Mastering Card Sorting: How to Use Research to Organize Information Intuitively

Keeping a website or app’s navigation and information architecture organized is critical to its usability. Users get frustrated when they can’t find what they’re looking for and a confusing navigation can hide content that you want them to discover. Fortunately, card sorting is an easy-to-learn research method that can guide you in creating intuitive navigation and information architecture. In this intermediate-level video, UX pro Elizabeth Allen shows you how to plan and conduct a card sort, and then teaches you some simple methods for analyzing both quantitative and qualitative card sort data. By the end of this video, you’ll possess the tools you need to get your website or app organized in a way that aligns with user expectations and behaviors. For best results, learners should download a free MultiDendrograms hierarchical clustering tool before starting the course.

• Understand what card sorting means and when, why, and how to do it
• Explore use cases for open versus closed card sorts and online versus in-person card sorts
• Learn to create a welcoming card sorting environment that makes participants want to join in
• Pick up the ability to confidently plan and run your own card sorts
• Learn how to analyze card sort data and tease out meaningful insights

Dr. Elizabeth Allen runs Brazen, a UX research and training consultancy based in Toronto, Canada. At Brazen, she helps companies identify and solve critical UX problems in digital and physical products, and trains design teams on how to do their own research. Her previous experience includes UX research roles at Shopify, Prosper, and Centralis. Elizabeth earned her PhD in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Chicago.