September 23, 2002 New Thinking:
Information architecture: using card sorting for web classification design

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1. Write out all the classification terms gathered during the situation analysis on cards.
2. Ask readers, authors and representatives of management, to go through these cards, choosing what they feel are the relevant classifications. Try to get 10-30 people to do this.
3. It better for people to go through these cards quickly, rather than thinking over them for a long time.
4. Ask them to choose the top 10-15 classifications that they would want to see at a top level.
5. Ask them to prioritize this list based on the most important getting the highest mark and so on. Let's say that someone chooses 10 classifications. They would then give a mark of 10 to their first choice, 9 to their second choice, and so on.
6. Create a spreadsheet with all the classifications listed in alphabetical order.
7. Create a print-out of this spreadsheet, with a box beside each classification. Give a copy to everyone carrying out the card sorting. Ask people to place their marks in the relevant boxes.
8. Create another spreadsheet with all the classifications listed in alphabetical order. Create a column for everyone who is carrying out the card sorting.
9. Place the relevant score in the appropriate column for each participant.
10. Create a total column at the end, which will give a total mark for each classification.
11. When all the respective marks of the participants have been entered, sort your spreadsheet based on the total column, highest mark first.
12. What you will get is a list showing the classifications that have received the highest total marks from all the participants.
13. This classification list and how it is prioritized becomes a very valuable input into what your top-level classifications should be and how they should be ordered.

When examining a particular classification for final inclusion in your design, ask of it the following questions:

1. Is it necessary? Is this classification in any way a duplicate of another classification already chosen?
2. Is it clear? While it's good to be brief, it's better to be clear. Does this classification have multiple meanings?
   Is there a simpler word or phrase to use?
3. Is there a shorter word or phrase to use?
4. Does this classification follow web convention? Classifications such as Home, Contact, Help, Search, About, What's New, are what people are used to. Coming up with new names for the above will only confuse people.
5. Is this classification roughly the same length as the other classifications at the same level? If 9 out of the 10 classifications at a particular level use one word, and one uses four words, it won't scan well.

Gerry McGovern

Related articles

A step-by-step approach to web classification design
By Gerry McGovern, this paper is an in-depth analysis of web classification design techniques. It amalgamates the four New Thinking issues on classification design published in September 2002. It is in Adobe PDF format (242K). Download

Information design using card sorting
This is an excellent article on card sorting. It is by James Robertson, who is the managing director of Step Two Designs, an online development company based in Sydney, Australia.

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