Everything went wrong, which was a much better learning experience than when everything goes right. Card sorting is one of the best ways to better understand how your users think the information on your website should be grouped. The cooccurrence matrix spreadsheets work with donna spencers card sort analysis spreadsheets by linking to the named lists and worksheets in them. Join facebook to connect with spencer donna and others you may know. You know, i dont know if i have a specialisation in card sorting. Jun 24, 2014 donna spencer is a freelance user experience designer who specialises in large, messy websites, and large, messy business applications. Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download customers also viewed these products.
For more information on tree testing, check out dave obriens ebook tree. Users are given a basic, stripped down map of the siteappetc. Card sorting is a quick and easy way to design an information architecture, workflow, menu structure or website navigation paths. In a card sorting session, participants organize topics into categories that make sense to them and they may also help you label these groups. Its a cooccurrence matrix which means it shows how often each pair of cards were put together in the card sort.
To find out more about how to set up the room and what to say to participants in a moderated card sort, check out donna spencer s definitive guide to card sorting and read the content under the heading execution. You can learn the vocabulary surrounding card sorting in our complete beginners guide to design research or checkout donna spencer and todd warfels card sorting. To conduct a card sort, you can use actual cards, pieces of paper, or one of several online card sorting. This video is a bit long, but you can start to see the way digital card sorting tools like optimal workshop can be used to make your life easier. We did have problems in combining results from two related studies, however. Card sorting software tools on the companion website to card sorting designing usable categories by donna spencer author. Your card sorting session simulates a table with cards to achieve the visual aesthetic that apple products are known for, and the software supports open and closed sorting types alikeas well as a combination of the two. The person conducting the test usability analyst, user. Run a moderated card sort with optimalsort optimal. Donna spencer walks us through the basics of setting up a card sort with optimalsort and introduces some analysis features. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Card sorting by donna spencer overdrive rakuten overdrive.
Boy, oh boy, did i learn a lot about card sorting and about ia during that project. Jussi jussi pasanen is the founder and principal at volkside view all posts by jussi. Donna a leading ux practitioner, regular conference speaker, workshop teacher and startup mentor has written three books including titles on writing for the web and card sorting. How to test the usability of prototypes like a pro.
Card sorting helps us understand how people think about content and categories. Card sorting the encyclopedia of humancomputer interaction. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Weve made card sorting even easier with optimalsort the online card sorting tool preferred by information architects, web designers and content writers the world over.
She has written three books, on card sorting, web writing, and information architecture. Designing usable categories if youve heard of wil wheaton the author, you understand why i hold russ unger in such high regard. Donna spencer and todd warfel posted on april 7, 2004 february 11, 2020 card sorting is a great, reliable, inexpensive method for finding patterns in how users would expect to find content or functionality. Card sorting is a technique in user experience design in which a person tests a group of subject experts or users to generate a dendrogram category tree or folksonomy. People will receive your cards and group them accordingly to a prearranged set of categories p. Sep 19, 2014 optimalsort provides a way to export data to excel or other file formats, if you prefer to analyze results using some industrystandard tools such donna spencers spreadsheets or the syncaps cluster analysis software. In a card sorting session,participants organize topics into categoriesthat make sense to them. Information architecture for the world wide webbook by louis rosenfeld and peter morville 4. The xsort app is a free installation card sorting tool designed for macintosh. Card sorting generates an overall structure for your information, as well as suggestions for navigation, menus. Designing usable categories 1st by donna spencer isbn. I have well over 20 years professional experience designing complex systems and services for a large range of clients across many industries. Open card sorts are particularly difficult to analyze because they produce a variety of content structures.
Russs experience and guidance was fundamental to the construction and design of monolith press, and hes been one of the most valuable collaborators ive ever. Allows you to test a design and assess impact on function, aesthetics, and overall usability. Card sort analysis spreadsheet about the spreadsheet i have an excel spreadsheet that i use to analyze data from physical card sorting activities although it is most useful for analysis, i also use it to print out physical cards. Aside from the references listed below and particularly donna spencers on card sorting spencer 2009, there are a number of helpful web resources. Card sorting is a design and usability method that allows to come up with an information architecture ia for a site according to donna spencer and todd warfel, card sorting is a quick, inexpensive, and reliable method, which serves as input into your information design process. Donna spencer is a freelance information architect, interaction designer, and writer. But for specific and invaluable advice on getting moderated card sorts right, check out donna spencers book card sorting. In her book, donna shows how to plan and run a card sort, analyze the results, and apply the outcomes to your projects. It is a useful approach for designing information architecture, workflows, menu structure, or web site navigation paths. Card sorting is a method used to help design or evaluate the information architecture of a site. Optimalsort provides a way to export data to excel or other file formats, if you prefer to analyze results using some industrystandard tools such donna spencers spreadsheets or the syncaps cluster analysis software. Read card sorting by donna spencer for free with a 30 day free trial. The reason that i wanted to talk to you today was because youve got something of a specialisation in card sorting. Mar 18, 2011 a practical guide to information architecture download mp3 length.
