During the initial exercise in working out the I.A. for the PDC09 site, we used the process of "card sorting." It had been a while since I had gone through that exercise, and remembered how very useful it can be

A few of us on the MIX Online team are busy at work collaborating with other teams to host the PDC09 in Los Angeles this November. Part of that is creating the PDC09 website. We’re working with Worktank, and recently began the process of working out the information architecture of the site, in addition to the creative aesthetic. Recently, there were about 6 of us in one of the more smelly of the conference rooms here in building 24 on the Microsoft campus.  Between Worktank and Microsoft employees, we had project managers, marketing managers, Directors, and a few designers … a diverse group with interests vested in some very different issues. Some of us were focused primarily on driving awareness and registration, while others were focused on delivering a live-streaming event to remote viewers around the world.  Still others were focusing on the technology to be used to support the decisions we were making, and others helping to guide the process of deciding the content structure of this potentially robust and content-rich site.

During the initial exercise in working out the I.A. for the PDC09 site, we used the process of "card sorting." It had been a while since I had gone through that exercise, and remembered how very useful it can be. For the un-initiated,the wikipedia definition states:

Card sorting is a simple technique in usability design where a group of subject experts or "users",however inexperienced with design, are guided to generate a category tree or folksonomy. It is a useful approach for designing workflows, menu structure, or web site navigation paths. Card sorting has a characteristically low-tech approach. The concepts are first identified and written onto simple index cards or Post-it notes. The user group then arranges these to represent the groups or structures they are familiar with.

In particular, I found this exercise useful in abstracting the structure of the PDC09 site. By looking at cards and sorting them by priority rather than looking at a screen and "envisioning navigation," we were able to really discover what content was important, what the hierarchy of that importance was, and make decisions on the navigational system and content structure in a much more "data-driven" manner. By abstracting what we *feel* from what we *think,* our decisions make much more logical sense.

Card sorting from boxesandarrows.com

Card-sorting also was particularly useful in providing a common language between the design professionals and the other stake-holders. By taking the pixels off the screen we provided something tangible that people could actually move around to help express their thoughts and opinions.  Also, by making it easier for people to communicate, the process of coming to conclusions and making decisions was much more direct.  Everyone likes shorter meetings that get stuff done, right?

Finally, the exercise helped us define our core audience. In the case of the PDC09 planning, we really established concretely the two audiences we had to consider: the event-attendee and the remote-viewer. Due to the fact that the cards were so easily manipulated, we were able to think through multiple scenarios on-the-fly and better understand how the different audiences would approach the architecture of the site.  For instance, something like travel and location information might be very important for the event-attendee, but to the person viewing sessions from home or work, that information is about worthless.  How do we ensure that the information is easily findable, but unobtrusive?  Where does it make the most sense to put this information?  Under registration, or under About The Conference, for example?

By having a system for all the stake-holders to be able to quickly run through scenarios, more easily think through the problem in a common language, and better express their opinions, the exercise of card sorting made a lot of sense.  Now, really, it doesn’t necessarily make sense to go through the whole process for every site.  However, for complex sites, or those sites with many stake-holders trying to ensure success, card sorting can be a very useful tool. There’s a great article by Donna Spencer that goes into more detail on the process and some of the benefits and drawbacks to the nuanced methods.

So, have *you* ever used card sorting to work out the structure of a site, develop navigation, or solve another sort of problem?  What’s been your experience?  Did you find the process useful or just another pointless exercise that kept you from just gettin’ to work?  Tell us your story by commenting below, and be sure to follow us on Twitter at @mixonline.