Presentation by Rebecca Blakiston, America Darling Curl, and Lara Miller at the University of Arizona IT Summit 2019. October 29 in Tucson, AZ. Website content is often hidden behind cumbersome menus. How can we better label, organize, and design navigation so users can find what they need? Learn two information architecture techniques for a better user experience: card sorts for creating categories, and tree testing for identifying navigation paths.

1. Creating User-Centered
Website Navigation
Rebecca Blakiston, America Curl, Lara Miller
University of Arizona Libraries

2. Introduction

3. User Experience
Librarian
UX research, usability
testing, and content
design
Analytics & Assessment
Librarian
Assessment, UX
research, and impact
stories
Global Studies Major
UX Student Assistant
UX research, data
analysis & presentation
America CurlLara MillerRebecca Blakiston

4. What is User-Centered Design? (UCD)?
User-centered design helps design and dev teams
gain an understanding of the product’s users.
General phases:
● Use: who is the user, what they will use it for.
● Requirements: Identify stakeholder
requirements for product success
● Solutions: Iterations of design from a rough
concept to a finished design.
● Designs: Conduct usability testing with
potential users of the product

5. Definition and purpose of IA
Definition: organizing, structuring,
and labeling content in an effective
and sustainable way
Goal: find information and complete
tasks
Purpose: Information architecture
informs your content strategy. It
should act as map around your
website so that users know where
they are, what they’re looking at, and
how to get where they want to be

8. What we did and why
What: redesign of the library’s main top level navigation
Why: new CATalyst studio content and building in flexibility for future services

9. Mega menus inspiration

10. What we did

11. Card Sorting
Technique: Asking
participants to sort content
cards into categories.
Goal: Discover how people
think about labels and
groupings.
Supplies: note cards and
pens (or Optimal
Workshop)

12. Open card sorting
Participants sort content into
categories and label the
categories.
category
content
content
content

13. Closed card sorting
Participants sort content into
pre-defined categories.
About Us
content
content
content

14. Hybrid card sorting
Participants sort content into
pre-defined categories, and
can add their own
categories.
About Us
content
content
content
Get Help
content
content

15. Card sorting #1:
Recruitment: Individual
passersby outside the
Administration Building
Method: Hybrid, moderated,
online through Optimal Sort
Participants: 9 students

16. Card sorting #2
Recruitment: Scheduled meeting
with library employees on the
Website Steering Group and
iSpace Transition Team
Method: Hybrid, unmoderated,
physical cards
Participants: 10 library employees, broken into teams of 2-3, with
content and UX expertise

18. Card sorting tips
● Gather ideas and insights, but don’t expect the answer
● Try starting with open then moving to hybrid or closed
● Aim for 30-60 content cards
● Customize moderated sorts to give you further insights into
content:
○ Prioritization
○ Merging
○ Deletion
○ Relabeling

19. Tree Testing
Technique: Asking participants
to navigate through labels to
complete a task.
Goal: Evaluate the findability of
content.
Supplies: Logic-based survey
(e.g. Powerpoint, Qualtrics) or
Treejack

20. Sample categories
Find & access
Study & create
Teach & learn
Research & publish
About us

21. Sample tasks
1. Search for a book
2. See how to borrow a laptop from the library
3. Request 3D printing services
4. RSVP for upcoming workshops at CATalyst studios
5. Get help with citation formatting for a paper (e.g. MLa style)
6. Reserve a group study room
7. Get to know about ongoing construction at the libraries
8. Request and interlibrary loan
9. See how long you can borrow books
10. As an instructor, request videos for streaming in a class(e.g. documentaries)
11. Look for openly licensed educational resources
12. Search for a dissertation
13. Find out how to deal with a lost book borrowed from the library
14. Request to host an event in the library (e.g. hackathon)
15. As a PhD student, make an appointment with a research librarian

22. Tree testing #1
Recruitment: Roaming in
Main Library, Weaver Library,
and Bear Down Gym
Method: Mostly
unmoderated, online through
Optimal Sort
Participants: 28 students,
staff, and faculty
Tree testing #2
Recruitment: Roaming in Main
Library, Slack recruitment
through library and UX@UA
Method: Mostly unmoderated,
online through Optimal Sort
Participants: 41 students, staff,
and faculty

23. Tree testing tips
● Consider multiple access points to the same content
● Practice before giving to participants
● Be careful that your task wording isn’t leading
● If you have a lot of tasks, focus in on the harder ones

24. Prototype testing
Technique: Creating an
interactive, visual
representation and asking
people to complete tasks.
Goal: Discover how people
find things using a more
realistic context and
experience.

26. Prototype testing #1:
Recruitment: Individual
passersby in the Main Library
Method: Moderated, online
through Sketch
Participants: 4 students

27. Prototype testing #2:
Recruitment: Individual
passersby in the Main Library
Method: Moderated, online
through Sketch
Participants: 8 students

28. Prototyping tips
● Randomize task order
● Focus on content and navigation over design
● Make it clear if things won’t work as expected (e.g. aren’t
clickable)

29. What we learned

30. ● Visualize
● Iterate

31. Finding: Categories will overlap
● "Visit" and "Study & learn" - anything about visiting a library to study
● "Visit" and "About us" - anything about locations and hours

32. Finding: Titles that appear synonymous may not be

33. Finding: ‘Connect’ is too broad and ambiguous
"A student wouldn't know what 'Create & connect' means"
"'Connect' muddies it"
"'Connect' didn't resonate"

34. Recommendation : Develop scope & content notes
Purpose: Providing equipped rooms
and spaces for people to get stuff
done
Audience: Navigators
Content manager: Content strategist
Content providers: Access &
Information Services, technology team,
CATalyst Studios team

35. Finding: some tasks have lots of potential
navigation paths

36. Recommendation: Positive redundancy

37. Recommendation: Pull out that thesaurus

38. Finding: some tasks were really easy

39. Recommendation: Focus in on the hard stuff

40. Recommendations for creating menus
● Articulate a purpose and audience for each menu item
● Allow for future growth in offerings
● Build in content workflows and strategy
● Partner with stakeholders on menu content from the start
● Develop a communication plan early

41. The latest

42. Stepping stone

43. High fidelity prototyping

44. Continuing collaborative refinement
● Teaching support
● Research & publish

45. Continuing user testing
● Less common tasks
● First-click testing
● “Where would you go
in real life…?”

46. Resources
● UX@UA
● Nielsen Norman Group
● UIE repository
● Usability.gov
● Optimal Workshop
● Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories by Donna
Spencer
● Everyday Information Architecture by Lisa Maria Martin

47. Questions?