Open Card Sort

An open card sort is a user research method where participants organize content items into groups that make sense to them, and then name those groups themselves.

How It Works

1. Participants receive a set of items (cards)
2. They group related items together
3. They create labels for each group
4. No predefined categories are provided

When to Use

• Discovery: Understanding how users naturally categorize information
• New projects: Creating information architecture from scratch
• Mental models: Revealing how users think about your content
• Navigation design: Finding intuitive category names

Advantages

• Unbiased insights into user thinking
• Discover unexpected groupings
• Identify natural category labels
• No assumptions constrain participants

Challenges

• More time-consuming to complete
• Produces varied results (harder to analyze)
• Requires larger sample size (20-30 participants)
• Many unique category names to reconcile

Best Practices

• Use 30-60 cards maximum
• Recruit 20-30 participants minimum
• Provide clear instructions
• Allow sufficient time (15-30 minutes)
• Analyze for patterns, not exact matches