Inviting the guests to cook the food

Posted by Donna Spencer on July 1, 2009

I received an interesting comment today, that basically said that card sorting was a ridiculous idea and akin to "inviting the guests of a restaurant to make the food in the kitchen with the cooks". People don't say this to me very often, but I'm sure some think it.

Now anyone who thinks that asking users about what they think is not going to buy the book, so here are the three key points about card sorting:

1. The real value in card sorting is to learn things about your users that you would not otherwise know. If you think you'll organise your recipe website by cooking method and they think of it in terms of ingredient, you need to know this.


2. Card sorting does not provide you with an 'answer' to how to organise information. It gives you ideas and insight into ways you may create an information architecture.


3. You put together what you learn from other user research, your website goals and content analysis. You synthesise those things into a good, strong information architecture that works.

First review

Posted by Donna Spencer on May 15, 2009

Thank you very much to Matthew Sanders for the first review of my Card sorting book. Phew - he liked it, and provided good suggestions for some things I didn't cover.

• Book review: Card Sorting by Donna Spencer, by Matthew Sanders

And Matthew, there is no sequel planned. Maybe someone else can take that job on! I will, however, write articles/blog posts on things that come up as people read the book and identify what's missing.