There are many articles and blog posts out there that measure the value of this UCD technique. This article focuses on a more specific aspect of the technique, which comes out of experience conducting a number of projects using card sorting — the use of offline and online card sorting methods.

What is card sorting?

Card sorting is an activity which asks participants to sort a selection of content — web pages, menu options etc — into categories that make sense to the individual or group.

Conducting this activity provides researchers with a user’s perspective into the groupings, and will typically inform information architecture (IA) designs.

It’s a simple technique, and perhaps the most widely used during intranet and website redesigns. Run with multiple groups of staff, it can provide valuable insights.

(August article by Alex Manchester, read the full article)

These are far from fancy photos, but even these required a fair bit of my camera gear, including remote-operated flashes and shoot-through umbrellas.

“What are you going to be doing when you grow up son? Dad, I want to be a professional card sorting photographer.”

Until fairly recently, when designers wanted to test an idea or design, they sought out an outside usability agency or, rented a room, some expensive equipment and recruited users to come into an artificial environment to participate in a usability study. In the past few years, technology has become available that has brought the cost and complexity of user testing down to a level where it is available for anyone. In addition, it allows designers to be exposed to users, in their native environment, not a sterile lab across town. You can run a test in only a week for less than a few hundred dollars.