“Structure your Site for Your Users: The Card Sorting Method” – Autumn Hood and Todd Luckey

Thursday, October 8, 2:30-5pm CDT. Prior registration required. Registrants have been sent Zoom link separately.

Behind all the graphics, animations, color palettes, and font choices of your website lies a the foundational structure of the flows, menus, and content of your site. Any successful site or application must start with a foundation that strongly aligns with users expectations’ of the site structure and content labeling.

Join seasoned UX Professionals for a hands-on workshop that will teach you digital and low-tech methods to ensuring the information architecture of your site meets the needs of your users. Card sorting allows researchers to work with users to generate a collective impression of the way a group of users envision a site’s tasks, content, and workflows. Attendees will walk away with the tools and knowledge necessary to assess and recommend information architectures and taxonomy strategies for even the largest, messiest of websites.

Breakdown of Activities

  • 15 minutes – Introduction to the workshop and hosts. What is Information Architecture, and why is it important?
  • 20 minutes – The Card Sorting method: variances and procedures
  • 20 minutes – Break out into groups and perform physical card sort
  • 20 minutes –discussion of findings and how to provide recommendations to broader teams
  • 30 minutes – Break out into groups and perform digital card sort
  • 20 minutes –discussion of findings and how to provide recommendations to broader teams
  • 10 minutes – Wrap up and questions

Connection to SIGDOC 2020 Theme

As the start of a new decade, the year 2020 provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the state of the current technology landscape, as well as recent advancements in technology and design. From 1970 to 2020, personal computing has evolved from belonging only to an elite group to many individuals owning multiple high-technology products.

As new technologies continue to emerge (AR & VR, automation, and AI, to name a few) and “good user experiences” become table stakes (with a more defined best practices, more academic programs, and companies that allow anyone to build a good site right out of the box), we must not forget that nothing can replace an informed, tactical, and intentional information architecture.

Visual design is the most obvious layer of any user experience, but even a world-class visual design cannot beat out a poorly informed, poorly structured website. Information Architecture exists beyond shiney new front-end languages and in fact, exists in many unrecognized areas of our world, such as grocery stores and bedroom closets. Regardless of technological advancements and latest design trends, information architecture remains an indispensable component of a successful site or application.

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