Thou

1. Information Architecture 101:
Card Sorting

2. SELMA ZAFAR,
SENIOR USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNER
• 12 years experience in creating compelling,
usable and innovate experiences
• Strategy, user research, IA, wireframes,
usability testing
• ThoughtFarmer Intranet clients:
• Cummins Western Canada
• Fokker Services, Aerostructures, Aircraft
Services
• Global Container Terminals
• YVR

4. W ho Feels that their Intr anet Content
is a tangled mess?

5. IA Challenges for Intr anets
• Reflects a company organization chart that employees don’t
understand
• Stale, out-dated content
• ‘Dumping Ground’ for content
• No publishing standards or style guide
• Lack of content ownership
• Complex publishing processes prevent content updating

6. Business/Context
Content Users

7. CARD SORTING
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattobee/4417201103/sizes/l/in/photostream/

8. “It is important to use Card Sorting for the right
reasons and the right time in the project and to analyze
the results in combination with other inputs.”
- DONNA SPENCER 2009

9. Steps in a Car d Sor t
1. Decide what you want to learn
2. Select the type of Card Sort (open vs closed)
3. Choose Suitable Content
4. Choose and invite participants
5. Conduct the sort (online or in-person)
6. Analyze Results
7. Integrate results

10. Befor e you Get Star ted!
Inventory + Audit the Content

11. W hat ar e you wanting to lear n?
• New Intranet vs Existing?
• Section of Intranet?
• Whole organization vs single department?
• For a project? For a team?

12. OPEN VS CLOSED
CRM
Year in Product
Organizati
Review
Company Targets
CRM
OPEN
Vacation Christmas on Chart
Projects
Meeting
News Project
Policy Party
Vacation Review
Walkathon
request Pay Days
SORT
Results
form Vacation
Policy
Human Walkathon
Vacation Events
Resources Results
request Pay Days Christmas
CRM form Party
Product Organizati
CRM
Christmas Targets in
Year on Chart
Vacation Project
Party Review
Policy Review
Meeting
Pay Days
CRM Vacation
Organization request
Chart CRM form
Year in
Project
Review
Review
Product Meeting
Walkathon
Targets
Results
Christmas Year in CRM
Party Review Project
Company
Company Walkathon Meeting Review
Projects
Product
Projects News
News Results Targets
Vacation
CLOSED Human
Resources
Departments
Policy
Human
Vacation
Resources
request Pay Days
Departments
CRM
Organizati
SORT
form on Chart

13. SELECTING CONTENT

14. Selecting Content
Don’ts
Do’s
•30 – 100 Cards • More than 100 cards
•Select content that can be • Mix functionality and
grouped content
•Select terms and concepts • Include both detailed
that mean something to and broad content
users

15. Choose & Invite Par ticipants

16. Conducting the Car d Sor t
Optimal Workshop
(www.optimalworkshop.com)

17. Anal ysis
#17 The information in this presentation is confidential. Please do not redistribute. Thanks!

18. Look at
• What groups were created
• Where the cards were placed
• What terms were used for labels
• Organization scheme used
• Whether people created accurate or inaccurate groups

19. Cate gor y Char acteristics
• Users understand the categories & can find information
• Content fits well in categories with not too much overlap
• Category names match users mental models

20. Inte g r ate results: Cr eate Your IA
Centers of
Our Company Projects Departments Excellence Employee Community &
Resources Groups
Project Management
Executive Blog Project Name 1 Executive Professionals Vacation & Holidays Events
Operations Engineering
New York Project Name 2 Expenses Charitable Campaigns
Operations Support Terminal Technologies
Project Name 3 Vancouver Carpool
Vancouver
Vessel Planning NAVIS
Project Name 4 Travel
Mission and Values
Yard Planning Lawson
Health & Safety
Rail Planning IT
Wellness
Finance & Yard Planning
Administration Benefits
Human Resources Facilities
Corporate
Communications Payroll
IT Communication Tools

22. Added Benefit of Car d Sor ting
Employee Engagement
Involving your employees as part of the process for defining
your new Intranet will result in higher acceptance.
http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/

23. Steps in a Car d Sor t REcap
1. Inventory/Audit Content
2. Decide what you want to learn
3. Select the type of Card Sort (open vs closed)
4. Choose Suitable Content
5. Choose and invite participants
6. Conduct the sort (online or in-person)
7. Analyze Results
8. Create IA

24. Now Car d Sor t!
www.thoughtfarmer.com/cardsort
Find out the results at the next ThoughtFarmer Webinar!
Information Architecture 101: Task Testing
October 17th @8:30 AM PST

25. Selma Zafar
selma@openroad.ca
twitter.com/selmaz