Research solutions
Card sorting
Organise information around the way your audience thinks. Use card sorting to design or evaluate a site’s information architecture and explore how people group ideas.
Three approaches. Different questions.
Card sorting reveals the relationships people see between concepts. The right format depends on whether you are exploring a new structure or evaluating categories that already exist.
Choose an open, closed or hybrid approach around that stage of the work.
Open card sorting
Participants create their own categories and can identify concepts that are missing. This flexible approach helps explore their mental models during generative and exploratory work.
Closed card sorting
Participants sort supplied cards into predefined categories. Use it when terminology and concepts are established and you need to see which items fit each category.
Hybrid card sorting
Begin with predefined categories while allowing participants to create categories they feel are missing. Combine an established structure with room for new groupings.