Palgrave Macmillan is a worldwide academic publisher of textbooks, journals, monographs, professional, trade and reference works in print and online.
Shift Learning was asked to perform usability testing on their UK website and book catalogue. The site was tested on seven participants, made up of lecturers, Palgrave's authors and librarians, all recruited by Shift Learning. The results of the testing were used in development work and Palgrave was able to better tailor the website to the needs of its audience.Â
As part of the testing Shift Learning performed a card sorting exercise. Card sorting is a fantastic way of providing insight into how users group, sort and label content. Feedback from a card sorting exercise can be utilized in the design of a new navigational structure. An open-ended card sort was performed in which participants were asked to organise and group a set of cards on which the different sections of the website were written. The users were asked to group cards together that they felt were connected, and then label each group. They were also asked to highlight cards which they felt did not belong on the site at all, and add additional cards for missing content.
A closed card sort could be undertaken at a later date if required. This is where users are asked to organise the cards into predefined categories and allows us to validate the results of other research. Card sorting is an ideal way to begin an analysis of the navigation of your website, and can be a good starting point for a brain storming session into a new navigational structure.
