One of the challenges we’re tackling as we build a new user-centred nottinghamshire.gov.uk is how to organise access to, and information about, our services.
We’re doing research on how people find their way to our website, if or how they move around it once they’re there, and how we can make our navigation intuitive to support their behaviour. We’ve delved into taxonomies and are investigating both on-site and external search. We’ve used data, analytics and undertaken user research too.
One of the activities we’ve carried out as part of this discovery is holding open card-sorting workshops with a range of our users. We contracted The Insight Lab to carry out this work with us and below their Head of Research, Dr Emily Webber, reveals the why, what and how of card sort workshops.
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When The Insight Lab first connected with Nottinghamshire County Council, they were looking for a user experience consultancy to run a series of card-sorting workshops, to help inform the re-development of the content structure of nottinghamshire.gov.uk, as part of their Digital First project.
Card-sorting is a simple but incredibly effective way of obtaining valuable insight into the ways in which different types of users’ group information and content in order to inform the design of information architecture (IA) where information is structured intuitively, meaning that users can quickly and easily find what they are looking for.
There are a variety of card sorting techniques which can be used for this purpose, but for this project, we decided on open card-sort approach. This requires users to sort cards containing website content into groups that make sense to them, and give each group a title that summarises the cards that sit within it. Findings from this process then feed into further research and validation methods, and form a great foundation of evidence for a user-centred site structure, which meets the expectations of those using it.
We were really excited to take on this project particularly due to some of the unique challenges that it presented, such as the diverse range of users that the website must cater for, and the large and varied amounts of content to be presented. Participants for the workshops were therefore recruited from across the county (we ran workshops across Nottinghamshire from Worksop to West Bridgford) and came from a range of backgrounds and levels of computer experience. Content for the card sort was carefully selected to reflect the varied types of information and plethora of services available.
Following an audit of current content and consideration of existing documentation, such as priorities and key user journeys, 61 cards formed the basis of the card sort. During the workshop, each participant first sorted these cards (which had a title printed on one side, and a description of the content of the other) into groups that made sense to them, and then gave each group a heading using a Post-It note. For example, a participant may have grouped cards such as ‘Studying’ and ‘Apply for a School Place’ under a heading which they titled ‘Education’ or ‘Schools’.
Participants were also encouraged to indicate any sub-groupings, as well as any cards they felt fell into more than one category (more Post-Its!),– for example ‘Report a Pothole’ may have been grouped under a transport heading, but then also linked to a ‘Report a problem’ group.
Although this data alone provides valuable insight into a user-focused IA, we wanted to provide further support for the findings using rich, in-depth feedback from participants. Following the individual card sorts, participants were therefore led in an open discussion, exploring points such as what they had found particularly difficult or easy to sort, cards which they felt were missing and issues with labeling and understanding, for example.
Results from the card sort were then supplemented with points arising from the post-sort discussion to provide rich insight and outline actionable recommendations for the creation of a user-focused site IA.
The card-sorting workshops have proved an invaluable exercise in gaining insight into how Nottinghamshire residents perceive Council services, and how they understand and group content. The results will provide an excellent base for future work into the re-development of the Council website and its underlying information architecture.
Research methods including closed-card sorts and tree testing could be used to provide additional insight to support and extend the findings of these initial workshops, with results from all sources then feeding into a new user-focused Council website, where visitors can quickly and easily find the information they are looking for.
Dr Emily Webber is Head of Research at The Insight Lab, an expert-led consultancy, implementing user-focused research methods to drive the design of digital products and services that are simple, efficient and a pleasure to use. Find out more about them on their website.
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We’re looking at what our next step is now to design a clear information architecture for our website and we’ll update you on this as we do it!
Thanks to all who took part in the workshops. If you’d like to get involved with testing as part of our Digital First work then you can find out more here.
Digital First Nottinghamshire 