In this book, donna describes how to plan and run a card sort, then analyse the results and apply the outcomes to your project. Card sorting is the third in our series of design games. Maadmob design leadership, facilitation and teaching. A practical guide to information architecture, with. In this book club, well be centering our discussions on information architecture and donnas book, a practical guide to information architecture.
Run a moderated card sort with optimalsort optimal workshop. Card sorting basics with donna spencer optimal workshop. People will receive your cards and group them in a way that makes sense to them. According to donna spencer and todd warfel, card sorting is a quick, inexpensive, and reliable method, which serves as input into your. 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. This will automatically populate a big matrix of all the dataeach row represents a card and each column a participant see figure 9. Donna has supplied two versions of the card sort analysis spreadsheets. Mathew sanders is freelance interaction designer living in beautiful new zealand, who also happens to be a fan of card. That means she is responsible for what you see on the computer screenwebsite navigation, applications, forms, categories, and words.
Oct 17, 2018 the xsort app is a free installation card sorting tool designed for macintosh. A formula automatically pulls in the card name see figure 9. It helps you create information that is easy to find and understand. Donna spencer is a freelance user experience designer who specialises in large, messy websites, and large, messy business applications. To learn more about performing card sorts, check out donna spencers definitive guide on boxes and arrows or her book called card sorting, which is a standard in the usability community. Well id primarily recommend using online card sorting when you either need to get lots of results for a card sort i. Also dont think that you have to use one or the other within a project. An experimental study of some of the conditions of mental.
In a card sort, participants create groups from content or. Designing usable interfaces by donna spencer is published by rosenfeld media. Apr 05, 2009 card sorting is an effective, easytouse method for understanding how people think about content and categories. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading card sorting. Over the past few years i have been slowly developing and refining a spreadsheet i use for analysis of card sorts. Mike rice has created a fantastic spreadsheet to help analyse card sorting data. The spreadsheet does not collect the card sorting datait is purely for analysis of data collected with physical. For a fantastic deep dive into card sorting, i recommend donna spencers book card sorting. Getting started with card sorting with donna spencer youtube. Online card sorting even better than the real thing. Designing usable categories kindle edition by spencer, donna. After youve created your card sort in optimalsort, download and print your cards onto thick paper or card stock, and then use donnas guidance to set up and run your sessions. Then, you can upload the card sorts for each participant in the participants tab of your optimalsort results. Shes an experienced information architect, based in australia, who gives regular workshops on information architecture at conferences such as the ia summit and also runs.
Donna spencer is one of australias bestknown information architects, organizer of the ux australia conference, and a frequent presenter at ux conferences in australia, the us, and europe. Choose if you want the card sorting to be open or closed. If youre interested in learning more tips for running effective card sorting sessions, i highly recommend reading the book card sorting. This shopping feature will continue to load items when the enter key is pressed. She was also conference owner and manager of ux australia, an annual user experience conference.
Use card sorting to understand user mental models test. Mar 22, 2011 card sorting software tools on the companion website to card sorting designing usable categories by donna spencer author. Card sorting designing usable categories by donna spencer 2. Card sorting 1st edition by donna spencer and publisher rosenfeld media.
Card sorting is an effective, easytouse method for understanding how people think about content and categories. Of course the debate continues as to whether bono was singing about online card sorting or not during u2s seminal even better than the real thing, but assuming he was, was he correct. Donna spencer is the author of a practical guide to information architecture as well as two other books on card sorting and writing for the web. In this book, donna describes how to plan and run a card sort, then analyse the. Sep 25, 2014 card sorting basics with donna spencer duration. Armed with this knowledge, we can group information so that people can better find and understand it. This is typically done when managingthe navigation or taxonomy of a website,or in the categorization of blog topics. Card sorting is a common methodby which youll ask your participantsto help you design or evaluate information. Your card sorting session simulates a table with cards to achieve the visual aesthetic that apple products are known for, and the software supports open and closed sorting types alikeas well as a. Designing usable categories, donna spencer shows you how to plan and run a card sort, analyze the results, and apply the outcomes to your. To find out more about how to set up the room and what to say to participants in a moderated card sort, check out donna spencers definitive guide to card sorting and read the content under the heading execution. Save up to 80% by choosing the etextbook option for isbn. Is online card sorting really better than the real thing or a poor substitute. Designing usable categories, donna spencer shows you how to plan and run a card sort, analyze the results, and apply the outcomes to your projects.
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