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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Tree TestingDesign ThinkingCard Sorting
Criterion
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Paper illustration of a branching category tree with a highlighted search path and possible dead ends.
UX Research
Tree Testing
Design Thinking as a learning loop: an observation notebook, a focused problem statement, different idea sketches, a cardboard prototype and user-test notes. Feedback leads to new understanding.
Innovation
Design Thinking
Paper illustration showing three sorted card stacks and an open question about a possible group.
UX Research
Card Sorting
Purposedifferent
ARID examines how well developers can work with a technical design. It focuses on a part of the system that can still be revised, between the architecture overview and the detailed specification.When a navigation exists but search paths still fail, tree testing checks findability without visual distraction. The method shows whether labels, levels, and paths really lead to the intended destination.For complex user problems with an uncertain cause, the method connects observation, interpretation, and experiment into a learning cycle. It keeps the focus on real needs and avoids premature solution language. This produces robust decisions for product and service.When content only makes sense internally and users can't find the structure again, card sorting exposes their mental order. Terms, groups, and naming are then aligned with the target group's expectations.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumHighLow
Timedifferent
2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional1-2 Tage1 Tag bis mehrere Wochen20-45 min
Participantsdifferent
Designers, developers as users, and facilitationBased on research question4-10Based on research question
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncAsyncWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsFindability Metrics, Path Analysis, Revised IAProblem Statement, Prototype, Test LearningsContent groups, Label set, IA hypotheses
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
Information architectureNavigationFindability
InnovationPrototypeResearch
Information architectureNavigationStructure
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