Background

Part of the lecture Design at the PFH Göttingen was to improve the information architecture of an existing website. In my case, I chose the car sharing provider MILES and examined the information architecture in more detail.

Goal

The aim was to understand the mental models of the users and to categorize the existing information on the site in an optimal and user-friendly way. This should make it easier for the user to navigate through the website.

Method

The method I used was open card sorting. The users used the online tool Optimal Sort from Optimal Workshop to sort the content and categorize it logically for them. They were asked to use the thinking aloud method so that I could gain even deeper insights into their thought processes.

01 Preparation

Transfer of the existing content to be categorized into the online tool Optimal Sort

02 Card Sorting

1. Grouping of content by the user

2. Naming of categories by the user

2. Interview about the reasons for specific categorization

“Was there any content that was very easy or difficult to categorize?”

“What thoughts did you have about the content that you did not sort into any of the groups?”

“Why did you form the group like this?”

“Was there any content that seemed to belong in two or more groups?”

03 Evaluation

The Optimal Sort tool was also used for the evaluation. Here it is possible to display a similarity matrix, a dendrogram and a 3D cluster view. Based on the results, a new draft of the information architecture was then created.

04 Results

Before

After

MILES