X Sort is a great little free card sort application for macs
I just worked on a project lately that required us to use a card sort. Now, I often talk a good card sort to clients, but seldom do I actually need to do one. But if you are interested in implementing user-centered design then a card sort should be part of your information design phase. If you’ve not done a card sort before, or don’t know what it is, it’s a technique for determining your information architecture. The card sort involves sorting a series of cards which contain a passage of content or a bit of functionality into categories or groups of where the user would expect to find them.
There are 2 main types of card sorts; an open card sort where there are no groups/categories provided, and a closed card sort where group categories are already defined. As I understand it, open is better for determining new hierarchies, while closed is better for adding existing content or refining an open sort. I have found that if you are short on time and need data fast, a closed card sort with a category for “unsure” is a good way to pick up any ambiguous content.
The one tip I would offer in doing a card sort is that you should try and keep the content you use in the card sort to be as similar as possible in its specificity so the user can easily put into groups.
If some of the content is very broadly focussed and some is extremely specific it will be hard to form intuitive relationships between them.
A card sort is considered pretty low tech, which is a bonus for a me for start. But even better, there are some great little card sort tools out there to help you. I am on a mac and I found X-Sort – “a free card sorting application for Mac OS X”. FREE people!!!! It uses an easy drag and drop method for sorting the cards and provides some great metrics and reports.
So if you are looking at getting some fast feedback in your information design phase, i definitely say give card sorting a go. Give the power back on the user – make them choose the overall site structure!
