Andrii RusakovDesigner at SoftServe

SimpleCard SortingMethods

Agenda– Information we work with • How to work with it?

– Card Sorting methods • How to use them? • When to use them? • In-Person or Remote?

– Next steps

Have you evermanaged complexinformation?

What werethe challengesyou faced?

I know this subject well, andhave good analytical skills. I am strong enough to manageit on MY OWN!

YoungDesigner

Situation

You can realy know too much.But your users may not.

User-CenteredDesign

I know this subject well, andhave good analytical skills. I am strong enough to manageit on MY OWN!

YoungDesigner

Situation

... before you come to any conclusions try walking in my shoes

What can help usto group complexinformation right ?

What can help usto group complexinformation right ?

What doesit mean?

Right approachis to speak your user’s language

TaxonomyClassification and labeling

Finding Things– Familar labeling– Clear & Consistent navigation

Taxonomy

Content

OrganizationalStrategy

Context User

ROIReturn on Investment (ROI) is thebenefit to the investor resulting froman investment of some resource

Benefits– Catalog site (increased sales) • Improved product findability • Improved product cross-sells and up-sells • Improved customer loyalty

– Compliance • Avoiding penalties for breaching regulations • Following required procedures (e.g. Medical claims)

– Knowledge worker productivity • Less time searching for things • Less time recreating existing materials

So...

What will help tounderstand our user'sway of thinking?

SortingCard Sorting

Card sorting is a great, reliable, inexpensive method for finding patterns in how users would expect to find content or functionality.”

“

Donna Spencer

Methods

OpenCard Sorting

Modified-DelphiCard Sorting

ClosedCard Sorting

ReversedCard Sorting

Generative

Generative

Evaluative

Evaluative

Mental models, Organization,Labeling, Relationship

Mental models, Organization,Labeling, Relationship

Organization,Labeling

Organization, Labeling, Findability

Method Research Type Learn About

When to Use?– Designing a new App– Designing a new area of an App– Redesigning an App

Design Process

Design Process

Two primary methods

OpenCard Sorting

ClosedCard Sorting

USER’SCATEGORIES

NAMES

PREDETERMINEDCATEGORIES

NAMES

Advantages& Disadvantages

Advantages– Simple– Cheap– Quick to execute– Established– Involves users– Provides a good foundation

Disadvantages– Does not consider users’ tasks– Results may vary– Analysis can be time consuming– May capture “surface” characteristics only

In-PersonOffline

RemoteOnline

VS

In-Person (Offline)Moderated Card Sorting

– Limited scale– Relatively heavy investment per participant– Great for gathering qualitative results– Expensive to get quantitative results

Remote (Online)Unmoderated Card Sorting

– Unlimited scale– “Fire & forget”– Relatively cheap– Great for gathering quantitative results– Difficult to know why things happen

In-PersonOffline Card Sorting

How it Works?– Planning– Running– Analysis

Planning– Collect the statements for analysis– Write each statement on a card– Prepare space for cards placing– Recruit informants (at least six)

Running– Shuffle the card deck– Explain that there may well be an “unsortable” pile

It looks like this ...

AnalysisYou will need Magic + Science

– Look for broad patterns in the data– Or use cluster analysis approaches

Complex Analysis– Analysis spreadsheet by Donna Spenser– Co-occurrence matrix by Mike Rice– Dendrogram to illustrate the arrangement of the clusters

How it Works:

1. Entering the card names2. Cards summary and standardised categories3. Analysis of categories4. Visualisation of results

Analysis Spreadsheetby Donna Spencer

1. Entering the card names

2. Cards summary and standardised categories

3. Analysis of categories

4. Visualisation of results

Shows how often each pairof cards were put together inconducted card sort

Co-occurrence Matrixby Mike Rice

Displays the results of clusteranalysis on the similarity matrixin a tree format

DendrogramTree View

RemoteOnline Card Sorting

1. Input your cards2. Configure your survey3. Recruit participants4. Receive results

What we receive?– Clear vision on projects information architecture– Ability to start next design phase

Next Steps

Want to read more?

Card Sorting:Designing Usable Categoriesby Donna Spenser

Links– Card sort analysis spreadsheet http://rosenfeldmedia.com/blogs/card-sorting/card-sort-analysis-spreadsheet

– Co-occurrence matrix http://www.informoire.com/co-occurrence-matrix

– OptimalSort http://www.optimalworkshop.com/optimalsort.htm

Thank You!