What are the best IA portfolio projects for demonstrating your categorization skills?

1 Card sorting

Card sorting is a common IA technique that involves asking users to sort cards with labels or concepts into categories that make sense to them. Card sorting can help you understand how users think about the information, what terms they use, and how they expect to find it. A good card sorting project for your portfolio should show how you planned, conducted, and analyzed the card sorting sessions, how you used the results to create or improve the information architecture, and what challenges or insights you encountered along the way.

2 Content audit

A content audit is a systematic review of the existing content on a website or a digital product. A content audit can help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of the content, how it aligns with the user needs and business goals, and how it can be improved or optimized. A good content audit project for your portfolio should show how you defined the scope, criteria, and methods of the audit, how you collected, categorized, and evaluated the content, and how you presented and communicated your findings and recommendations.

3 Taxonomy design

A taxonomy is a hierarchical system of categories and subcategories that organizes and labels information in a consistent and logical way. A taxonomy can help users navigate, browse, and search for information more easily and efficiently. A good taxonomy design project for your portfolio should show how you researched, defined, and validated the taxonomy, how you applied it to the information architecture, and how you tested and refined it based on user feedback and data.

4 Navigation design

Navigation design is the process of creating and arranging the elements that help users move through the information space and find what they are looking for. Navigation design can include menus, tabs, breadcrumbs, filters, facets, and other components that guide and support user journeys. A good navigation design project for your portfolio should show how you analyzed the user needs, tasks, and scenarios, how you designed and prototyped the navigation elements, and how you evaluated and improved them based on usability testing and analytics.

5 Sitemap creation

A sitemap is a visual representation of the structure and organization of a website or a digital product. A sitemap can help you plan, communicate, and document the information architecture and the relationships between the pages or screens. A good sitemap creation project for your portfolio should show how you derived the sitemap from the user research, content audit, and taxonomy design, how you used the sitemap to inform the navigation design and the wireframes, and how you updated and maintained the sitemap throughout the project lifecycle.