EXP-002toyLive
Tree test: the game.
A tree test is how information architects settle arguments about navigation: strip away all the design, show people only the labels, and watch where they go. This one is playable. Three tasks, one invented university sitemap, and the same score sheet the real method uses.
Three tasks · One sitemap · No search
Find three things on a large university website.
This is a real research method called a tree test: labels only, no visual design, no search box. Click into sections until you find where each thing should live, then commit. The tree is invented, but its bad habits are all real.
Bench notes
- The method
- Participants get a task and a bare text hierarchy: no search, no visuals, no hints. Where they click first, where they backtrack, and where they confidently commit tells you whether the structure works before anything is designed or built.
- The tree
- Invented for this toy, but every bad habit is borrowed from real university sitemaps: org-chart names like Bursar and Registrar, services filed under the office that owns them instead of the task, and near-duplicate homes for the same topic.
- What to notice
- How much the first click decides. Start in the right section and the tree mostly carries you; start wrong and nothing tells you, you just get more confident in the wrong place.