Information Architecture

IA Methods

Card Sorting

• Give users cards with content/feature names.
• Ask them to group cards into categories.
• Open sort: Users create and name categories.
• Closed sort: You provide category names, users sort into them.
• 15-30 participants for meaningful patterns.

Tree Testing

• Give users a text-only tree (your proposed IA).
• Ask them to find specific items.
• Measures: success rate, directness, time to complete.
• Tests whether your IA works without visual design influence.