How do I organise the content on my website? How do I decide how much content is required for my website? How do I finalize what content should be included?
These are some of the many questions that will come to your mind when you decide to make a new website or revamp your current one.
In this modern age of the Internet, it is imperative that any business has an active website. The more user-friendly it is, the more people visit. You might be aware of why small businesses needs a website. While it is very important that your website has just the right amount of content, it is also equally important to make sure that this content is properly arranged and segregated. This is done so that anyone can navigate through the pages easily.
One of the best ways to come up with a proper structure is called the ‘card sorting technique’. Card sorting in UX might sound quite tricky and confusing but if you are able to find the right technique from the different card sorting approach types, you will be able to attain a user-friendly and easily navigable website.
What is Card Sorting?
Card Sorting is the method used to help to design or evaluate the information architecture of a site.
Information Architecture is the structural design of information in any given data. It is the art and science of organizing and labelling websites, online communities etc. The IA of any website should be developed keeping in mind that the user has no prior knowledge or experience with the information they are given. Therefore, the content must be direct and simple. The users should find it easy to navigate within the website.
Card sorting in UX design will allow you to organize topic clusters into categories that will make better sense to them and the user and this might also help you label the groups and prioritize them accordingly. Click To Tweet
Card Sorting Approach Types
The insights gained from the card sorting will allow you to gain better understanding and clarity about the trends and techniques that are best suited for your organization. There are quite a few approaches to card sorting. They are:
- Open Card Sorting
- Closed Card Sorting
- Remote Card Sorting
- Face to Face Card Sorting
Design Input: We can show card sorting clusters to help the reader understand these concepts better. Reference images attached.
The Process
Card Sorting
Step 1: Collect the information and note them down in separate cards
Step 2: Categorize the information or the cards collected
Step 3: Gather insights from the participants as to what makes the most sense to them
Step 4: Organize the information logically and considering the user persona
Step 5: Make corrections based on the test results and put together the content
In card sorting sessions, you and your colleagues will be given some pieces of paper each and asked to individually write down all the topics you feel should be included in the website, one topic on each paper. Once everyone is done, you will be asked to collectively group them in a way that makes logical sense.
Depending on the types of cards sorted into one category, you can also name the groups accordingly. These will be the categories and subcategories of your website.
They are then ordered based on priority which will become the initial layout of the webpage.
Once the basic structure is formed, it will be easy to add or eliminate topics accordingly.
Conclusion
Understanding the user persona through proper research and testing is the initial step to create a website that delivers content efficiently. At times, one test will not be enough. Take further chances and don’t pull yourself back from retesting. Once you get a clear picture about how understandable your web content is, you can put together the content that is innate and easy to comprehend.
