Information Architecture 101: Why Card Sorting Isn’t Always the Best Choice
Card sorting is a tried-and-true method for UX professionals. It’s simple to set up, user-focused, and can give the impression of clear, actionable insights about how to organize your website or app. But here’s a truth that might surprise you: card sorting is not always the best tool for the job.
In fact, it often gets used out of habit rather than necessity, leading to wasted time and potentially misleading results. If you’re considering card sorting for your next project, pause for a moment and ask: is this really the most effective way to achieve my goals?
This article breaks down why card sorting might not always be the right choice, when it still has value, and what alternatives you should consider.
What Is Card Sorting, and Why Do We Use It?
At its core, card sorting asks users to group topics or concepts in ways that make sense to them. Participants might also name the groups they create, which gives researchers insight into user mental models and preferred labels.
Card sorting is a staple of UX research for several reasons:
- It’s accessible: Tools like Optimal Workshop or Miro make it easy to conduct card sorts online.
- It involves users: You get a direct glimpse into how your audience thinks.
- It feels definitive: The data often looks clear, with neat categories and percentages that seem to point toward a “right” answer.
But the simplicity and appeal of card sorting can also make it a crutch. It’s easy to fall into the trap of using it by default, even when it’s not the best way to solve your problem.
The Limitations of Card Sorting
Despite its popularity, card sorting has some significant drawbacks:
1. Lack of Context
Card sorting removes information from the environment where users will actually interact with it. People aren’t browsing your website or app in a vacuum—they’re performing tasks, solving problems, or searching for something specific.
When users group cards during a session, they’re working abstractly, not practically. The result? You might end up with a structure that feels logical on paper but doesn’t align with real-world behaviors.
2. Over-Simplification of Complex Systems
If your website or app has overlapping categories or multifaceted navigation (think e-commerce filters or cross-linked content), card sorting may oversimplify the problem. Users may group items in ways that don’t account for the dynamic nature of real navigation systems.
3. False Certainty
Card sorting produces clear data—but clear doesn’t always mean correct. For example, the way users group items in a card sort might reflect patterns you’ve subtly nudged them toward through the phrasing of topics or the options you’ve provided.
4. It’s Not a One-Stop Solution
While card sorting can reveal high-level user preferences, it often doesn’t answer deeper questions about usability, discoverability, or task performance. Using it alone risks missing crucial insights.
When Card Sorting Makes Sense
Card sorting isn’t useless—it just needs to be applied in the right circumstances. Here’s when it’s most effective:
1. When You’re Starting Fresh
If you’re designing a brand-new site or app with no existing structure, card sorting can help establish an initial framework based on user preferences.
2. To Understand Broad User Groupings
Card sorting is great for identifying general patterns or high-level categorizations, especially for content-heavy projects like blogs, online stores, or learning platforms.
3. When Paired with Other Methods
Card sorting shines when it’s used as one part of a broader research strategy. For example, use it to establish a starting point, then validate the structure with tree testing or usability studies.
When to Skip Card Sorting
Here are some scenarios where card sorting is unlikely to deliver the insights you need:
1. You Have Analytics Data Available
If your website is already live, analytics tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar can reveal how users are navigating your site. Click paths, heatmaps, and search queries often provide richer, more actionable insights than hypothetical card-sorting results.
2. You’re Working with a Specialized Audience
For niche audiences—like medical professionals, engineers, or experienced users—card sorting may not yield meaningful results. These groups often have pre-existing mental models, making other methods like interviews or task analysis more effective.
3. Your Structure Needs to Be Dynamic
If your content requires multiple ways to navigate—such as faceted search filters or overlapping categories—card sorting’s rigid groupings can be counterproductive. Instead, focus on designing flexible systems through iterative usability testing.
What to Do Instead of Card Sorting
If card sorting isn’t the right fit, consider these alternatives:
1. Tree Testing
This method evaluates how easily users can find specific information within a predefined structure. It’s perfect for validating your navigation hierarchy.
2. Task Analysis
By observing users complete real tasks, you gain insights into how they approach your content and where they encounter friction.
3. Usability Testing
Prototyping your navigation and testing it with users in a realistic context often uncovers usability issues that card sorting might miss.
4. Analytics
Use real-world data to understand how users interact with your existing site. Look for patterns, bottlenecks, and unexpected behaviors.
How to Decide if Card Sorting Is Right for Your Project
To determine whether card sorting is worth your time, ask these questions:
- What’s my goal? If you’re exploring broad categorization, card sorting works. If you’re testing usability or solving a navigation issue, look elsewhere.
- Do I have existing data? If analytics can answer your question, start there.
- What constraints am I working with? Consider technical, organizational, or resource limitations that might make card sorting impractical.
The Bottom Line
Card sorting isn’t inherently good or bad—it’s just one tool in the UX researcher’s toolbox. When used strategically, it can provide valuable insights. But it’s not a catch-all solution, and over-relying on it can lead to wasted time and subpar results.
The key is to think critically about your goals and constraints before defaulting to card sorting. Often, a combination of methods will yield the best results, helping you create a navigation system that works not just in theory, but in practice.
So next time someone suggests card sorting, take a step back and ask yourself: What problem am I really trying to solve? You might just find a better way forward.