Journal.
Book review: ‘Card sorting: designing usable categories’
I’ve been growing increasingly frustrated with a number of the UX books I’ve read lately that have felt too much like the writer’s blog printed and bound, or a thin idea stretched beyond its breaking point. So, it is with no little relief that I can report that ‘Card sorting: designing usable categories’ by Donna Spencer, the first of a number of Rosenfeld Media books that I’ve got lined up, is fabulous.
Card sorting might seem like pretty dry stuff: a book about order, categorisation, pattern analysis. But it’s great. And the reason is great is its author.
Those who have described Donna’s book as the definitive guide might be right, but it’s certainly the most approachable, most human book I’ve read on the subject. Donna’s willingness to share not just the stuff that worked, but the stuff that didn’t, the near disasters, and – perhaps most valuably – the stuff that seemed like it should have worked, but didn’t quite, is what makes this book stand out. Her own down to earth style opens up a subject that might otherwise intimidate. And that’s quite an achievement.
This book has particularly been a reminder of where the power of card sorting reveals itself best: in exploring ideas, tackling a narrow, specific issue and comparing the ways that different audiences approach the same content.
It has also provided a handy re-emphasising that preparation is all with card sorting. Without careful thinking through of the problem you’re trying to solve, its role within the broader design research work you’re undertaking, card sorting in the wrong hands risks providing superficial order, but little insight.
Donna provides plenty of insight for IAs at all levels, and lots of tips (and downloadable tools) you’ll come back to again and again. It’s a book that, used right, will end up a battered and worn favourite. Recommended without reservation: great stuff.