I offer card sorting and participant recruiting services for improving website information architecture and navigation.
Card sorting helps websites have better navigation and site structure that make sense to its users. Card sorting is a technique for logically grouping the pages/nodes of a site. This is done either with actual notecards on a table or, in many cases, with software. A card is made for each node of the site. The title of that node is written on the card, and the cards are turned over to testers. Ideally the recruits are individuals who fit the client’s target demographic.
The testers look at all the cards and sort them into groups according to their own logic, i.e. “what goes together and what categories are needed to contain what goes together?” When the results of multiple card sort tests are examined, the aggregate results will yield patterns that point to how average real world users will expect to navigate the website. This information is then used to construct and/or modify the site’s information architecture and navigation.
Card sorting on a small scale is often done simply with paper on a table:
For card sorts with larger numbers of participants, it is helpful to use software:
