1. @albertatrebla | @saturdave Testing Taxonomies: Beyond Card Sorting Alberta Soranzo & Dave Cooksey IA Summit, Minneapolis Friday, April 24th 2015 CC image: flickr.com/photos/cannedtuna/1423599488/ 2. Todays Presentation Taxonomy Is Not IA Traditional Approaches Testing Methods Case Studies Q&A 3. Your Hosts Dave Cooksey UX consultant based in Philadelphia with 10 years experience in information architecture & taxonomy. Alberta Soranzo UX director based in London, focused on making the complex simple for over 20 years. @saturdave @albertatrebla 4. Brands Weve Worked on 5. Our Goal Demonstrate useful testing methods and clarify taxonomy versus IA evaluation versus testing 6. Taxonomy IA image:http://commons.wikimedia.org/ 7. Taxonomy Is an Expert Activity 8. Photo taken from Dave Daring (http://dave-daring.deviantart.com/art/Leonard-Nimoy-Spock-384975793) on November 5, 2014. 9. IATaxonomy terms relationships controlled vocabulary hierarchies value-attribute pairs search navigation dynamic content UI & interactions 10. Photo taken from Rob Boudons photo stream on Flickr (http://tinyurl.com/lgf6t4v) on November 5, 2014. There is no magical method. 11. image:http://commons.wikimedia.org/ Testing Is Not Difficult 12. When to Test 13. What do we look at? Search logs Analytics Google adword suggestions Comparative analysis Keywords research User research and vernacular Existing taxonomies 14. Traditional Card Sorting 15. Card Sorting The Basics Planning Preparing the cards Sorting Analysis 16. Open Card Sorting Muffin Coffee Milk Water Catering Sandwich 17. Dessert Open Card Sorting Muffin Food Sandwich Drinks Coffee Milk Water Services Catering Muffin Coffee Milk Water Catering Sandwich 18. Closed Card Sorting Muffin Coffee Milk Water Catering Sandwich Menu Beverages For the office 19. Menu Beverages For the office Closed Card Sorting Muffin Coffee Milk Water Catering Sandwich Muffin Coffee Milk Water Catering Sandwich 20. Hybrid Card Sorting Muffin Coffee Milk Water Catering Sandwich Nibbles 21. Hot drinks Nibbles Cold drinks What we do Hybrid Card Sorting Muffin Catering Sandwich Milk Water Coffee Muffin Coffee Milk Water Catering Sandwich 22. Why go beyond? image:http://commons.wikimedia.org/ 23. Delphi-method Card Sorting 24. Delphi-method Card Sorting Hierarchy laid out in cards 8 - 10 participants one after the other go through cards and modify as they see fit Participants can add, delete, move, and re-label cards Watch and interview for details Also test navigation schema, facets, images for labeling 25. Delphi-method Card Sorting 1. Decide whether to seed the deck 2. Put categories on cards 3. Interview participant 4. Explain exercise 5. Allow participant to organize and comment 6. Watch and ask questions 7. Repeat with participants until you are satisfied 8. Analyze data (optional) 26. Usability Studies 27. Piggyback existing study or create new study Interactive UI (testing IA not taxonomy) Step-by-step tasks Interaction of terms in system Demonstrates value of taxonomy and reassures the team Usability Studies 28. Piggybacking Existing Study 1. Identify goals 2. Craft tasks 3. Attend the sessions and ask questions 4. Explain to stakeholders what you are looking for 5. Offer to create a summary Usability Studies 29. Creating a New Study 1. Create an interactive UI (no lorem ipsum) 2. Craft simple tasks 3. Run the sessions 4. Explain to stakeholders what you are looking for 5. Create and circulate a summary Usability Studies 30. Other Tests with Optimal Workshop image:participatorypolitics.org/ 31. Click Path Studies Get reliable metrics for benchmarking Define a click path for analysis Look for the drops to discover the cause Correct and analyze results 32. Treejack Testing Create navigation tree Set up tasks Analyze results 33. Treejack 34. Delphi & Anthropologie 35. Usability Testing & OnlineShoes Usability Testing & OnlineShoes 36. What Really Works Know your users Multiple methods Card sorting when researching taxonomy terms Usability studies when researching use of information Focusing on problem areas instead of entire picture 37. What (Usually) Doesnt Work Testing design and information structure at the same time Testing too late Designing tests that are too large Confusing taxonomy with navigation Not testing at all 38. Q&A 39. Now go test something! (And THANK YOU!) @albertatrebla | @saturdave 40. Resources The Accidental Taxonomist Heather Hedden Information Today, Inc., 2010 A Delphi Approach to Card Sorting Celeste Lyn Paul (PDF) http://www.asis.org/Conferences/IA07/Sunday/Celeste_Lynn_Paul- Introduction%20to%20Delphi%20Card%20Sorting.pdf A Modified Delphi Approach to a New Card Sorting Methodology Celeste Lyn Paul http://uxpajournal.org/a-modified-delphi-approach-to-a-new-card-sorting- methodology/ 41. Resources Card Sorting, Designing Usable Categories Donna Spencer, Rosenfeld Media, 2009 Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing for the Web and Beyond Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville and Jorge Arango OReilly Media, 2015 Understanding Context: Environment, Language, and Information Architecture Andrew Hinton OReilly Media, 2014 Joe Lamantias Taxonomy Analysis Spreadsheet (with explanation) http://boxesandarrows.com/analyzing-card-sort-results-with-a-spreadsheet-template/