Card Sorting in UX
Is one of the most important steps that designers pass by while working on any project.
Card sorting is not just writing workflow and sticking it on to the board, rather, I would say, it is the consequence of the hard-earned research data which took weeks to compile!
Astonished?
Let me clear my words, while card sorting, the designers not only think of the features to enhance the application quality but also thinks about what, where, and how the users wants the features to be delivered to them while using that application because the end product should make sense to the targeted audience.
Some of you might have been thinking that this is very hectic?
Guess what?.. Research data is the key!
In fact, to your surprise, there are zero complexities in any step undergoing the UX design process! but…the only condition is, that the designer ought to have solid and quality research data, for the data will shout your focus group (or basically a user persona). Once you have proper research data, the whole UX journey would get smoother, and ultimately your ride would get very joyous!
Basically, card sorting is of two types (actually three types, but the third type is not used that much in UX).
- Open card sorting: To say in short, this is where the participant has full independence to decide their own categories. The best adjective that can be used to explain this in a single word is “generative”.
- Closed card sorting: when the participant has no independence to decide their own categories. Rather, they get a predetermined set of category names. The best adjective for this is “evaluative”.
