Card SortingMethod

Card sorting is a method used to help design or evaluate the information architecture of a site. In a card sorting session, participants organize topics into categories that make sense to them and they may also help you label these groups. To conduct a card sort, you can use actual cards, pieces of paper, or one of several online card-sorting software tools.

Card sorting will help you understand your users' expectations and understanding of your topics. It is often most useful once you have done some homework to find out about your users and understand your content. Knowing how your users group information can help you build the structure for your website, decide what to put on the homepage, and create effective labels for categories and navigation.

Usability.gov

Steps

1. Give users a collection of content represented on cards.
2. Ask users to separate the cards into whatever categories make sense to them.
3. Ask users to label those categories.
4. Ask users to tell you why they grouped the cards and labeled the categories as they did.