, which has the participants sort cards into premade categories and also “Open” card sorts, which has participants create their own groupings and labels. I’ve found great value in both and I feel the each can be used in different situations.
I have run card sort with actual note cards and also digitally with Mirro and Figma.
