Research methods
Card sorting
Also calledCard sort
A research method where participants group a set of items into categories that make sense to them, to inform how a site or app is organised.
Each card is a page, feature or piece of content. Participants sort the cards into groups and, in an open sort, name each group. Across enough people, patterns emerge in which items belong together and what people call them.
Card sorting is the method to use before you design navigation. Patterns usually start to show around 15 participants and are stable by about 30.
In practice
A bank sorts 40 cards such as 'Report a lost card', 'Order a new PIN' and 'Dispute a payment'. Most participants group them under a heading like 'Card problems', which the bank's menu currently splits across three sections.